Yep, I understand this year was a lost year right from the start. I'm just saying these trades lock us into a lost year next year, and probably the next two at best.
Look, I said this was a personal opinion, and it really is. I've got boys 11 & 13. They're in the years where they become lifelong fans. And since they've become aware about hockey, the Flames have:
-Lost the best player on their roster to free agency (Gaudreau)
-Traded the next best player on their roster (Tkachuk)
-Traded the next best player on their roster (Lindholm)
-Traded their best player this year (Anderson)
-Traded my son's favorite player (Weegar)
Look... I know there are better players on the horizon. But we can also acknowledge this currently sucks. I can respect why the Flames management has been hesitant to do this. You're going to lose some fans now, and in the future.
So no, I don't want this team to bottom out hard. Was looking for a softer landing. But here we go.
If the Flames had added a free agent or two in the off-season, didn't trade any vets and played to their potential and finished in 16th place and made the playoffs to get swept by Colorado in the first round, where does the talent come from to be contenders one day? They clearly don't have enough talent now. They have some promising prospects, but not enough talent to get to the top of the league. They need to add to the quantity of picks and hopefully find a Gaudreau, Hull, Suter, Loob or Wolf in the later rounds. They need to find some top talent at the start of the draft. Then they can take a legitimate run at being a contender.
I am thinking/hoping that we have two more years at the bottom before we start to rise. By then, our young guys will be vets and ready for more. If we have a couple top 5 picks, they can be contributors, too. Once we start getting close to the playoffs, we can add some free agents and go for it.
I understand your fear that the Flames will be like Edmonton or Buffalo and wind up on the bottom for a decade or more, but I think the Flames have shown through their drafting and development that is not what they are.
The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Eric Vail For This Useful Post:
Just by the bye, I think it's crazy that Kevin Bahl is now the Flames' highest-paid defenceman. He probably deserves to be – but who had that on their bingo card?
__________________
WARNING: The preceding message may not have been processed in a sarcasm-free facility.
‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Jay Random For This Useful Post:
Just by the bye, I think it's crazy that Kevin Bahl is now the Flames' highest-paid defenceman. He probably deserves to be – but who had that on their bingo card?
If at the start of the 22-23 season you would have said all of Hanifin, Tanev, Andersson, Weegar, Zadorov, Lindholm, Toffoli, Dube, Pelletier, Mangiapane, Vladar, and Markstrom would no longer be Flames by the time the 25-26 season ended I doubt a single person on this site would have believed you.
And we might add Coleman and Kadri to that list by the end of the week.
Last edited by SuperMatt18; 03-05-2026 at 01:08 AM.
Yep, I understand this year was a lost year right from the start. I'm just saying these trades lock us into a lost year next year, and probably the next two at best.
Look, I said this was a personal opinion, and it really is. I've got boys 11 & 13. They're in the years where they become lifelong fans. And since they've become aware about hockey, the Flames have:
-Lost the best player on their roster to free agency (Gaudreau)
-Traded the next best player on their roster (Tkachuk)
-Traded the next best player on their roster (Lindholm)
-Traded their best player this year (Anderson)
-Traded my son's favorite player (Weegar)
Look... I know there are better players on the horizon. But we can also acknowledge this currently sucks. I can respect why the Flames management has been hesitant to do this. You're going to lose some fans now, and in the future.
So no, I don't want this team to bottom out hard. Was looking for a softer landing. But here we go.
I'm honestly not sure this trade makes them any worse next season the way Weegar has been playing. I get that its hard to explain to kids why your team is trading all their "good" players away.
Hopefully they get some lottery luck, this team needs a name to market
If at the start of the 22-23 season you would have said all of Hanifin, Tanev, Andersson, Weegar, Zadorov, Lindholm, Toffoli, Dube, Pelletier, Mangiapane, Vladar, and Markstrom would no longer be Flames by the time the 25-26 season ended I doubt a single person on this site would have believed you.
And we might add Coleman and Kadri to that list by the end of the week.
Take it back one year further and you can add a ton of guys. In fact, the only player left from 2021-22 is Backlund.
Just by the bye, I think it's crazy that Kevin Bahl is now the Flames' highest-paid defenceman. He probably deserves to be – but who had that on their bingo card?
