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Originally Posted by Cleveland Steam Whistle
I certainly don't disagree that this team has been shy of rebuilding......too shy, so that's not my point when I say what I'm about to say. And I also think that this team hit a cross roads when both Johnny and Tkachuk wanted out 2 seasons ago (and maybe even before that when Mony injuries prevented him from being the player he was) - they chose reload vs. rebuild. A full season and a month removed from that decision, and it certainly looks and feels like it was definitely the wrong one.
But I think what you are preaching about ruthlessness between seasons isn't the right approach either. Building a winner, and more importantly, giving that winner time to find it's way is important. The path to success for MOST teams is far from linear. You need to have some belief in your group, and let them grow. If I think about the version of the Flames that was intact for the 5 years prior to last years offseason, it was driven by: Monahan, Johnny, Tkachuk, Lindholm - with change ups on the back end.
That group had massive ups and downs in regular seasons, and little playoff success. But I think it would be fair to suggest, that giving that group time to try and pull it off, with tweaks to the roster vs. burning it down was the right move. Frustrating for fans to see the swings, but they were showing signs that they COULD potentially get things done. Its so easy to say what ifs, but I do wonder how much more success they would have had if one of these two things were true - Mony stayed healthy, or Bennett ended up closer to a top 6 forward with us (not wanting to debate why he didn't). My point isn't to say they were unlucky, they got lots of luck too that helped them have whatever success they had, my point is the difference between them doing something special and what they did accomplish (which amounts to not much of anything) is razor thin.
Being too ruthless every year, will undoubtedly result in a never ending cycle of rebuild and no success. Building a team is very hard, and on some level, you have to take your shot with the group you have after you've invested in growing from the ground up the way the Flames did with that group post 2014.
All that said, it sure does feel like it's time to start the growth process again for sure.
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I should do a better job of explaining what I mean. Maybe it won't really make a difference on if you agree or not, but I don't think I really did a good job of of making my point about being ruthless.
What I mean is that I don't want mid-season trades trying to prop-up a young team. I don't want a half-season's worth of above-expectations play to suddenly shift gears. For instance, I do think that Treliving pulled Calgary out of the last rebuild too early.
I think in a salary cap world - and even more importantly for a Canadian, small market team like Calgary - they have to draft and develop franchise-level players. You don't always have to snag them with a top 3 pick. Last year, for instance, they should have taken a number out of Nashville's book and sold some players, and had more ammo in the hopes of drafting an elite talent. Flames have been good at identifying and drafting them (and even almost drafting them - Kucherov). Players like Fox and Gaudreau, and even players not drafted like Point.
Be more ruthless when you 'call' the season, and try to trade players that don't fit long term. Start reshaping the roster for next season by using the trade deadline. I think the Flames have done a poor job of that under Treliving. Whether it was Treliving, or whether it was ownership is irrelevant. As an organization moving forward, I would like them to shift their focus earlier, scoop up more futures, and then forge ahead again the following season, two tops.
I am actually quite hopeful for the future with Conroy at the helm. He seems to be a GM with a larger focus on the scouting and development side of things. He has also scouted a tonne, and worked closely with the scouting staff. I do think that moving forward, we are more likely to see a bit of a 'sell off' in years that the Flames are not as competitive as hoped, and this is exactly what my point is about being 'ruthless'. I guess a better way to describe it would be more honesty with themselves, or more realistic.
However, I do agree with you 100% - the core needs to stick together and grow up together. I thought this team after the Tkachuk trade may not work as it becomes a mish-mash of pieces, but i was hopeful (and the returns were excellent for Tkachuk, all things considered at the time).
I would like to see this team being run a bit more like Boston and Tampa - no huge trades to try and salvage the season, bottomed-out a few times, missed the playoffs a few times, but they continually added to the core until they won a cup. Gaudreau-Monahan-Tkachuk-Bennett-Giordano-Brodie - I think that was a strong core, with very strong supporting players underneath (Backlund, for instance). They needed MORE core players. I think I must have argued this point about a hundred times in those days - there was nothing wrong with the core, but they needed more help, that's all.
The strength of this franchise for a very long time now was in drafting and development, but they haven't leveraged it far enough. That's the overall point I want to make. Add to the core, not change it up. Flames were almost there had Kucherov been drafted instead of Wotherspoon that year, and maybe that would have seen Calgary go from a final 4 favourite for Panarin into the team he ends up signing for. Now that would have been a great core in my alternate fantasy world. Wouldn't have the room for a Brouwer or a Neal, among other poor value contracts over the years.
Conroy gives me a lot of hope through this frustrating time.