Gelinas "It's going to be a struggle this year"

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Just beat the Oilers.

Other than that, my expectations are very low.

It will be a struggle, and this team will mostly suck.

Just please beat the Oilers.

[RedMileDJ]

Originally Posted by BACKCHECK!!!

Just please beat the Oilers.

And the Canucks.

[MisterJoji]

Originally Posted by OzSome

I think this team will surprise a lot of people at the end of the season. Are they going to make the playoffs? Probably not.

I agree. They probably won't make the playoffs, but losing some of the country club attitude, gaining a lot of size and grit, and having spots for young guys to step up should make this team entertaining at least. And you never know, if Ramo's legit and we have a few guys exceed expectations, the playoffs aren't completely unfathomable.

[calgarywinning]

What's not to look forward to? May be a tough season but I love watching Hockey. Last year was great to be a flames fan as we got to see every opposing backup goalie in the league. Why should this year be worse?

It will be a relief not to have the tensions tempered with hopeful expectations only to be disappointed. Instead I will enjoy the youth development for certain. Nice change. Almost enjoyed the latter half of the shortened season.

Either which way, Gelinas may be under promising and hopefully delivers anything more than we can expect in a rebuild time.

I agree with the country club attitude. Hopefully work ethic, team work and people playing for the C is where we are going.

[BigRed]

Originally Posted by OzSome

I think this team will surprise a lot of people at the end of the season. Are they going to make the playoffs? Probably not.

I hope not. A couple of top 3 picks is what's best at this point.

[Yoho]

It would have been more of a "struggle" if we kept things rolling with our aged veterans.

At least these young guys will respond to coaching..

[edslunch]

I don't know, last time I looked the team was still pretty full of younger veterans. It's not like they're going with 6 rookies. I agree they'll struggle though.

[FAN]

I wouldn't read too much into it. A lot of coaches would look at the roster and not be too excited about the team's prospects. Gelinas is a guy with over 1200 games of NHL experience. He's been on enough teams to know that teams with a lot of young players are bound to struggle even ifthe team proves successful.

[dammage79]

Of course it's going to be a struggle. The youth injection provides enthusiasm and heart but it comes at the price of experience. Fair Trade off at this point IMO. All I want this year is the team to gel over the course of the season and to make each game as tough on the opposition as possible. Learning Systems and the pace of the NHL game is not going to be easy.

Just be competitive night in and night out.

The bonuses over the course of the season would be one of the import goalies breaking out and some of the kids to take positive strides and show they belong. I'm looking at players like Berra, Knight, Sven and on a long shot, Monahan.

Would also be a bonus if David Jones regained his scoring touch and Galiardi becomes a mainstay.

Hartley and company are going to need to be patient with the kids.

[Enoch Root]

This was a flippant response to a guy at a car rental agency - it would reflect his current mood more than anything else (and he is in the process of renting a car, which is right up there wit going to the dentist).

If asked for an actual response, you would hear him say things like: we have challenges ahead of us, but we also have opportunities, etc etc

This is one of the worst pieces of non-news trying to be turned into news I have seen in a while

[calgarybean]

August can go away at anytime now....only need to hold on and read gripping threads like this for a couple more weeks.

Wonder what kind of car he rented? Dodge Avenger?

[Iniggywetrust]

Originally Posted by fotze

Fans like you are exactly the reason ownership drifted 4 years in the wrong direction.

Fans like me? Fans who would hope that even though things are looking like they aren't going to go well this year, at least the coaching staff would have optimistic view of things. No matter what form of business you are in, you hope to have success.

I'm pretty sure that most of us who have a job would have our commitment questioned if we said "I don't think this project is going to go well."

I'm not unrealistic about what's going to happen this year. We will probably see a lot of games where we will be the laughing stock of the media outlets.

I'm not hoping for "I think we are going to have an awesome year and it's cup or bust." but I would at least think a response of "We have some young guys, and if things go well, we could surprise."

Don't pain with a fan boy brush because I'd like some positivity from the guys who are suppose to be leading this team.

[Iniggywetrust]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

This was a flippant response to a guy at a car rental agency - it would reflect his current mood more than anything else (and he is in the process of renting a car, which is right up there wit going to the dentist).

If asked for an actual response, you would hear him say things like: we have challenges ahead of us, but we also have opportunities, etc etc

This is one of the worst pieces of non-news trying to be turned into news I have seen in a while

It's not the fact that he responded that way, but that that is his mind frame even before the season starts. Yes, it may have been an off-the-cuff answer to a generic question, but if that is how he is feeling, then we have already lost before the season started.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Iniggywetrust

It's not the fact that he responded that way, but that that is his mind frame even before the season starts. Yes, it may have been an off-the-cuff answer to a generic question, but if that is how he is feeling, then we have already lost before the season started.

Gelinas's answer to me is not saying "lost before the season started", it's saying its not going to be about wins or losses.

