Saddledome Event Recap - Brian Burke State of the Union

[dieHARDflameZ]

This is the first thread I have ever started but wanted to share my experience from a small private event I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to attend earlier today at the Saddledome.

We first got to watch the Flames practice from the Owner's box which was neat as all of the local media sat right in front of the box including Steinberg, Wills, Loubardias, Franklin and even our own favourite Eric Francis made an appearance. It was interesting to hear them discuss the teams recent success and how they see things playing out.

There isn't really much to say about the practice but what was really noticeable was how excited Lazar seems to be. You can tell he is itching to get into the lineup and is doing everything he can to prove himself to the coaching staff. He stayed out for some time once practice ended to work on a few different things with Paul Jerrard. Others that remained on the ice were Bennett, Tkachuk, Hamilton, Stone, Versteeg, Freddie and Johnson. Frolik was the last guy to leave the ice after doing a couple of suicides and stick handling drills on his own. His work ethic in everything he did on the ice was incredible. You can tell the team is having fun and are in a good place mentally right now.

One of the local reporters (mods can PM me for source) had a lot of interesting things to say about a number of Flames related issues both past and present to some of the other gentlemen sitting in the box and it was impossible not to overhear the comments:

- Dennis Wideman is the most hated guy in the entire organization. Twice in the past two weeks "Gully" has had to pull him into his office to ask him to simply be a pro and be a good soldier and a good teammate.

It was interesting to hear that because quite frankly watching him in practice, he is completely checked out.

- The difference between Gio and Iggy as captains is like night and day. The guys love Gio but when Iggy was here it was a 50/50 split. There was a very clear divide in the dressing room when Iggy was still here. Gio is the kind of guy that will say "we're going to go block shots with our heads or whatever it takes" and he'll be the first guy on the ice to go and do that.

After practice we got to go eat lunch in one of the conference rooms across the hall and Brian Burke was the guest speaker. He spoke for approximately 15 minutes and followed that up with another 15 minutes of questions before he had to go to a Flames team event. These are the things he mentioned:

- They see themselves as a playoff team and believe second or third in the division is achievable. He says they're confident they can catch both Anaheim and Edmonton but will need a bit of help to catch the latter. Top 6 in the conference is the goal and sets them up the best for success.

- They're still not sure why the Calgary NEXT project was met with such opposition from the city because the area will need to be cleaned up regardless. If he were a betting man he believes the new arena will end up being somewhere close to the current location of the Dome. He did acknowledge that we do currently have the nicest arena built in 1983.

- He does not sound confident that hockey will work in Vegas at all and doesn't seem to buy the notion that the league should be expanding when there's teams like Carolina, Arizona and Florida struggling to fill their buildings. Mentioned the last time Calgary played in Carolina there was something like 6000 fans.

- It sure sounds like Lazar will be protected in the expansion draft which was to be expected. Someone also asked directly if that meant Brouwer would be exposed. Burke said the organization loves Brouwer and what he brings and that he is a playoff beast and built for the post season and compared him to a horse in that when they smell water they start to move faster towards it. It sure sounds like the team is considering making a side deal to protect all of their assets.

- Lazar will get into the lineup as soon as the team loses. As long as the teams winning and stays healthy, he won't be in, that's just not the way things work. Says they love the kid and his energy that he brings and he's the kind of player they'd consider matching up against a player like McDavid. They don't see him as a 40 goal scorer or anything, they see him as a very effective third liner and sometimes all younger players need to get their games back is a change of postal code.

All in all, it was an awesome event and Burke was fantastic. I could listen to him talk and tell stories for hours. We are seriously lucky to have a guy like that in our organization.

[ZedMan]

Originally Posted by dieHARDflameZ

Dennis Wideman is the most hated guy in the entire organization

Huh, that's a bit surprising to me. Obviously I'm a complete outsider as a fan but from the quotes and videos the Flames produce players always seemed friendly with "Wides".

[dieHARDflameZ]

Originally Posted by ZedMan

Huh, that's a bit surprising to me. Obviously I'm a complete outsider as a fan but from the quotes and videos the Flames produce players always seemed friendly with "Wides".

Trust me I was shocked this guy was spewing stuff like this especially right at the owners box but that is word for word what was said.

He also said unless the team suffers a couple of injuries you will never see Wideman play another game for this organization.

[Cole436]

Not surprising about Wideman. I served a table of Gio, Stajan, Brodie, Versteeg and Wideman a few weeks ago and he was not a very likeable guy at all.

[Tinordi]

Iginla can't be a bad leader, he won a Messier award!

[curves2000]

The thing about Wideman I would love to know is that this seems to be a know issue with the media but not directly with the fans.

On the Fan 960 morning show last year during the end of the season I recall Elliot Friedman saying something along the lines of "there's mutual hurt feelings between player/organization" and than the guy's all kind of concurred it's just bad. I tried texting in right away for a clarification because it came across almost as a "you need to know to know" moment when in reality they are talking to a live listening audience.

A similar thing happened recently after the Bartowski/Stone moves when the morning show hosts were all talking about how bad the situation with Wideman. There seems to be a genuine dislike perhaps what was said when the team was in the Wideman situation last year.

It's kind of interesting but on a few times I wish I was able to get more info as to the exact situation.

[dieHARDflameZ]

Ya, The concencus seemed to be that he was just there to collect his 6 million dollar pay check at this point and would probably never see another game in the NHL let alone with the Flames.

