2013-2014 Season

[lanny9]

Sorry if this has been discussed in another thread already but I thought maybe it deserves it's own thread going forward into the Olympic break and towards the trade deadline.

This season as a whole is year 1 of rebuilding, I feel year 1 of 4 or 5 until respectability comes back to the organization(if not more). I know we all hate the Oilers and want to see them lose but do you not think it is in our best interest for them(or anyone for that matter) to be better than us for the next few seasons? We need the high draft picks, we want the Ekblads, Reinharts, Eichels and maybe McDavid(I am praying to every god for this!). But in order for us to secure our future we need to out suck them this year and every team next year for the best chance at what is called a generational talent.

Next year will be worse than this year imo, we will spend to the cap floor with AHLers and over pay some very crappy NHL players, we will not entice any talent to come here that can be employed elsewhere, not for a couple years at least.

I guess what I am trying to say is that this is going to get much worse before it gets better. Unless our mediocre talent over-achieves next year we should end up last overall and a great shot at that #1 pick. We need to be patient as this is going to take a few years for our prospect to mature and our top end talent that we should be drafting to make a difference.

How do you think we should play out the next few seasons. Who needs to be moved, how will we hit the cap floor, which of our UFA's do we offer contract to, which UFA's around the league should we go after(if any), who graduates to the bigs for us? And where will we be in the standings the next 5 years?

[codynw]

Draft Ekblad, sign Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy and Ryan Miller. Win Stanley Cup in 2015. Monahan for Conn Smythe trophy.

[lanny9]

Originally Posted by codynw

Draft Ekblad, sign Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Thomas Vanek, Derek Roy and Ryan Miller. Win Stanley Cup in 2015. Monahan for Conn Smythe trophy.

Ha, go for it year 2! lol

I think we will finish 2nd last this year, last next year, bottom 5 the next season and bottom 10 in year 4. Year 5 we should be making waves.

What we need, stud defenceman in Ekblad in this years draft. McDavid in year two or rebuild,(or Eichel should we not get 1st overall). Years 3 & 4 are harder to figure out for drafting until we see what we are able to pick up the next couple drafts and see how some of our prospects are developing.

I do not want Burke going after high priced talent in the off season as that will only help to slow down the re-build. Offer 1 or 2 year contracts to plumbers to make the floor but do not think what we have in the cupboard and a couple high profile(and high paid) older players are going to able to compete long term for playoffs in the NHL. We may even have to over pay the plumbers to make the floor and I would be ok with that if it means we stand a good chance at getting McDavid or Eichel.

[Caged Great]

If you think this team is bad now, just wait until 1/2 of our top two lines gets removed. Once that occurs, we will only have Jiri Hudler as a consistent scoring threat.

Additionally, the only types of UFA's we are going to be able to sign are more secondary players that couldn't get offers from great teams (or we will have to overpay).

We is going to suck long time. Fortunately though, we do have a bunch of quality depth guys coming up, so we shouldn't be scraping the barrel long. Probably just this year and next before pulling up.

[saillias]

**** McDavid. **** "we're going to be even worse next year" mentality. Let's see some tangible year over year improvement. Let's be in the mix for a playoff spot 2014-2015, and a real contender the following year.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by saillias

**** McDavid. **** "we're going to be even worse next year" mentality. Let's see some tangible year over year improvement. Let's be in the mix for a playoff spot 2014-2015, and a real contender the following year.

It's not a mentality, it's reality. I hate it, but we're going to suck next year too

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by saillias

**** McDavid. **** "we're going to be even worse next year" mentality. Let's see some tangible year over year improvement. Let's be in the mix for a playoff spot 2014-2015, and a real contender the following year.

I don't think that's possible even if Burke hits a homerun in the draft and free agency. This team isn't remotely close to being a playoff contender as it's borderline expansion team in depth and talent. Nobody has to be happy about the current state of the organization but expecting a playoff contender for 2014/15 is setting yourself up for disappointment. A stripped down to the core rebuild doesn't happen overnight and some teams like the Panther, Oilers, Jackets, Islanders never turn the corner into real contenders. We should be looking at a real (not a one and done like the Jackets or Islanders last year) playoff contending team in about three more years if everything goes well.

[Roof-Daddy]

Turning this thing around is going to be much more of a challenge just based on the division we're in IMO.

[nik-]

Originally Posted by saillias

**** McDavid. **** "we're going to be even worse next year" mentality. Let's see some tangible year over year improvement. Let's be in the mix for a playoff spot 2014-2015, and a real contender the following year.

