Quote:
Originally Posted by bluejays
As much as I love Conroy's positivity, him and ownership and whomever are completely missing the mark on a Canadian team not accepting a rebuild. If not a Canadian team than whom else would accept a rebuild. I'd argue the opposite in that they are the ones that CAN afford a rebuild because of passionate fans who understand. So if you don't do a rebuild to bring hope, when and how are you going to bring in elite talent? We know a rebuild won't happen when a new building is built. So why do they have this belief system in place? What are they going to do differently to bring in elite talent?
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I actually think the “passionate fans who understand” thing is entirely overrated. It puts a few butts in seats, but for the most part it just means there are more guys who will argue over whether or not it’s actually technically speaking an official or unofficial rebuild for months or years on end without ever actually attending a game to support said rebuild (because it’s not technically officially a rebuild and only when it is technically officially a rebuild and they hear it directly from Conroy in a written statement will they be able to support the rebuild even though we got to see a lot of great young players this season).
Maybe it works for Toronto and Montreal. But Calgary isn’t that. Let’s stop pretending. The team has almost left once and has had relocation threatened against us within the last five years. The attendance this year was the worst since 2004 before “the run” (not counting COVID years).
The Dome is a library. Fans are “passionate” about the game, but that translates into people quietly following the action and being miserable outside the playoffs. That’s even a problem in Toronto. The fans aren’t there for a good time, they’re there to watch hockey and see a win. Period. They’re incredibly boring. And, when there’s no wins to be had and the hockey isn’t good, Calgary fans have shown they aren’t much for going just to “support the rebuild!”
You can argue the best way to get people excited is to get star players and the best way to get star players is a rebuild and you’d be right, but let’s not pretend mid-market Canadian teams are special in their tolerance for this stuff. Winnipeg isn’t even rebuilding, they were competitive for the division, and nobody wanted to go to those games.