[News] Sportsnet interview with Maloney (2-parter)

[Jiri Hrdina]

I think a good amount of this is that he's a bad communicator. Which is why it is such a mis-step to put him out there, not once but twice.

The concerning parts to me are:
- Confirmation that the team is worried about a Buffalo scenario. I understand this concern, and I think it is a valid risk of taking things down to the studs, but if the franchise is TOO worried about that, it will potentially lead to bad decision making.
- Related to this, but they seem to be hyper focused on culture. I am aligned to the fact that young players need good veterans to learn from. I would have said it that way. But it's hard to argue to retain a culture that has produced a team that is in last place. They should be asking themselves if they are too focused on that element.
- As discussed, I think probably the major worry is around Conroy. These interviews coupled with the lack of an extension for him.
- The talking down to the fans, is just a bad call and tone deaf. This includes the reference to "fantasy world". Bedard, Celebrini, etc being on the top of the scoring race is not fantasy, it's reality. Acknowledge it.


A small sign of hope
- We've heard the team wants to be competitive for when the building opens, and I think most of us challenge how realistic that goal is and how it could lead to bad decisions. However, what he says is "in an ideal world, we're hoping to have a little pop of momentum going into the new building" which suggests a more realistic goal or perhaps that the goal has been adjusted. Drafting a high end young player or 2 ahead of the building, can give you that pop of momentum.

I'm anxious to see
- What is in part 2 when it comes out later, though I doubt anything will be re-assuring
- What Friedman says tonight and when the pod drops Monday
- How the team responds tonight on the ice
- When do we hear from Conroy and what does he say.

Just a frustrating fumble by the team.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

- The talking down to the fans, is just a bad call and tone deaf. This includes the reference to "fantasy world". Bedard, Celebrini, etc being on the top of the scoring race is not fantasy, it's reality. Acknowledge it.

See, I chalk this up to the bad communicator issue, because my sense is that his intent wasn’t to talk down to anybody. I think what he’s trying to say is that is basically that it’d be nice just to be able to lean into the season and be guaranteed a franchise player, but it’s not that easy, so they have to just stay focused on what they’re building and if they end up winning the lottery and picking #1 and get a top level player, that’s best case scenario.

But it was a total messaging failure.

[Joborule]

It's incredible how this franchise is so abrasive in wanting to avoid being "Buffalo West", but so tone deaf to not see that they already are - or at least related. The Flames have been one of the worst franchises in the league for the past 3 decades with their lack of second round or better appearances, and wins in that round to pair with it. What exactly are they trying to preserve, that makes them so afraid of embracing the rebuild publicly?

Flames, you're already a joke. If you don't want to be "Buffalo West" anymore, then stop doing it by actually having competent management, and making the right decisions to field a competitive team that legitimately has a cup contending window for a period of time. Keeping their head stuck in the sand and maintaining status quo is just gonna keep yeilding the same results over and over.

The actions that have actually occurred in the past couple of years indicate that they are trying to go in the right direction for the most part. But what they're saying out in the public definitely disrupts that narrative, and raises concern. Hope it's just poker face intentions.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

See, I chalk this up to the bad communicator issue, because my sense is that his intent wasn’t to talk down to anybody. I think what he’s trying to say is that is basically that it’d be nice just to be able to lean into the season and be guaranteed a franchise player, but it’s not that easy, so they have to just stay focused on what they’re building and if they end up winning the lottery and picking #1 and get a top level player, that’s best case scenario.

But it was a total messaging failure.

Still. The worst of communicators can be media trained. Especially for a print interview.

It’s puzzling this is the second attempt and still the same narrative is coming out. That’s where it says to me it’s more than just bad communication.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

Still. The worst of communicators can be media trained. Especially for a print interview.

It’s puzzling this is the second attempt and still the same narrative is coming out. That’s where it says to me it’s more than just bad communication.

Haha I wish that were true. Some people are hopeless, especially bad communicators with big egos.

But don’t get me wrong. I 100% think it’s time for Maloney to go.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Did you actually find that interview insulting? Maybe I have a higher pain tolerance.

Yes I did, because there is little faith in the knowledge and understanding of fans in several of the comments.

Not sure what that has to do with pain tolerance though - I'm not going to lose any sleep over it or anything

[Rhett44]

Booing is a message to the players, don't boo they have nothing to do with this.

The only chant that would really send a message is "sell the team". Assuming that Maloney is just a mouth piece for ownership.

Those chants have happened in other sports and they get media attention and then changes might happen. But who knows.