Sit down, I've got some bad news for you.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by saillias

**** McDavid. **** "we're going to be even worse next year" mentality. Let's see some tangible year over year improvement. Let's be in the mix for a playoff spot 2014-2015, and a real contender the following year.

I don't believe in sucking to get better draft picks - that's a terrible way to run a team.

Realistically however, next year projects to be worse than this year. And no one should be surprised by that - the Flames are still in tear-down mode, they haven't even begun to start rebuilding yet.

Several more vets will be gone soon and few of the kids are close to being NHL-ready. And none of them are in a position to actually help the team be better.

The question is: what will Burke do about it? Will he go after guys this summer that will actually change the fortunes of the team? We'll see I guess.

[lanny9]

Originally Posted by nik-

Sit down, I've got some bad news for you.

lol, yes I think we all better sit down, take a deep breath and get ready for a very rocky season next year. We will lose what is our top line guys, without a doubt and what we can get coming back will either be draft picks, or more secondary guys. Our top end talent has to come from the draft right now, I don't see us competing for playoffs for another 4 years at least, unless as someone said we hit a homerun in drafting and they all develop at lightning speed.

[CaptainCrunch]

I've got some bad news for you

Its going to be a long time before the Flames are good again. In fact while your all stuffing your faces and getting fat at Christmas next year, the Flames will likely be behind the Oilers in the standings.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I've got some bad news for you

Its going to be a long time before the Flames are good again. In fact while your all stuffing your faces and getting fat at Christmas next year, the Flames will likely be behind the Oilers in the standings.

Let's not get carried away here!

[Caged Great]

I hate losing as much as anyone. However, there really isn't much that anyone can do about it. In order to be a contending team, you need to have 2 legit star players, 4 others that are decent top 2 line guys, 2 or 3 more that are also fairly good, and good 4th liners. Additionally, you would need Giordano to be at best a #3 and you need a decent goalie.

Currently from that above, we have 2 players that are quality 2nd liners at the moment in Monahan and Hudler (Monahan has the potential to go higher) no legit 3rd liners and any quality 4th liners we have are in Abby. Additionally, on defense, we have only Giordano and Brodie that would be good enough on a contender as long as they aren't the first pairing guys.

So 4 players out of 18 that are currently decent options and two of those guys won't be here when we are out of the rebuild. Yep, it's going to take a while.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

If you think this team is bad now, just wait until 1/2 of our top two lines gets removed. Once that occurs, we will only have Jiri Hudler as a consistent scoring threat.

Additionally, the only types of UFA's we are going to be able to sign are more secondary players that couldn't get offers from great teams (or we will have to overpay).

We is going to suck long time. Fortunately though, we do have a bunch of quality depth guys coming up, so we shouldn't be scraping the barrel long. Probably just this year and next before pulling up.

I think the Flames will be a better team when we trade away the vets who don't care.

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

I think the Flames will be a better team when we trade away the vets who don't care.

Same here. It'll make available the opportunities that several guys need to show whether they are capable of taking any of the open positions long term.

The only way the Flames manage to make the playoffs next year, is if Burke completely destroys teams on like 8 different trades. Not likely.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

I think the Flames will be a better team when we trade away the vets who don't care.

I don't think so.

There is a lot of fond memories of how good the team was last year after the Iginla and Bouwmeester trade but the reality was that team was pretty terrible and the few wins outside of the Edmonton game were very weak.

I think the team without the vets may be more fun to watch for many fans because at least there is some young kids giving us hope and losing because with effort instead of indifferent play but the team will be much worse without a gamechanger (even if it is only 10% of the time) like Cammy in there or a steady guy like Stajan playing passable defense against top line guys.

Win or lose it will be nice to get a read on some of the kids and how far along they may be in terms of contributing to a Flames team in the future. I was down on Reinhart for most of his time since the draft but in his short time up at the end of last year I saw a guy that looks like he could be an effective 3rd line guy. Hopefully I/we are encouraged by a few guys like that this year.

[OutOfTheCube]

You guys will have to work hard to outsuck us.

[moon]

Originally Posted by OutOfTheCube

You guys will have to work hard to outsuck us.

The Sabres players certainly seem to have turned off the care meter much earlier than the Flames and that may be enough to ensure that they finish last.

As many people have mentioned the "hardest" part of finishing last is to get the players to buy into it when they have not only 0 interest to get a high pick but often the exact opposite desire as they want to win games and look good individually.

The Sabres should be much better than they are though even with a moron like Roulston coaching them at the start of the season.

[FBI]

I'm ready for losses in bunches but I want to be entertained at least. No more shutouts.