Quote:
Originally Posted by cam_wmh
Before Edwards reign, many of us remember the Flames previous to 1994. A POWERHOUSE. Sure, some first round flops. But a constant top 5 team in the league for a decade.
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The Flames were a ‘powerhouse’ for about four years, beginning in the 1987-88 season. They stopped being a powerhouse within six months after Cliff Fletcher left the team in 1991. The Gilmour trade put an end to that. For the rest of the 1990s, they were on a steady decline that almost ended with the relocation of the franchise – and would have, if Harley Hotchkiss hadn't led the owners in battling for a hard salary cap.
That's the other thing. In 2004, the Flames were still Harley Hotchkiss's team. He sat on the Board of Governors and was the spokesman, not only for the ownership group, but for the owners around the league as a whole. I don't recall that he ever took a back seat to Murray Edwards on anything.
The idea that the Flames were a perennial powerhouse wrecked by big bad Murray Edwards the minute he bought an ownership stake… is simply gonzo. Those aren't the facts, and the facts cannot be made to support such a view without twisting them until they squeal.