Countdown Poll - Flames GMs

[Bingo]

not as many as the coaching list, but still a pretty interesting list when you look through the stability of Fletcher, the chaos of after and into the current structure.

Best of all time?

[Robbob]

Hard to give anyone else a look with Fletcher there. Going up against the Oilers of the 80's and bringing home a cup makes this easy for me.

[SuperMatt18]

Could Feaster actually be the second best GM we have had after Fletcher? Mostly since it is too early to judge Treliving one way or another.

Couple of main mistakes, but after Fletcher he was probably the best at drafting, and brought in a Jack Adams winning coach.

It kind of scares me to think of that.

[Lanny'sDaMan]

Yeah Cliffy will walk away with this round AINEC. I also agree with SuperMatt that Feaster is probably second best, only due to Treliving not having a large enough sample size yet. Everyone else is pure ugh IMO.

[JiriHrdina]

Should be 100%

[foofighter15]

I think Treliving will eventually fight with Fletcher as our best ever if he continues down his current path, but it's too soon to tell.
As much as I loved Sutter as a coach....I don't see him doing well in this poll

[Huntingwhale]

To be fair Sutter deservers a ton of credit for getting us out of the dark ages and reinvigorating Flames hockey in this city. He just went bonkers near the end.

Fletcher is #1.

[Finger Cookin]

Trying to decide early if CP hangs the worst GM title on Risebrough, Button, or Feaster.

[CroFlames]

1. Fletcher
2. Sutter
3. ?

Treliving's stock is certainly rising recently on this list, but as with Gio, I have a hard time picking him since the story is yet to be written.

[JiriHrdina]

Coates did a better job than he gets credit for, particularly given the economics of the team at the time. I'm not sure I can rank Darryl #2 as a GM due to both his poor draft record (mainly in the 1st round) and his 1 week of madness. I may put Coates there.

[FanIn80]

Wasn't Button responsible for most of the '04 team?

Mind you, it's all moot until the next thread anyway. I can't fathom anyone not voting for Fletcher in this one.

[gvitaly]

Definitely Fletcher. I just count playoff series and wins.
1.Fletcher 22 playoff series, won 12 of them for a total of 115GP.
2.Sutter 8 playoff series, won 3 of them for a total of 52GP.
-------------Evreyone Else--------------
3.Treliving* 2 playoff series, won 1 of them for a total of 11GP.
----------Flames Worst GMs------------
4.Risebrough 3 playoff series, for a total of 18GP.
Doug Gilmour, Jamie Macoun, Ric Nattress, Rick Wamsley, and Kent Manderville for Gary Leeman, Jeff Reese, Michel Petit, Alexander Godynyuk, and Craig Berube.

After that I think it is more of the worst GM, looking at who is left. It could be argued that this team is here thanks to Feaster, but too many close calls and bad trades during his tenture for me to like him as a GM.

*bit too early to tell

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Coates did a better job than he gets credit for, particularly given the economics of the team at the time. I'm not sure I can rank Darryl #2 as a GM due to both his poor draft record (mainly in the 1st round) and his 1 week of madness. I may put Coates there.

I'm surprised myself I ranked Darryl at 2. But he really changed the Flames in more ways than one, and did win 3 playoff series. Arguably 4. Brought in Vezina goalie Kipper for peanuts, can't be overstated.

But after 2005, it was downhill from there as GM.

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Should be 100%

Nothing's ever 100% when CMPunk is voting.

[browna]

One thing forgotten is that Fletcher had no salary cap, and unlimited funds for the most part from the Flames owners, and thus the Flames through the mid to late 80's were in the top 5 of salaries.

Absolutely robbed some teams, like St. Louis a couple times, but it was more for budgetary reasons on St. Louis than anything else.

[killer_carlson]

Fletcher was also one of the first GMs to sign free agents out of US college programs as well as take flyers on some US college players

If I recall correctly:

Otto
Patterson
Suter

Amongst others

He was years ahead of the league on that.

[Strange Brew]

I can't think of any logical reason to support someone other then Cliff.

Compare this list to the coaches list. On that list, you have 6 SC champions and at least one other guy (King) who I consider a very high quality coach. Guys that had success outside of the Flames and with the Flames.

Compare this to the GM list. After Cliff, Burke and Feaster there is not much success outside of Calgary. No one seems to give Feaster credit for Tampa Bay and Burke was only an interim GM with us.

Wonder why the Flames have had such limited success in the playoffs over the years? Take a look at this poll.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by JiriHrdina

Coates did a better job than he gets credit for, particularly given the economics of the team at the time. I'm not sure I can rank Darryl #2 as a GM due to both his poor draft record (mainly in the 1st round) and his 1 week of madness. I may put Coates there.

Agreed. Someone needs to do a comprehensive history of the status of the interconnected Canadian dollar, NHL payroll parity, free agency age, and Flames internal payroll cap before GMs can truly be judged.

[Dion]

For the team's first 10 years in Calgary, the architect behind those glorious teams of the 1980s was general manager Cliff Fletcher. Fletcher can also lay claim to having had the best ever draft for the Flames, which happened at the Montreal Forum on June 9, 1984.

At the 1984 draft, Fletcher drafted four players that would go on to play over 1,000 games in the NHL:

• Round 1, 12th - LW Gary Roberts (1224 games, 438-471-909)
• Round 2, 38th - LW Paul Ranheim (1013 games, 161-199-360)
• Round 6, 117th - RW Brett Hull (1269 games, 741-650-1391)
• Round 9, 180th - D Gary Suter (1145 games, 203-642-845)

Three of the four would be instrumental in the Flames winning their only Stanley Cup in 1989. Roberts and Suter were key parts of the team. Hull was traded to St. Louis in March 1988 and while that deal (Hull and Steve Bozek for Rob Ramage and Rick Wamsley) will always be criticized considering the hall-of-fame career Hull ended up having, Ramage and Wamsley would be integral pieces of that 1989 team. For the speedy Ranheim, he spent most of 1988-89 in the minors with his first full year coming the following season.

For good measure, Fletcher also selected 26-year-old Jiri Hrdina in the 8th round of 1984, one of four established Czechs taken that year by the Flames GM, who hoped they would either one day defect or eventually be released to play in North America. Sure enough, Hrdina did come over to the NHL and his parts of four seasons with Calgary included the Stanley Cup year.

http://flamesfrom80feet.blogspot.ca/...ft-primer.html

[Jacks]

We almost need a list of each GM's trades, signings and draft picks, it's hard to remember some of the moves that Coates, Button, etc. made after all this time.

Doesn't matter this round because anyone not voting Fletcher is obviously too young to have heard of him, can't imagine any other reason to vote for someone else.