A Retrospective on the Gaudreau and Monahan Era

[dying4acup]

I struggle with this. Thinking about Gio a lot, but he overlapped with iggy and kipper. He also missed 2 playoffs including the Flames only playoff win during his tenure.

[Winsor_Pilates]

I look at this core as Monahan, Gaudreau, Tkachuk & Gio.
All skilled players that delivered some great regular season memories and a couple good playoff rounds, but overall a big failure when it counted.

You just always felt they knew the opponent was better than them in the playoffs, that they weren't on the same level as the superstar across from them.

If I have 1 word to summarize how I'll remember them, it's Soft.

I don't know how this new core will workout, but there's definitely interest in seeing such a dramatic new change & for that I'm excited.

[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by flamesrule_kipper34

Do you mean 2019-2019? 2014-2015 was a fun team to watch but they didn't win the Western Conference in the regular season.

Separate things

[Two Fivenagame]

A ho-hum mediocre core on a team that spent to the cap every year. The core lasted far too long in my opinion. I'm glad it's finally over and changes were forced on the GM by the players involved. Too bad BT didn't have the vision/balls to do it himself.

[dammage79]

The era definitely left you want more and always a little bit of a sour taste.

It almost added all up but something just never seemed right.

[JohnnyB]

The early years with Johnny and Monahan offered the most fun I've had watching games as a Flames fan since 03-04. You could never count them out and they were so likable and easy to cheer for. I wish they could have done more damage in the playoffs to add to the fun, but I will always look back fondly on the period with those guys lighting it up on the ice and a fiery Hartley on the bench.

[Vinny01]

This era started off with so much promise. 2 years after Iginla was traded the team was in the second round being lead by Gaudreau and Monahan. I was guilty of thinking we had a Kane-Toews 2.0 on our hands. When Sam Bennett burst onto the scene in that playoff and looked really good I couldn’t help but think this team was on the fast track to contention which was boosted even more with the additions of Hamilton and Tkachuk over the next 2 summers. When Johnny dominated at the World Cup playing with MacKinnon I started to think we had a generational talent on our hands

The Gulutzan years gave me pause however and I soured on Hamilton and started to think this core needed a change. Treliving made a blockbuster deal that reshaped the core by bringing in 2 more players drafted in the top 5. I didn’t like the Bill Peters hiring at the time but was very very happy to see Gulutzan relieved of his duties.

The team then took off and looked like a contender in year 1. Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm formed one of the best lines in the league and Johnny was 25, Monahan/Lindholm 23/24 and Tkachuk was 20/21 and along with Gio all 5 scored between 74-99pts. It was unfortunate Sam Bennett was not moving forward and seemed stuck in a bottom 6 role showing only small flashes but mostly disappointment. A quick playoff exit had some wondering if that was a fluke season.

Over the next couple of years that were interrupted due to Covid saw big regressions across the board with the exception of Lindholm who really looked like a steal and was still significantly better than he had shown in Carolina. It got to the point many wanted change and to move Gaudreau and Monahan but Tree never pulled the trigger even though it sounded like he got close to doing so with Monahan.

Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk became the best line in hockey while the core players around changed quite a bit. Gio, Brodie, Bennett, all were gone while new guys stepped up. 2022 the team was even more successful than 2019 and while they got a win in the first round they suffered a devastating loss to their bitter rivals in round 2. Gaudreau had shown me enough that I wanted the team to pay him whatever it took but he decided to leave. Tkachuk does the same thing and Monahan is so broken his contract becomes a huge burden. He didn’t even play in the playoffs last year and was a non factor for the last 2 seasons.

Monahan and Gaudreau were the faces of the post Iginla years. We got 2 runs past the first round in Gaudreau’s rookie year and his last year. Since that 2019 run that saw the team win the division for the first time since 2006 the team has been completely blown up and retooled. I am quite happy with what has been done on paper and look forward to watching this new era to see what can be done

Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik
Bennett-Jankowski-Neal
Mangiapane-Ryan-Hathaway
Giordano-Brodie
Hanifin-Hamonic
Valimaki-Andersson
Smith
Rittich

To

Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli
Mangiapane-Kadri-Dube
Pelletier-Backlund-Coleman
Lucic-Rooney-Lewis
Hanifin-Andersson
Zadorov-Weegar
Kylington-Tanev
Markstrom
Vladar

3 forwards and 3 Dmen return (Kylington played 38 games that year and Vali is still with the team).

