[News] Darren Dreger: "I’m confused by the direction of the Calgary Flames."

[Caged Great]

Apparently if you do not follow the Edmonton Oilers model for success (TM) then you're not doing it right.

The Flames will suck this year regardless of whether Gaudreau and Bennett are in the lineup all year or not. The difference is having a backbone an not willfully playing like garbage to get a top pick. We will be a bottom 5 team either by tanking or by playing all out. I'd rather they have good habits next year and the year after and the year after than follow the Oilers model for success.

[Finger Cookin]

Dreger's no good. He's unlike so many in this community who have talked of tanking for MacKinnon or McDavid over the last two years, down to which catchy rhyme is best. The difference is marked and distinct. It's not like there was a thread made just today with many replies with people waxing philosophical about the pros and cons of drafting McDavid before the preseason is even finished. Damn you Dreger.

[The Fonz]

LOL @ Dreger.
Mr. 'Edmonton will make the playoffs, it's just basic math'

All I could think of when reading this article was, the Flames are trying to add Leddy, and Dreger is upset because 'Cousin Nonis' is also trying to add Leddy.

[btimbit]

Yeah because it's worked so well for the Oilers?

There's a LOT more to building a competitive team than first round picks. You have to draft well in the later rounds too, while still developing and improving those prospects. Attitude and culture are huge. You don't promote winning by purposely not giving the team the pieces they need, on the off chance that they win a lottery top 3 pick.

Have to walk before you run, Dreger. It's just basic math.

I mean, if Treliving traded away our 2015 1st or 2nd rounder for some veteran, THEN what Dreger is talking about would sort of make sense. But, anything else that makes the team better is a good move.

How did he become a hockey analyst anyway?

[Calgary4LIfe]

What confuses me is that Dreger is even talking about. We traded a 3rd for Bollig (who is young, and you can say will help protect the kids).

I don't think Treliving is going to trade a high pick or prospect for a veteran defencmen. It is either going to be someone young, or it is going to be signing Diaz.

[JetsFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Dagger

Care to back that up with some evidence?

Empirical evidence is still evidence. I would add that it's difficult not only to determine how much success varies by drafting 1-2 compared with drafting 3-10, but also how teams like Detroit and Los Angeles managed to win multiple cups without drafting superstars in the top 10. Of course LA drafted Doughty, but who else did they draft in the top 10 that put them over the top? Hickey? Schenn? They acquired the players that put them over the top, ie: Gaborik, Richards, Carter. There is no magical formula for winning the Stanley Cup, so of course it's difficult to determine in the long run the effect of drafting in the top 10 on a team's chances of winning the Cup. Why don't YOU do the math if you want evidence?

[The Fonz]

“They have drafted well. Sam Bennett is going to be a very good NHL player. The jury is still out on Johnny Gaudreau. Man, he makes sensational, creative plays right now, but is he ready to jump? At some point the expectation is he’ll be ready to be a good NHL player. You’ve got Sean Monahan, who is readying for his second season.

“Like, stay in that theme. I don’t know. I’m confused by the direction of the Calgary Flames. They keep talking about adding a defenceman to improve their blueline. I don’t know if that’s just a sales pitch to keep the market hungry or not...

"Stop trying to get Leddy from Chicago!! Let my cousin have him!!"

[Blaster86]

If you look closely you can see Nonis' lips moving.

[Timbo]

Sometimes I wonder if Darren Dreger and Eric Francis are not the same person with elaborate mission impossible masks.

[Nme-Territory]

I don't get the animosity towards the comments, other than because they came from DD. I'm fully in support of ripping Dreger in general... but to me it sounds like he is repeating what many, if not most, posters here have said time and time again. This is no time for a win-now mentality.

What I do question is his statement that Treliving is looking for an older defenseman to help the team out now, and not in the future. Is there evidence of this?

If this assertion is true... it IS confusing. Why make a win-now move when all the rhetoric is consistent with maximizing the future of the team? Can you imagine the uproar if we acquired a d-man nearing his prime (and maybe even for some of our future assets?!). I might die from the confusion, it would be that bad.

In the end, I highly doubt such a trade or signing is in the works... it would be too confusing.

[The Fonz]

Originally Posted by Nme-Territory

What I do question is his statement that Treliving is looking for an older defenseman to help the team out now, and not in the future. Is there evidence of this?

Unless I missed it, Dreger never said "older" when describing the dman.

Leddy is 23.

[Fire of the Phoenix]

I think a lot of things confuse Dreger

[manilow78]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

I used to want us to lose to pick up a top pick. Specifically MacKinnon. I was on the whole no winnin' for MacKinnon bandwagon. But I dont think its good, especially now that we have players with the big club who will play a significant role in the future of the team. Brodie, Backlund, Baertschi, Gaudreau, Granlund, Ferland, will all be playing on the Flames at some point in the season and if we are being owned 4-0 every night its A) not a good way to learn IMO. B) Kills confidence (important with youngsters) C) It will ruin our teams reputation and ability to land big FA's when we need to down the road. D) Its very oiler-like and if you ask me its part of the reason Hall, Eberle, Yakupov, RNH and a few others havent been as good as they should have been in the NHL thus far.

I would LOVE McDavid, or Eichel. But Hanfin, or Kylington will be just fine if the choice is building a losing environment and basically the equivalent cheating imo - trying intentonally to do worse than you can, to be rewarded after the season with a higher rated young player.

