Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckSauce
Some of the things I have always wondered about:
*What was it like when Nieuwendyk rumours started? Did fans want picks/prospects or an established star before getting Iginla?
*I recall writing on the wall that Theo would leave - were his personal issues well known or rumoured? What were some of the returns people hoped for before the Colorado Regehr trade?
*was the Young Gunz era doom and gloom from the start with Canadian markets struggling? The Save the Flames campaign and half of the 300 level closing suggests no. Was the term rebuild even a concept?
*Who have been some of your favourite prospects or free agent signings you thought would be stars that ended up busts? What trades really set the Flames back (or ahead) aside from the obvious MSL buyout and Savard trade?
|
Fun thread for us old coots. My thoughts:
Nieuwy was gone, based on the economics of the day and the lack of success after '89. I think we all knew that we would never "win" the trade, but were happy with younger players/draft picks. Iggy hit at the WJC shortly thereafter, and Flames fans were really excited.
Fleury was a good soldier and poster boy for the franchise for a long time. I might be in the minority with this thought, but when he left, he said it wasn't about the money, but of course it was about the money. He went to the Avs and then signed for bigger money with the Rangers, which pretty much everyone thought was a mistake. It was. As mentioned, we didn't have too much knowledge on the players that could come back, but Reggie was a home run.
I don't have fond memories of the Young Guns, as I was sharing season tickets at the time. In retrospect, some seem overly nostalgic about many of those guys. We sucked. We knew we sucked and you basically couldn't give those tickets away.
Not busts, but guys like Titov and Reichel I thought could be really good. That is going a ways back! The bad trades are fairly obvious, Ference for Brad Stuart was an underrated terrible one.