It is pretty telling (if true) that Gulutzan has had to drag him into his office twice in the past couple of weeks just to ask him to be a good pro and soldier.

[saXon]

If the bit about Wideman is true above, then what Treliving set out to do at/before the trade deadline shows merit.

By doing so, he:

1. Made the team better on the back end
2. He righted the attitude in the locker room, on the ice with both the players and the refs, and throughout the fanbase.

both immediately before a huge playoff run to get this machine going. Based on this alone, Treliving should be extended. Burke was right, Tre bleeds red for this team, and it shows.

[Calgary4LIfe]

I am not sure I quite believe the division in the room during Iginla's last years here. I remember a number of new faces to the Flames not even being asked, but volunteering the information that "this is the most close-knit team I have ever been on". I swear one of those comments came from Anton Babchuk.

I at least take everything with a grain of salt when it comes from the media. Nothing gets more clicks than TMZ headlines. I am not saying it isn't true - I am just saying that I recall a number of players over the years that were new to the team saying stuff about how good that locker room was. Of course it could very well be that they were just making it up, but I specifically remember Babchuk not even being asked. It was a conversation about him re-signing on the Flames, and he went out and stated that he has never played on a closer team and that fact makes him want to stay in Calgary.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

I am not sure I quite believe the division in the room during Iginla's last years here. I remember a number of new faces to the Flames not even being asked, but volunteering the information that "this is the most close-knit team I have ever been on". I swear one of those comments came from Anton Babchuk.

I at least take everything with a grain of salt when it comes from the media. Nothing gets more clicks than TMZ headlines. I am not saying it isn't true - I am just saying that I recall a number of players over the years that were new to the team saying stuff about how good that locker room was. Of course it could very well be that they were just making it up, but I specifically remember Babchuk not even being asked. It was a conversation about him re-signing on the Flames, and he went out and stated that he has never played on a closer team and that fact makes him want to stay in Calgary.

It has been awhile but we did hear many reports about the room being more cliquey at the time and that's the general feeling I had as well. It's nothing against Iginla as we know he's a great guy but these things just happen in any work environment sometimes. Gio sounds more like the guy who came from the bottom up and everybody loves because he pulls everyone together from the top guys to the lower guys on the fence and leads by example.

[starseed]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

It has been awhile but we did hear many reports about the room being more cliquey at the time and that's the general feeling I had as well. It's nothing against Iginla as we know he's a great guy but these things just happen in any work environment sometimes. Gio sounds more like the guy who came from the bottom up and everybody loves because he pulls everyone together from the top guys to the lower guys on the fence and leads by example.

In addition to the fact that Gio is older, and has been on the team longer than the new young talent. They have been taking their cues from Gio since being drafted into the organization.

It's not just the leadership style, but perhaps moreso the right situation.

[Beninho]

Sounds like an amazing expeirnce!!

Uhh ####ing Wideman, take your salary and be happy with it. Gets paid to sit on his ass and still trying to bring the team down. Ya I know it's rumours but wouldn't surprise me. A veteran who is pissed off at not being able to play in a contract year. Should be the happiest guy in the world, has gotten extremely overpaid playing a sport, stfu and don't mess with the team.

MOD EDIT: You don't need to quote the entire first post, we know who you're responding too.

[Tinordi]

I hope that agents are honest with players regarding the possible downsides of the big contract which is what Wideman is currently going through right now.

Going for the max contract value with inflexibility is hedging that you'll be productive throughout the entire contract and if you aren't then the relationship sours both with the franchise and with the fans. I'm sure that to a pro-athlete with a huge ego that that message falls flat but it's something they should know.

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by ZedMan

Huh, that's a bit surprising to me. Obviously I'm a complete outsider as a fan but from the quotes and videos the Flames produce players always seemed friendly with "Wides".

We as fans will never know the true dynamic of a dressing room as much as we think we can gauge it. Wideman was considered a good guy before the incident and I don't know him so maybe he is a good guy. It still doesn't surprise me that he's possibly bitching and moaning, if he cared about the team he wouldn't of hit the ref. Don't give me the concussion excuse, he ####ing hit the ref man. Was a selfless act and damaged this teams reputation league wide. He obviously doesn't care about the team. If he did he would know the team is 7-0 without him so why the #### would he be given playing time after he shat the bed the whole year playing top 4 minutes? It's cuz he's selfish

[Frank MetaMusil]

Was it mentioned who the other player was pitting their half of the team vs. Iginla?

[GoJetsGo]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Iginla can't be a bad leader, he won a Messier award!

That was sure the big take-away from that great post.

Honestly, it's so tiresome what you do here. You're a boring, petty poster.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by Tinordi

Iginla can't be a bad leader, he won a Messier award!

Brian Burke's time in Calgary never overlapped with Iginla's time. Nor would a 50/50 number speak to Iginla's entire career with the C I'd imagine. Burke throwing shade on the previous guy to boost his up, I get it.

But by all means continue to go at it with that quote, can only imagine how tight ones pants got by the end of it.

[Beninho]

Release the Lazarus!!!

[Beninho]

Love the little tidbit on Frolik, dude works hard every game and obviously works hard as hell in practice. Brad definitely gets a check in the box for that signing in my books.

[Alberta_Beef]

In regards to Wideman, he just went from playing in the 4 hole to being a healthy scratch in a matter of about a week, one of the guys pushing him out was a recent AHLer. Hard to blame a guy for having issues finding motivation and being upset after that. Funny thing about athletes, they are real people with real emotions.