[dammage79]

Personally I want to know why they fell off the cliff and coasted in the Bill Peters year. That post ASG effort was gross.

Gaudreau completely shut the engine off and everyone else just followed suit.

That season was trending towards one of the greatest.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by dammage79

Personally I want to know why they fell off the cliff and coasted in the Bill Peters year. That post ASG effort was gross.

Gaudreau completely shut the engine off and everyone else just followed suit.

That season was trending towards one of the greatest.

Good question. They next year they sagged as well, got a bit of a bump from Ward and then relaxed again.

[cdnsir]

Purple Gatorade

[Young Guns]

I’ve never thought the Flames could win in the playoffs with Gaudreau as our core player. He was the guy unusually driving the play, not sure what last season would of been without him. Very exciting to watch but not a heart and soul kind of player. Watch Johnny on the Oilers series clinching overtime goal. Can’t win when your top player isn’t willing to sacrifice and relies on everyone else to do the dirty work.

[JohnnyB]

Before Sutter, Treliving made bad coaching hires. If only Gulutzan had never been part of the equation and Sutter had come two years earlier, I think we could have had a different kind of retrospective on that era of the team.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by saillias

More sad about Monahan, Gio and even Brodie than Gaudreau and Tkachuk. I agree 100% with Q's assessment specifically about those 2. Just feels like they were here as mercenaries. It turns out all the years of rumors and innuendo about them wanting to move on was absolutely correct. It's a relief to have it over with.

And now that he's gone I can say it- I won't miss the Tkachuk family's whole package deal thing and having to think Brady in the stands is cool and fun.

Boo this take. I thought it was great even in retrospect. The Tkachuks really invested the Flames for a spring and that was fun. Brady was great, and made the days of some young Fames fans hanging out in the stands. Can't remember where I saw them (hopefully didn't dream them) but Keith also had some good words about Calgary when Matthew went to FLA. Matty's heart may not have been in it here but his family gave us their allegiance for a while when there was no obligation to and that was cool.

Most of the disappointment should probably be directed at Matthew. His family was on board with the rest of us and he and Jonathan failed to deliver against an overrated team that doesn't play defense.

[Steve Bozek]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

I look at this core as Monahan, Gaudreau, Tkachuk & Gio.
All skilled players that delivered some great regular season memories and a couple good playoff rounds, but overall a big failure when it counted.

You just always felt they knew the opponent was better than them in the playoffs, that they weren't on the same level as the superstar across from them.

If I have 1 word to summarize how I'll remember them, it's Soft.

After listening to the Gudbranson interview, I don’t think Monahan deserves the “soft” label.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

I think coaching and goaltending were the biggest recurring problems of the era.

I also share the sentiment that the core was not 'tough' enough. But that toughness is usually built through playoff experiences. This team's inability to frequently make the playoffs (see coaching/goaltending) gave them little to build on. Every time we made the playoffs, it felt like a 'first' since the previous appearance was years ago.

You watch a team have a couple of those 'make the playoffs, then outside for a few years' cycles and suddenly here you are watching a core that's 6-8 years older and still 'inexperienced' with high level competition.

[TheSquatch]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

After listening to the Gudbranson interview, I don’t think Monahan deserves the “soft” label.

Monahan's totally "soft" in that he was never, ever, a physical player. No one ever feared being crunched by Monahan in a corner. So you can for sure say he played a "soft" game, even at his best. In fact, that was his magic - he'd find a tiny seam and own it, score from it. Being non-physical was his gift.

But "soft" in terms of being a wimp or something? Hell no, dude played every year on broken bones, torn tendons, he probably wasn't communicative enough actually, about his physical condition, and it seemingly has resulted in a perpetually injured player.

Soft to play against is not the same as "not a tough guy".

This team has been soft. They were not a hitting team until Sutter took over. Hartley's Flames never hit. Gulutzan's Flames never hit. They were dancers, just... not very good ones.

