Quote:
Originally Posted by Erick Estrada
Well reading between the lines, the article was spurned by recent rumors of the Flames being interested in Necas and Conroy's comments on the Dallas model. I suppose the Flames could attempt a player for player deal there but chances are the Hurricanes don't want salary back and would want prospect or draft picks. Also it was Conroy that brought up the Dallas model and he doesn't bring up the Dallas model (not really a model) unless it's something that the Flames have looked at and considered. Kent is like a lot of Flames fans worried about the direction and I don't think anyone can blame him because this organization has been one of the least successful over the last 35 years and while you can give them a mulligan for the 90's, it's been a whole lot of mediocrity and extremely limited playoff success outside of 2004 and we are looking at current bad roster and lack of any elite stars in the organization. So while I do agree we should save our outrage for the day where/if the Flames actually do start trading draft picks/prospects for quick fixes, but at the same time this organization really hasn't earned the benefit of doubt from fans as their record of mediocrity speaks for itself.
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I have been openly questioning Treliving's success in his time over the last few years, as I thought that the Flames' last rebuild was a failure purely based on success. A GM is responsible for everything underneath him, and with only having 2 playoff series wins during his time here, I find it impossible to categorize him as having had a successful tenure here. He did some good things - many in fact. However, when he took over, the Flames had a fairly promising start to their rebuild, and it flat-lined under him.
Two of his more egregious missteps (IMO of course) was the amount of draft capital spent on trades, and his eagerness to spend to the cap. This handcuffed the team.
Conroy has come in and done the opposite - he didn't sign UFAs. He didn't even sign guys to PTOs, and has shared his philosophy on that. He has also stated that he is looking at the draft as being the most important aspect for the Flames to build.
IMO, he is steadying the ship. I was all for either a rebuild starting a few years back, or finding more impact players to help Gaudreau and Co., rather than the (seemingly) constant overprice vet from the UFA bin, or the bleeding of draft capital on support players that did not move the needle.
I disagree with the notion of looking back 35 years assuming that things will stay the same. We can't know specifically how much Edwards (or any other owner) meddles with decisions, but they allowed many decisions that go against the grain of what a contingent of fans say that they do. They are friends with Sutter, but had no qualms about firing him and paying him not to work here. Hartley was also one of the higher-priced coaches at the time. The "organization being cheap on coaches" has in my opinion been proven to be nothing short of a completely contrived fallacy, and the truth lies somewhere between "good coaches would rather coach elsewhere" and "Bad GMs hire bad coaches".
Conroy gets a clean slate for me. I am neither a blind pom-pom waving optimist, but I also think that a new GM can drastically change the direction of an organization. Thus far, I have agreed with the moves that Conroy has made, as well as whatever information that he has given in his media availabilities. I am much more optimistic about a proper rebuild occurring under Conroy than what we saw under Trelving (and to some extent, Burke, who wasn't shy about wanting a fast rebuild).
My disconnect with a lot of people is my assertion that Calgary is very much a team that is rebuilding. Now, if I see Conroy suddenly spending draft capital on win-now players, and trying to make this team into a playoff team in the next season or two, I will join this group of people who are skeptical.
I think the biggest question arises in: "Where do you think this team will finish next season?"
I have them finishing comfortably in the bottom 5 of the standings. Comfortably. If you have them higher than this, then I can more readily understand your frustrations and skepticism. The only way I see them coming out of the bottom 5 is either Conroy spending a lot of draft capital on win now trades, and Wolf stealing a season.
There are too many wingers here already. I expect a couple more 'players for futures' deal, plus Markstrom (who I argue they can't really bring back). I think this is absolutely a rebuilding squad, and I do expect a top 5 pick (and hoping for some lottery luck in the next two-three drafts). This is partially why I am optimistic.