Issues that seem to be negatively impacting the Calgary Flames:
- Flames are not an organization capable of attracting notable UFAs
- Flames have more trouble trading for players since many have the Flames on NTCs
- Flames have trouble acquiring players even without NTCs because they won't re-sign here (see Hague).
- Flames haven't managed their own assets very efficiently over the last 3-4 seasons (Gaudreau walking, Tkachuk bridge leading to leaving, Hanifin return)
Strengths of the organization:
Is there another strength I missed? Coaches aren't walking all over each other trying to get to the front of the line here in Calgary.
It isn't all doom and gloom, and that's not the point of this post at all. The point of this post is that Calgary has absolutely not choice but to really lean-into what they are elite at - drafting and development. I believe Calgary is doing that, but I guess we will have to see how it ends up. I have the Flames near the bottom of the standings, so let's see if they exceed expectations twice in a row.
I think Conroy just needs to remain patient when it comes to Andersson. Maybe Vegas pivots and decides to just sign Brent Burns to fill their spot (good luck with that), but I don't think Vegas will be the only team that Rasmus will be willing to sign with. RHS Top 4 D are valuable, and Rasmus is unquestionably the best one available right now. I am sure Conroy will make a good trade here - I thought the Hanifin trade was good under the circumstances, and this will be no different. It could have been a home-run hit - just like Hanifin's should have been as well - but it is what it is now. This was the last valuable trade chip for the Flames to use for their rebuild, so from that standpoint, it is a little disheartening at this point (though I am optimistic the return will be better than I am expecting now).
I trust Conroy. However, I also think that this team is designed to be a competitive bottom 5 team. I wouldn't be so trusting of Conroy right now if I really believed "We are going for playoffs" as an actual target. I see this as a more believable Jay Feaster target (that he then had to clarify from the pressure and blowback!). I guess we will see. I do think the Flames won't bottom out for long, however, if they do end up bottoming-out. The last thing we want is another era of Young-Guns coming up whee the young-guns aren't all that talented outside of a couple, nor do we want to see a bunch of moves being made trying to shore this team and end up with another era of 'bubble bobble' as I like to call it - inside playoffs, outside playoffs, and no real playoff success.
The moves not made made me happy today. Was really worried that Conroy was going to really make a few moves to shore up the team artificially. I think internal grown leaning into what the Flames are good at is the key long-term here. They are elite at it, so this makes me very optimistic.