[FanIn80]

Fans last off season: OMG blow up the core!
Flames: Nah, let's keep em together

Fans this off season: We need to re-sign this core!
Flames: Nah, let's blow it up.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by _Q_

Maybe it's age for me, but I've said this before, and I'll say it again - I never really cared for this version of the Flames for some reason. The Fleury led years were fun. It was tough to cheer for the young guns Era team, but I stuck with it. Then the Iginla/Regehr core was lots of fun, but extremely frustrating.

Watching Monahan, Tkachuk, Gaudreau... while they were highly talented, I never really cared for those guys as individuals. They seemed like generic dudes, playing for my favorite team, because they were told they had to.

I'm hoping this new core can get me to care more again. As an Arab Canadian, I'm incredibly excited to have Kadri in a Flames jersey. As a young kid, I always loved hockey, but it was always a "white boy" sport. None of my Arab friends were really into it. Then Kadri broke into the league and I finally felt like my community was finally represented in my favorite sport. I felt like there was room for guys that look like me in the sport. I was always a bit jealous that he played for Toronto, then Colorado. I'm incredibly excited to finally have Kadri play for my favorite team.

This x10,000

Generic dudes, LOL! SO spot on. JG was a bit different because he was an underdog and it was cool to see him overcome those challenges and grow as a player. I’ll never forget that, it was really amazing to be a fan during that progression and special story lines like this are what make sport special. Too bad it didn’t peak with a cup, but that isn’t a must for it to be special. I’ll probably still root for him as a player for all those reasons. His family seems genuine and I do not begrudge his choice to sign elsewhere at all, I’d love them a lot too and would “do the hard thing” to be with them as much as I could.

SM and MT are as pedigreed as they come and even though I share skin colour and genitaliac trait similarities, I feel no sense of identity with them. You and I grew up together, I wasn’t a rich white kid that played hockey. Those guys were mean to white trash kids like me and that is not something you get over fully, or at least I haven’t. I didn’t go to a white church, or church at all. I went to a school where I made friends with solid dudes like you and so my mind has a “bond with smart, kind people that might look different” bias to it. It’s hard to be this way in a world that’s stuck on seeing people only for what their genetic heritage MIGHT have been.

So… yeah man, I’m pumped to see Kadri here precisely because I know it gets Arab Calgarians pumped and I have so many friends who fit that. I’m pumped for him to play in a community where I know there’s going to be a huge amount of brown love coming from the city, and I hope that shines through during his time here.

[Calgary4LIfe]

2015 was incredible fun. Lots of talk about: "Rebuilding is easy!". Remember all those comebacks that season? This team just didn't know how to die - they just kept going no matter what the score was. I will always specifically remember one night where the Flames yet again came back to tie (and then win) the game from being down 3 (or 4) goals. What a timely contrast, as that night the Oilers lost, and RNH was being interviewed post-game and he stated: "You can't come back being down 3 goals in this league.". Hilarious.


Out of all those seasons with Gaudreau and Monahan, that was THE season for me that I will remember. Sure, the 'Best in the West' season was fun, but it ended in relative disappointment. Last season was the first one that this team 'felt' like a contender for me, and it was great, but 2015 will always be THE season I will associate with this past core. There were just so many great moments.


Ferland coming out and single-handedly destroying the Canucks who had no answers other than to call him Ferkland.


18 year old Sam Bennett looking very much like a franchise-level player with his playoff impact.


Brodie - he was HUGE all season and then took another two steps in those playoffs with Giordano down playing with Engelland.



Engelland beating up 2 Canucks, and looking handsome while doing so.


Stajan scoring...



Hartley and his funny quips, and then winning the Jack Adams.



Wideman stepping up and being a 27 minute top-pairing defencemen - and looking the part too!


Hudler looking elite, and the NHL awards party that year where he wasn't wearing shoes.



For me, it was the single most entertaining season since the 2003-04 season. They provided more entertainment and excitement that year that any other year up until today. Just such a fun year. For me, that's the core I will remember. Yes, Tkachuk wasn't part of that and he was very much part of this past failed core, but 2014-15 was just so fun. That's the year I will remember for that core.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Steve Bozek

After listening to the Gudbranson interview, I don’t think Monahan deserves the “soft” label.

He fought through a lot of injuries and deserves full credit for that.
He wasn't soft in that sense, but that core as a group played soft and were mentally soft in the playoffs when things get more difficult.