I think it was a fair trade. I certainly don't think it necessitates increasing my font, bolding it, and colouring it to make a point though. Talk about dramatic.
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to bdubbs For This Useful Post:
It's hard to say goodbye to your favorite players. That pain should not be shrugged off or hand waved away. It's real pain. I get it. But there are brighter days ahead. Never lose sight of that. We've got some very nice prospects in the system, and Conny has a plan to add more. Let's give him a chance to see it through. It's looking like when new building opens up, we'll have several young talented players to cheer for and be excited about. Fun times ahead! Just gotta be patient.
Nothing to do with favourite players leaving nor do I need a pep talk.
My point basically was that Conroy had a plan originally to have the rebuild include certainly a character guy like Weeger (and others), who was willing to embrace some tough years these past few and probably a couple more. Not really what they signed up for when they were acquired but, ok, since Conroy made them promises of better days, they stayed. They, like Kadri, have told the press they wanted to be here because they do and have.
Problem is Conroy didn’t deliver those better days these last years with the help on the ice of these guys, and now he has chosen the option to cut these guys loose for whatever return he can get; cutting bait with the remaining quality players and veteran leaders who were willing to stay through this process with him from the start.
Fine, that’s a choice, and the difficult conversations have had to be be had, for Weeger, out of left field it seems, but the bigger thing to me is what confidence do we have that Conroy can go through this process again and do what he didn’t or couldn’t do last time with the assets he got and tried to use in trying to build the roster up along with the Weegers and Anderssons?
He didn’t weaponize cap space and now cap space is less of a concern around the league. He got some good players in return but overall this is not nearly the roster where he wanted to be when he took over from Treliving in 2023 and the team has all the excitement and anticipation of having a great team to open the new building 19 months away. He expected the light to be a lot closer, and moving towards it, but they are moving away from that light still.
If he didn’t think Kadri or Andersson or Coleman or Weeger were part of the answer, and on the roster for the start of the next era, he would’ve or should’ve ditched them all 2 years ago with Markstrom. He didn’t because they were going to be part of the solution. Not the solution of being trade fodder for returns of lesser versions of themselves and some decent draft picks, but to be on the ice as part of a new era.
This isn’t an indictment on Conroy, as I think he and the others in the executive had a plan for acquiring talent in various ways that allowed them to make legit and honest promises to the guys like Weeger and Andersson and the others, that made them believe they were going to be part of something good, which is why they stayed.
And, I think Conroy tried hard to make a lot of things happen that didn’t turn out. UFAs and trades that didn’t pan out etc that would’ve opened some eyes here maybe.
So in the end those plans failed these last 3 years, clearly. Harshly as it sounds though, again, what makes one think he can use or turn this next wave of assets and acquire the varied types of players needed for a quality well rounded team (vets or young guys) when he hasn’t been successful in those regards, as hard as he’s tried, these past years?
Nevermind will he or Huska be given the time to see this all out?
If he didn’t think Kadri or Andersson or Coleman or Weeger were part of the answer, and on the roster for the start of the next era, he would’ve or should’ve ditched them all 2 years ago with Markstrom. He didn’t because they were going to be part of the solution.
He didn't ditch Kadri because Kadri had a complete NMC. And he hasn't done so yet. He also hasn't ditched Coleman.
He didn't ditch Andersson or Weegar because he did not wish to leave the team entirely without experienced top-four defencemen. The team now has Bahl and Whitecloud stepping into those roles and performing quite well, though, of course, without the same offensive numbers.
There is no reason to believe that Conroy imagined all four of those players would still be effective contributors at the other end of the rebuild. Their principal function was supposed to be to help bring along young players, and insulate them from having to play the hardest minutes before they were ready; and they have done that.
Of course it's going to look like he's not following the plan if you were mistaken about what the plan was in the first place.
__________________
WARNING: The preceding message may not have been processed in a sarcasm-free facility.
‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
Also with a quick look it seems like the Coyotes held 42 picks over 4 drafts from 2021-24 which seems like the record. Flames are at 37 with more trades likely to come. Coyotes had 25 picks in the first 3 rounds and Flames have 20 currently, either one more first rounder held by the Flames.