In short - players like Ekblad, Mackinnon, McDavid - they dont come around often and they do make me drool just imagining them on our team...but its NOT WORTH IT. Especially since a lot of times in a deep draft; guys like Monahan, Bennett and Drouin, etc and others who go just after the top 2-3 picks turn out to be the best players in the draft. Who knows what will happen. Lets not lose on purpose though. Thats no good.

Agreed! But tanking is a very grey term. I am a Jets fan and was so disappointed last night. Our goaltending is going to be awful this year! So do we fix it or not?

I think Calgary would be wise to get rid of some players that are just not a part of their future. Wideman would be an example! So is it tanking to dump Wideman and let a younger defenceman develop? If he isn't part of your future and you move him then maybe you drop a few spots as you develop someone new but you may pick up a better draft choice for your future. So what does it mean to tank?

Calgary has some great prospects right now. Gaudreau looks good, Monahan, Bennett, etc., but I still think they are well short of the top 5 teams in the West. Add Eichel or McDavid and I think you could be a heck of a lot closer.

I would just play the young talent and see what happens. I saw 5 games last year and the team was so much more entertaining than when Iggy and Bouw were mailing it in. I will go to another 5 or more games this year based on the young talent I saw last night. Who knows? I could get to like this team more if Winnipeg doesn't tank and get Eichel or McDavid!

[Nme-Territory]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

Unless I missed it, Dreger never said "older" when describing the dman.

Leddy is 23.

True. I guess I was trying to say that a win-now move would likely be a D-man near their prime. Leddy on the other hand would be nearing his prime when this team is expected to be competitive. To me, Leddy helps in the future more than the present.

[JetsFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Nme-Territory

I don't get the animosity towards the comments, other than because they came from DD. I'm fully in support of ripping Dreger in general... but to me it sounds like he is repeating what many, if not most, posters here have said time and time again. This is no time for a win-now mentality.

What I do question is his statement that Treliving is looking for an older defenseman to help the team out now, and not in the future. Is there evidence of this?

If this assertion is true... it IS confusing. Why make a win-now move when all the rhetoric is consistent with maximizing the future of the team? Can you imagine the uproar if we acquired a d-man nearing his prime (and maybe even for some of our future assets?!). I might die from the confusion, it would be that bad.

In the end, I highly doubt such a trade or signing is in the works... it would be too confusing.

You don't want your young guys to think losing is acceptable. I don't understand how this is so confusing, the Flames have been pretty upfront about that. Using Edmonton as a shining example of how to transition a team is pretty moronic on Dreger's part. There is no evidence to support Edmonton's model as a successful one. Detroit, on the other hand, is a shining example of a winning culture. They don't blow it up, they just keep adding pieces gradually and they're always in the mix. I think adding another d-man is a "don't suck" move, not a "win now" move. Obviously, you still have to lose to get to the same level as Detroit. But you still have to try to win even if you don't. You have to get better year after year, not worse. Just look at our neighbours to the North. It's like Groundhog Day

ps. Oilers are no good

[GreenLantern2814]

Remember last year when keeping Monahan up was going to cost us our shot at a top five pick?

[ThatsRobbery]

Ridiculous statements from Dreger. Treliving getting Raymond and Setoguchi creates competition for the young guys to have to earn their spots and not just thrown to the wolves like up north. IT also lets young guys who make the team get more sheltered minutes, like we did with Monny last year.

Also our weakest depth in terms of prospects is defense. Adding a 23-year old Leddy or 26-year old Bartkowski for a reasonable price is helping building that depth. Hell even if we got Boychuk, he's only 30, not too old really and a solid defensemen to help for the next few years.

[Hackey]

I completely agree with continuing the path were on. This team would look pathetic moving forward without our 4th and 6th overall picks. Let's continue drafting and developing well and stray from trading picks or prospects for players who are closer to the end of their career than the start. People really need to give the Edmonton example a rest. It's such an easy cop out answer that people just use as a default answer for everything. If the Flames somehow have a couple more top 5 picks that will somehow make everything we've done right these past 2 years crumble? Edmontons issues run waayyyyy deeper than having high draft picks. That doesn't even make sense. Those top picks are really the only positives they have.

[Kobasew7]

I am not for tanking, but just comparing it to Edmonton is foolish. Washington, Pittsburgh, the Islanders and the list goes on and on got out of their rebuild after a few high draft picks. Did they tank? No, not necessarily. They stunk and their GMs made sure they never sacrificed future for now when it was clear the now wasn't very good.

If Dreger is simply saying "just tank" I disagree. But I didn't read it as that, I read it as don't do something dumb to try to improve now when standing put and allowing things to play out could improve you more in the long run. If we can give an aging player for a prospect that we would insert into lineup and help us now, OK... cool. But don't do something dumb to pretend to the fanbase that we are cup contenders already.

[Da_Chief]

“Like, stay in that theme. I don’t know. I’m confused by the direction of the Calgary Flames. They keep talking about adding a defenceman to improve their blueline. I don’t know if that’s just a sales pitch to keep the market hungry or not, but – to your point Mike – I think they might surprise some teams who take them lightly this year, but they shouldn’t if they want to stay on the path of adding players through the draft and getting better long term.”

If you're this so-called hockey insider...wouldn't you know if that is legit or just a "sales pitch". You would've heard some whispers or nothing but then again is he has his head so far up Nonis' arse in la la land that this proves this dummy is no good.