For me this year is about where the younger veteran group fit going forward. Its more like a year long try out to see if they are the right fit to help the young prospects that will be coming in 2014/2015.

[Alberta_Beef]

If I met a member of the Flames staff and they told me it would a struggle this year my response would be as follows.

"Well no s***! This year is going to suck hard."

[liamenator]

Every single 82 game season is a struggle for every single team in the league.

[playmaker]

Originally Posted by Iniggywetrust

Take it for what it's worth but a buddy of mine works at a car rental place and rented a car to Gelinas. He asked him how things were going for the upcoming season and Genlias replied with "It's going to be a struggle this year, we have a lot of young guys with little experience."

How much success can a team have when the assistant coach has that kind of frame of mind? I'm sure he isn't saying that to his players, but if we're hoping the team surprises people, and the coaching staff are part of those people, it makes it tough.

So here's a possible staring lineup for next year, together with rough number of NHL seasons under each player's belt.

Cammalleri(10) - Backlund(4) - Hudler(7)
Glencross(8) - Stajan(10) - Stempniak(9)
Baertschi(1) - B.Jones(5) - D.Jones(6)
McGrattan(6) / Jackman(8) - Horak(2) / Knight(0) - Galliardi(5)

Giordano(7) - Wideman(9)
Brodie(2) - O'Brien(7)
Russell(5) - Butler(5) / Smith(3)

Ramo(2)

Now somebody please explain how "lack of experience" is the problem here ? It's clearly not.
It is ridiculous how often a rebuild mode is being mentioned, where in fact our future core will likely see very little NHL ice time.

This is IMHO what a rebuilding lineup would look like:

Glencross - Stajan - Baertschi
Gaudreau - Backlund - Bouma/Nemisz
Hanowski/Galliardi - Monahan/Reinhart - Granlund/Agostino
McGrattan/Ferland - Jones/Knight/Horak - Aliu/Bancks

Brodie - Breen
Giordano - Ramage
Wotherspoon/Cundari - Carson/Sielloff

Ramo/Berra

I may be wrong but to me it seems that the Flames still live in the shadow of young guns era, afraid to sacrifice one or two seasons to gain an advantage in the long run.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by playmaker

I may be wrong but to me it seems that the Flames still live in the shadow of young guns era, afraid to sacrifice one or two seasons to gain an advantage in the long run.

I don't think that's it at all.

1) simply throwing out all the kids is not necessarily a good way to develop them - having some vets around can really help

2) I think it is also just a case of the kids not being ready yet. We are so early into the rebuild that the prospects haven't started graduating to the NHL yet.

Gaudreau and Agostino would be challenging for spots if thy weren't still in college

Sieloff, Wotherspoon, Reinhart, Ramage and Cundari, to name a few, all could use some time in Abby before cracking the lineup

Monahan is borderline, simply because he is 18

That alone is 8 guys that could be in the lineup next year or the year after. And there are a few other candidates as well.

The Flames will be one of the youngest teams in the league next year and the year after. I don't see the organization as being afraid, I simply see the kids as not quite ready for the invasion yet.

And in a couple years' time, you can add Jankowski, Gillies, Poirier, Klimchuk, Arnold and others to the mix.

In three years, it will be a very young team.

[browna]

Of course I think this is the case, and I think Feaster and Co. are probably more worried than will ever let on, at least at this point.

I truly think they thought that they would've acquired some more talent this offseason between trades, jumping on buyouts, and UFA's in general. A miscalculation on the prices, and the realization is setting in that this is going to be worse on the ice and off. Also, I think its been made clear, how, already, and going forward without something changing, how far the Flames repuatation around the league and the NHLPA, is now in the crapper.

Thus, it's harder to attract and convince those players that Feaster wants/needs to come here to compliment the younger guys, to come here. From one of the more desirable places to come and play, to now reaching Edmonton type depths in a few short years. Sad as a Calgarian and Flames fan, and makes the GM's job that much tougher (though he's done his part in making this bed).

Saying all that, will be interesting to see the "slogan"/how this team is going to be marketed this year. Not a peep on that yet from the upper offices with only a couple weeks until training camp. I don't think they want to talk about the full-on youth movement just yet because I think they want/need to get some more 29-32+ year olds to feel semi-comfortable with the roster they will throw out/have as depth, night in and night out.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Iniggywetrust

It's not the fact that he responded that way, but that that is his mind frame even before the season starts. Yes, it may have been an off-the-cuff answer to a generic question, but if that is how he is feeling, then we have already lost before the season started.

The attitude (even as misrepresented as you try to make it out to be) of an Asst. Coach will likely have little to nothing to do with how the team does especially with the lack of talent we are throwing out there.

Gelinas saying to your buddy that the team looks great and will be awesome this year will likely result in roughly 0 goals for, 0 goals against and 0 wins.

We have already lost before the season started because the team isn't close to good enough on the ice not because of a true, flippant comment while a guy is renting a car.