[Igottago]

Originally Posted by Joborule

It's incredible how this franchise is so abrasive in wanting to avoid being "Buffalo West", but so tone deaf to not see that they already are - or at least related. The Flames have been one of the worst franchises in the league for the past 3 decades with their lack of second round or better appearances, and wins in that round to pair with it. What exactly are they trying to preserve, that makes them so afraid of embracing the rebuild publicly?

Flames, you're already a joke. If you don't want to be "Buffalo West" anymore, then stop doing it by actually having competent management, and making the right decisions to field a competitive team that legitimately has a cup contending window for a period of time. Keeping their head stuck in the sand and maintaining status quo is just gonna keep yeilding the same results over and over.

The actions that have actually occurred in the past couple of years indicate that they are trying to go in the right direction for the most part. But what they're saying out in the public definitely disrupts that narrative, and raises concern. Hope it's just poker face intentions.

Its absolutely maddening how unaware they are of their own ineptitude. Next to no playoff success over a period of decades, yet they want to preserve some mythical culture of winning. This will be the 4th straight season out of the playoffs, and if they dont manage to get more elite prospects into the system, who knows how much longer that could go on. They are already everything they are worried about. The period of suffering is already here -- its just a matter of whether they optimize and make it worth it, or they stumble through it and make it much more painful and long lasting than it needs to be.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by getbak

I agree with regards to the intermission interview. The fact that Maloney felt the need to do this follow-up with Francis is baffling.

They knew the game interview wasn't well recieved. They just don't know why and dug themselves further.

I don't know if Maloney is good at his actual job. What I do know is that tehre are people who are, including guys I know who are litigators - their job is to speak in court - who suck at this kind of stuff.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

See, I chalk this up to the bad communicator issue, because my sense is that his intent wasn’t to talk down to anybody. I think what he’s trying to say is that is basically that it’d be nice just to be able to lean into the season and be guaranteed a franchise player, but it’s not that easy, so they have to just stay focused on what they’re building and if they end up winning the lottery and picking #1 and get a top level player, that’s best case scenario.

But it was a total messaging failure.

This, exactly. It is difficult to underestimate how bad a communicator he is. If you view
anything and everything he says from the perspective of he will communicate it horribly inaccurately, you will sleep better at night.

On the bright side of things, I'm appreciative that the Francis interview was not an audio interview.

On the negative side, I'm worried Maloney triple downs.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Joborule

It's incredible how this franchise is so abrasive in wanting to avoid being "Buffalo West", but so tone deaf to not see that they already are - or at least related. The Flames have been one of the worst franchises in the league for the past 3 decades with their lack of second round or better appearances, and wins in that round to pair with it. What exactly are they trying to preserve, that makes them so afraid of embracing the rebuild publicly?

Flames, you're already a joke. If you don't want to be "Buffalo West" anymore, then stop doing it by actually having competent management, and making the right decisions to field a competitive team that legitimately has a cup contending window for a period of time. Keeping their head stuck in the sand and maintaining status quo is just gonna keep yeilding the same results over and over.

The actions that have actually occurred in the past couple of years indicate that they are trying to go in the right direction for the most part. But what they're saying out in the public definitely disrupts that narrative, and raises concern. Hope it's just poker face intentions.

Yeah, their fear of being Buffalo west, leaves them being careful, slow, and timid.

Professional sports are extremely competitive, and a salary cap only makes them more so. To be good, you have to be bold. FlA is bold. TBL and COL and CHI are bold. Careful is a slow death.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

- Related to this, but they seem to be hyper focused on culture. I am aligned to the fact that young players need good veterans to learn from. I would have said it that way. But it's hard to argue to retain a culture that has produced a team that is in last place. They should be asking themselves if they are too focused on that element..

In recent years, the Ducks, Blackhawks, and Sharks have iced some of the worst rosters, with the worst records, of any teams in modern NHL history.

Today, the players who entered the league on those teams are having fun playing winning hockey with other young talents. Their development doesn’t seem to have been harmed by being on terrible teams.

As long as you don’t let the young players run the show (like the Hall/RNH Oilers), or have a dysfunctional front office (like the Sabres), drafting elite talent leads to a winning culture.

[Rhett44]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Yeah, their fear of being Buffalo west, leaves them being careful, slow, and timid.

Professional sports are extremely competitive, and a salary cap only makes them more so. To be good, you have to be bold. FlA is bold. TBL and COL and CHI are bold. Careful is a slow death.

2 playoff series wins in two decades. Isn't this the same as Buffalo?

You can argue we have already been Buffalo west. They have not given the fans much to cheer about.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by liamenator

It remains baffling to me that they pulled Maloney from his closet office, where by his own admission he had been withering away waiting for the phone to ring, and handed him POHO.