This is the most rebiggly the Flames have ever sat.
I hope we don't have to wait as long to just barely scrape into the playoffs like Arizona/Utah...
I hope we don't have to wait as long to just barely scrape into the playoffs like Arizona/Utah...
Arizona made those picks from 2021 to 2024, and Utah is (in all probability) making the playoffs in 2026; and they might end up with a better record than any Pacific Division team, while still finishing fourth in their own division.
If the Flames make the playoffs two years from now, I will be sufficiently pleased.
The history of the Coyotes before 2021 is pretty much irrelevant. They sucked for so long, not because they couldn't pick good players, but because they couldn't afford to keep them. When your team goes bankrupt – multiple times – and gets evicted from its arena, and ends up playing in a 5,000-seat college rink, Sam Pollock and Scotty Bowman couldn't build a winner in those conditions. Say what you like against Murray Edwards, but at least he pays his bills.
__________________
WARNING: The preceding message may not have been processed in a sarcasm-free facility.
‘You see in Calgary, [Ryan] Huska is no joke. It’s good. He’s really set on a specific model defensively. If you can be reliable, you have the freedom to play offence.’
—Ethan Wyttenbach
My point basically was that Conroy had a plan originally to have the rebuild include certainly a character guy like Weeger (and others), who was willing to embrace some tough years these past few and probably a couple more. Not really what they signed up for when they were acquired but, ok, since Conroy made them promises of better days, they stayed. They, like Kadri, have told the press they wanted to be here because they do and have.
Do you actually know that Conroy had a plan to have a rebuild completed by 2028, and still have Weegar and Kadri here once the rebuild was done? Or are you assuming that?
Two years from now, Kadri will be 37 and Weegar will be 34. Their effectiveness will likely be diminished compared to now, but their cap hits will still be a combined $13.25M. So even if we follow your theory that Conny would've somehow had us in cup contention by 2028 if everything had gone right, would it have made sense to have 2 expensive, declining players on the roster if we're trying to win a cup? I don't know. Your theory doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.
What I think actually happened is that there was a plan to do a long term rebuild, and it started when Hanifin, Tanev, Lindholm, etc were traded. Then, unexpectedly, the Flames got out to a hot start last season (largely due to goaltending), and stayed around the playoff line all the way up to the trade deadline. This prompted Conny to keep the team together instead of selling vets, and gave the team a chance to make the playoffs. They finished a point short. Now, this season, with the poor start, and the reality setting in that this is not a playoff calibre team, Conny moved forward with the next phase of the plan which is to move out more vets to stockpile futures and set themselves up for a strong draft. They have flexibility as to what they'll do with those picks. They can move up, trade picks for players, etc. I have no doubt they'll do what's best.
But this idea that Conny could have kept Weegar & other vets, pulled trade or two, signed a UFA or two, and had this team in cup contention by 2028, seems very farfetched and unrealistic to me.
__________________
The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Mathgod For This Useful Post:
Out: 32 year-old right-shot D, who many would rank among the top 30 defencemen in the league.
In: 31 year old left-shot D, who many didn't even realize was still playing.
In: 20 year old unsigned prospect C, drafted in the 3rd round (70th overall) three years ago.
In: The currently-projected 35th, 47th and 50th overall picks in this year's draft.
On a team with zero offensive talent and zero offensive superstar F prospects, this is the kind of package everyone is happy to receive for our best players?
Traded our best defenceman on a very team-friendly contract to a playoff team entering their window of contention... a team with a plethora of young superstar forwards already on their roster and a pile of superstar forward prospects waiting in the wings... and we didn't come away with a single one of them. Instead, we get yet another veteran D to fill the void of the outgoing player, longshot prospect with maybe a third-line ceiling and three longshot draft picks.
Since 1963, only 313 players drafted in the second round have scored at least 100 points in their career. 313 players in 63 years of drafting. Only 69 players have scored 500 points. Only 8 players drafted in the second round have played 1000 NHL games.
...and this is what we're calling a GOOD/PRODUCTIVE/CONTENDER-BUILDING rebuild.
Anyway. Deadline's not here yet.
Saw join date and understood the age bracket this assessment came from . No surprise.
