[Canada 02]

I assume you can replace Armstrong and the Blues for Conroy and the Flames, and everything about this article is true for Calgary as well

“Yeah, I hope they go on a run,” Armstrong said. “I hope a lot of things. But hope is a bad strategy. The reality of our industry is, as a group, they’ve got to go on a run, so when the phone rings I say, ‘No.’”

Answering the phone and saying “No” is a reference to NHL teams calling the Blues and asking them about potential trades. That’s what it’s come to for the club, even 80 days out from the league’s March 6 trade deadline.

“I’m not doing this to threaten anybody, but as (former NFL coach) Bill Parcells said, ‘You are what you are,’ and right now we’re 28th in winning percentage, so everything has to be considered and addressed.

“The way the league operates, when we were a highly functioning team, you would call teams that weren’t highly functioning and say, ‘What are you going to do?’ We’re starting to field those calls that we don’t want to field. I can’t stop people from calling, and we’re not doing our due diligence if we’re not listening.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/689...shared_article