STH meeting @11:45

[Finger Cookin]

Originally Posted by Tyler

"Further along" is the new "soon"

"Soon, the new arena will be further along than it was before."

[dammage79]

Someone should ask about the Russian factor and if that carries any weight in this year draft class.

[DeanOMac]

I was there. A great event (good food, some fun banter between the speakers), but no Earth shattering news. I have posted random thoughts that came to me. These points were either in response to a question, or part of their initial speech.

Treliving: - Will not move into the top 5 at the draft, due to price (well he wasn't so definitive but it was implied as such). He added to be in the top 5, you went through a lot of pain the season before and to trade the pick away is very difficult at that point.

- Willing to move up or down depending on price (outside the top 5 as I mentioned above).

- Sven was going to Europe if we didn't trade him. Nothing new here, but reiterated that Vancouver's offer was significantly better than anyone else's.

- Intend on getting bigger organization wide.

- Stockton will play the same system as Calgary, as will Adirondack.

- Jankowski will pay his Senior year at Providence. This past year was his best year of development since being drafted. Will go pro next year, so expects a big year from him.

King: -Wanted to show us the PowerPoint presentation they have for the arena but is unable to. You could tell he REALLY wants to share more, but just can't. Says taxpayers will be happy with the deal in the end.

Burke: - Thinks we might win only 1 of the 4 awards. Is proud of the nominees but thinks Hartley (will go to President's Trophy or Division winner), Gaudreau (Ekblad doing what he did at 18, is remarkable) and Hudler (just left the names Datsyuk and Kopitar out there, didn't elaborate) are in tough for their respective awards. Obviously hopes for more. Didn't make a specific comment about the Giordano award, so I suppose that is the one he thinks we will win. Or maybe he was just thinking the odds aren't great on any single one of them, but we might sneak one.

- Compared Baertschi's weight gain in this 1st year (1 pound) to Bennett's weight gain (14 pounds). Didn't provide a direct comment at Sven but you could tell he was hinting at work ethic or attitude.

[Coach]

I really think Hartley is a shoe-in for the Adams.

[lazypucker]

Originally Posted by DeanOMac

King: -Wanted to show us the PowerPoint presentation they have for the arena but is unable to. You could tell he REALLY wants to share more, but just can't. Says taxpayers will be happy with the deal in the end...

What a bunch of lies by Ken King! I am really sick and tired of all his "We are working on things," "We are really close to have everything finalized," "We already have concrete plans in place but can't be made public yet" shenanigans... Just put up or shut up!

[codynw]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I really think Hartley is a shoe-in for the Adams.

Yea, I don't see how anyone else is close. Making the playoffs alone he probably could have won it, but no Giordano for the last 25% of the season? He should be a lock.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by lazypucker

What a bunch of lies by Ken King! I am really sick and tired of all his "We are working on things," "We are really close to have everything finalized," "We already have concrete plans in place but can't be made public yet" shenanigans... Just put up or shut up!

Reading that it gave me visions of KK fiddling with wires and different types of cords to try and get a power point to work, ala a 9th grader trying to show his Mac presentation on a Windows school laptop.

[Cleveland Steam Whistle]

Originally Posted by MattyC

Reading that it gave me visions of KK fiddling with wires and different types of cords to try and get a power point to work, ala a 9th grader trying to show his Mac presentation on a Windows school laptop.

And reading lazypuckers post gave me visions of a 5 year old stomping around a candy store because they want to see the brand new lolly pop before it's ready.

[Caged Great]

They are content with the all of the coaching in both Calgary and the AHL. It is a lot easier to recall people from Stockton than Vegas or Adirondack (they were looking at Vegas).

They want to increase assets and will not make trades just because "we're one piece away". They are more than willing to use all their picks and realize that the pipeline has gaps after graduating 6 players to the NHL. Need to restock the pool so you have options down the road either by having those players displace current guys or to use those guys in trades.

They are not going to use free agency to solve all the problems. They are going to be very active to get quality secondary pieces, but are looking at all facets to find players.

Teams are going to be tight at the cap and it won't increase as fast as some teams were projecting, so there is an opportunity to get a quality player for cheaper than full price because teams need to find money to keep their own guys.

They are treating this like it is still a rebuild and that a lot of things went right for the Flames this year and will make changes to make sure that this team is on the right track for the long term.

[Robbob]

So Sam was 178 lbs at draft time. I am guessing he finished the season at 192 lbs with the 14 lbs Burke mentioned. I could see him breaking 200lbs by the start of training camp. Really excited by the progress so far.

[Huntingwhale]

Bart was going to Europe if the Flames didn't trade him? That should effectively put the nail in the coffin for anybody still debating we shouldn't have traded him.

[Caged Great]

There wasn't a ton of other info, it was rather short. There was only about 8 questions in all.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Huntingwhale

Bart was going to Europe if the Flames didn't trade him? That should effectively put the nail in the coffin for anybody still debating we shouldn't have traded him.

Going to Europe would have been better than losing him on waivers but to tell the truth we did well getting a second for him as I didn't see any future with us. Now Vancouver needs to give him a roster spot whether he earns it or not.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by DeanOMac

King: -Wanted to show us the PowerPoint presentation they have for the arena but is unable to. You could tell he REALLY wants to share more, but just can't. Says taxpayers will be happy with the deal in the end.

"Just gimmie a second here guys, the IT guy showed me how to set this up yesterday."

[JBR]

Originally Posted by DeanOMac

King: -Wanted to show us the PowerPoint presentation they have for the arena but is unable to. You could tell he REALLY wants to share more, but just can't. Says taxpayers will be happy with the deal in the end.

I would have been happier with "nothing to report today".

[Mccree]

IF anyone want to go tonight, my buddy dropped out and I am able to take someone.

[Iceman90]

Originally Posted by DeanOMac

King: -Wanted to show us the PowerPoint presentation they have for the arena but is unable to.

I should get him to slip me a USB drive. We could leak it.

[1qqaaz]

In Beartschi's defense, he didn't really need to gain that much weight. In terms of his work ethic, I don't think that was a problem. He was almost always the first on and last off of the ice for every practice. Burke also tends to exaggerate.

I think i was more his attitude (confidence) issues and support system that was the problem. Pretty glad he's gone if he was planning on going to Europe.

I am a bit surprised that they are content with the coaching in the AHL. I'm glad to hear that they are still treating this like a rebuild.

Thanks for the summaries

[LIP MAN]

Originally Posted by MrCallahan

Will be at the session tonight, hoping all the tough questions are asked then!

What time is the session tonight?

[Mccree]

Originally Posted by LIP MAN

What time is the session tonight?

6pm. I am heading down now.