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cannon7 · 04-20-2024, 11:17 AM

Calgary is not Dallas, and sure as hell is not Los Angeles. The only thing the Flames can emulate, if you want to call it that, is things that are wholly disconnected from the things the Flames can not change. The Flames can not change that they are in a small market, short a relocation. The Flames can not change the fact that they are frequently on players' no trade lists. The Stars and Kings are rarely, if ever, subject to the limitations the Flames face. As such, you simply can not emulate something that never experiences the constraints that you do. It is a fool's errand.

But there are things the Flames can do. You can't make an immovable object move, but you can work around said immovable object. The sooner you can acknowledge that the object can not be moved, the sooner you can focus on the things that can.

There are some posters in this thread advocating using the cap space in different ways. These could work. But it is a fact that the Flames budget outside of the salary cap is nowhere near the levels of larger market teams. If the Flames didn't spend to the cap, perhaps that $10-20-million could be put somewhere else? Scouting and player development isn't a dark art. If you can attract the best scouts and best development talent, and compensate them accordingly, then dividends are likely to follow. Those dividends can be compounded if you give those scouts and development personnel as much to work with as possible. Instead of banging your head against the small market constraints, instead focus on building the best scouting and development team in the league. It won't be easy, big market teams, with big market budgets, are not going to give up their scouting and development talent easily, or cheaply. But if you can ingrain a culture of excellence here organizationally, then the hope is the best and brightest in these fields will gravitate towards the team that places the highest importance upon these disciplines. The Flames might have a fighting chance here. In the game of pretending to be a big market team, they have none.

04-20-2024, 11:17 AM	#72
cannon7 Needs More Cowbell Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Not Canada, Eh? Exp:	Calgary is not Dallas, and sure as hell is not Los Angeles. The only thing the Flames can emulate, if you want to call it that, is things that are wholly disconnected from the things the Flames can not change. The Flames can not change that they are in a small market, short a relocation. The Flames can not change the fact that they are frequently on players' no trade lists. The Stars and Kings are rarely, if ever, subject to the limitations the Flames face. As such, you simply can not emulate something that never experiences the constraints that you do. It is a fool's errand. But there are things the Flames can do. You can't make an immovable object move, but you can work around said immovable object. The sooner you can acknowledge that the object can not be moved, the sooner you can focus on the things that can. There are some posters in this thread advocating using the cap space in different ways. These could work. But it is a fact that the Flames budget outside of the salary cap is nowhere near the levels of larger market teams. If the Flames didn't spend to the cap, perhaps that $10-20-million could be put somewhere else? Scouting and player development isn't a dark art. If you can attract the best scouts and best development talent, and compensate them accordingly, then dividends are likely to follow. Those dividends can be compounded if you give those scouts and development personnel as much to work with as possible. Instead of banging your head against the small market constraints, instead focus on building the best scouting and development team in the league. It won't be easy, big market teams, with big market budgets, are not going to give up their scouting and development talent easily, or cheaply. But if you can ingrain a culture of excellence here organizationally, then the hope is the best and brightest in these fields will gravitate towards the team that places the highest importance upon these disciplines. The Flames might have a fighting chance here. In the game of pretending to be a big market team, they have none.