Most of us hoped that he was just going to face of cleaning things up -- firing Sutter, hiring Conroy -- and then be put back out to pasture. But he's still hanging around. It's been clear for a while he does not have the chops for this role, and now they have an out. They should fire him before Christmas.

They probably won't do it, but as browna mentioned Murray has surely contemplated if not outright explored Shanahan's interest in the job that he almost took in 2013. I'm not sure it's going to appeal to him but maybe he's keen to get back in the game. If those conversations have been fruitful then it would make sense to wait on Conroy's contract. You let the new POHO make the call on the GM role.

The other scenario is that you "transition" Maloney into an advisory role and Conroy takes over as POHO with Pascall (or, God help us, Nonis) promoted to GM.

In either case, a change at POHO would signal to fans that Murray has signed off on granting full autonomy to Hockey Ops to tear this thing down as deep as they need to. They could message it however they want, but the actions would make it clear.

If, on the other hand, it's February and Maloney is still hanging around, Conroy remains unsigned, then we really are in nightmare scenario so many of us fear.

How about no POHO? I've never seen the usefulness of that position in any organization. Half the time it's when a team has a GM they want to fire but instead they invent that role for him.

[This post is terrible]

Have we heard from Sec214 yet? I’d be curious what insight they might have

[Rhett44]

Originally Posted by This post is terrible

Have we heard from Sec214 yet? I’d be curious what insight they might have

They locked him up in a cage with Conroy. He was giving us too much hope with his most recent gifs.

[GioforPM]

FWIW I almost never pay attention to what management on any team says. And often what players say contract-wsie. They lie or at least gaslight all the time.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I think a good amount of this is that he's a bad communicator. Which is why it is such a mis-step to put him out there, not once but twice.

The concerning parts to me are:
- Confirmation that the team is worried about a Buffalo scenario. I understand this concern, and I think it is a valid risk of taking things down to the studs, but if the franchise is TOO worried about that, it will potentially lead to bad decision making.
- Related to this, but they seem to be hyper focused on culture. I am aligned to the fact that young players need good veterans to learn from. I would have said it that way. But it's hard to argue to retain a culture that has produced a team that is in last place. They should be asking themselves if they are too focused on that element.
- As discussed, I think probably the major worry is around Conroy. These interviews coupled with the lack of an extension for him.
- The talking down to the fans, is just a bad call and tone deaf. This includes the reference to "fantasy world". Bedard, Celebrini, etc being on the top of the scoring race is not fantasy, it's reality. Acknowledge it.


A small sign of hope
- We've heard the team wants to be competitive for when the building opens, and I think most of us challenge how realistic that goal is and how it could lead to bad decisions. However, what he says is "in an ideal world, we're hoping to have a little pop of momentum going into the new building" which suggests a more realistic goal or perhaps that the goal has been adjusted. Drafting a high end young player or 2 ahead of the building, can give you that pop of momentum.

I'm anxious to see
- What is in part 2 when it comes out later, though I doubt anything will be re-assuring
- What Friedman says tonight and when the pod drops Monday
- How the team responds tonight on the ice
- When do we hear from Conroy and what does he say.

Just a frustrating fumble by the team.

Why do we care what Friedman has to say?

[Major Major]

Imagine being worried you'll draft top line talent and that you'll trade it away for scraps because they want a particular kind of surgery.

You don't just become Buffalo. It's not a realistic scenario if you have a shed of confidence in your own management ability. It's like saying I don't want to play tic tac toe because I'm worried I'll lose.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

The actual fantasy is that the Flames organization thinks they can somehow avoid the trials and tribulations that almost all Cup Champions go through. Why do the Flames think they can avoid this hardship and still achieve success? What has this organization demonstrated that would give fans this kind of confidence in them?

Flames management has been on record several times saying the Stars are the model they’re trying to follow. But how is drafting elite players with late 1st and 2nd round picks a strategy? Like, did Flames management give a powerpoint presentation to the scouting staff where they highlighted picks 15-60 and wrote “TRY HARDER TO DRAFT HOME-RUN PROSPECTS HERE”.

The overriding culture of this franchise for 30 years has been risk aversion. The ownership and braintrust seem motivated by a dread of being a bad team, not the long-term goal of building an elite franchise.

In a recent article on their emerging success, Utah GM Bill Armstrong credited the organization with having a long-term plan that involved “gutting” the roster and being willing to endure a lot of pain in order to build up a strong base of young talent. What is it about the Flames that they can’t come out and voice that kind of strategy? Do they think this market is really that weak and fragile compared to Anaheim, San Jose, or Utah?