[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Your entire mental framework around this team is one of lack, scarcity, and playing small.

No fooling. There aren't 32 Stanley Cups; just one, and 32 teams are trying to get it. That's the very definition of scarcity.

It's truly astonishing how one could support a professional sports organization and have zero expectations whatsoever. I truly hope this isn't the prevailing mentality within the organization.

I don't support them. I am entertained by watching how they do business. Frankly, I stopped caring much about the outcome after 2004.

Someone else already posted an extensive list of playoff round wins etc. that other franchises have done, I'm not going to repeat it, but its not like you don't know.

There was no ‘etc.’ It was all about playoffs and nothing else.

There is something wrong with a sports fan who thinks the only thing worth having is playoff success. Why even bother tuning in for 82 games if you don't enjoy the game itself? For that matter, why not just ignore the playoff games and look at the scores online?

If you think one playoff round win every 8-10 years is an acceptable level of success for the Flames, I guess that's your very low bar as a fan. You are likely alone on that island.

It's not a question of what is or is not acceptable. It's a question of a reality over which I have absolutely no control (and neither do you).

The difference is, you get your panties in a bunch over this thing that you cannot control.

The rest of your post is just a whole load of fearful glass half empty nonsense. Population, currency and tax structure haven't held the Flames back
in any significant way for probably 2 decades or more.

Wrong.

Stone wouldn't sign here because he wanted Vegas.

Fox wouldn't sign here because he wanted New York.

Tkachuk demanded a trade because he wanted a warm climate.

Gaudreau, after shilly-shallying for months, refused to sign at the last moment because he didn't want an international border between him and his family.

Scores of the best players have NMCs or NTCs, and they commonly list all seven Canadian teams as locations they refuse to be traded to.

Do I need to go on?

The Flames have attracted big name free agents, dished out large contracts, made big trade splashes, without issue over the years.

It's news when they do those things successfully. With some other franchises, it's news when they occasionally fail.

Yes, not every player wants to come to Calgary but creating opportunities to win or play with great players goes a long way to helping with that, as is probably the case anywhere.

This is an article of faith among fans and media, but I have yet to see much hard evidence in support of it.

How do they get great players? Well first off all, they need opportunities to draft them. And that means acknowledging they need high picks and strategizing their hockey moves accordingly in windows like the current one. Which to their credit -- they did last season. We'll see if that continues.

I agree with all of this. But by itself, it is not going to win them any championships. The draft is designed not to give any team that big an advantage.