Rebuilding teams suck. They just do. Because the guiding principle of a rebuild is that the future matters more than the present. The Flames are 20 games into the rebuild. If fans are freaking out now, I can't imagine what they'll be doing 200 games in.
You can't wave a wand and add talent to an NHL franchise. Ultimately, you have to draft it. Feaster inherited a team with maybe the worst collection of under-27 talent in the league. It was clear to some of years ago that it would take many years of strong drafting to ice a Flames team with elite talent.
As long as Iginla was on the team, there could be no true rebuild. If you think the decision to trade Iginla and initiate a rebuild was in Feaster's hands.... Well, I don't know what to say.
Exactly, rebuilds don't happen in 20 games. We are just beginning an experiment. You don't cry failure before you can even begin to see the results. Expect the same or worse for a while. If the flames are having the same problems 4-5 years down the road then the conclusion can be made that the rebuild and management were unsuccessful.
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And even if they didn't have the budget to do more in the earlier years, Chicago had acquired many of their pieces through years of sucking prior to the last phase of the rebuild.
And unlike many (all?) of the teams listed, the Flames are starting from a position of completely empty cupboards
Edit: I should say they started to restock the empty cupboards a couple years ago. Regardless, it takes years to go from empty to cup contender status
Not sure I'd say empty cupboards; (Monahan, Brodie, Baertchsi, maybe Gaudreau & Gilles) but ya it's not like your starting with Crosby & Malkin or Ovechkin & Backstrom, or Toews, Kane & Seabrook! Gonna take a while though, even with Burke behind the curtain.
I went to the game last night. I thought the Dome was pretty quiet for a Saturday night. I didn't think Berra was that bad. People around me were saying that wed better find a new goalie, but he looked pretty solid in the first two periods.
Eberle was flying in the third.
And I really like the new jerseys. They really pop live. The pants need changing, but I hope they design a white one and use them as the two as their main home/away uniforms.
“I felt like it was a clean hit,” said Stempniak, five foot 11, 196 pounds. “Sort of a shame, if it’s a clean hit and you have to fight. Hitting’s part of the game. The puck was right there. I hit him and I was trying to get the puck. It was two desperate teams playing. I’d like to see clean hits be part of the game, and not have to be answered for all the time.”
Stempniak, who had needed six stitches to close a gash over his lip, saw no reason to have to defend himself after textbook bodycheck.
Yet it happens frequently in the NHL.
“Checking’s always been part of the game,” he said. “If it’s a clean hit, you’d like to see it just be part of the game. If it’s malicious or dirty or something like that, there’s no place for that in the game. As long as it’s on the right side of the line, it should just be accepted as part of the game.”
Added coach Bob Hartley: “I believe there should have been an instigator (penalty to Ference). Lee didn’t get a chance to protect himself. He got tagged. But, hey, it’s a long season.”
Sounds like Hartley is hinting at retribution of some sort. Warranted or not, the Flames better be careful because the league is really watching for this kind of stuff & they will come out on the losing end if that is their goal. I think that may have a lot to do with why you don't see more of that eye-for-an-eye response anymore. If Hartley had sent guys after Ference after the fight, it would likely have resulted in game misconducts for the player(s) & fines & warnings for Hartley. Best way to get back at an opponent you have issues with is to bury them next time you play them, sends a much stronger message.
And if they ruin his confidence by treating him like a workhorse starter rather than a rookie, they'll look like idiots. Why are they so impatient?
My point is that swiss cheese will never be an elite goalie.
Clint Malarchuk is crazy for suggesting it. There is positive thinking and then there is crazy...
I hope they play Berra 60 more games. Why not? Who cares?
He gets the chance to prove I am wrong, I get the chance to see my beloved Flames pick first. 2014 is no 2015, but that's OK since chances are good that this team will be a lottery club in 2015 too.
One of the things I hate about today's game is how a clean hit is considered something that warrants retribution and a fight.
It's even worse when the guy who got hit immediately goes after the guy who hit and doesn't get an instigator penalty. How Ference didn't get an extra penalty still boggles my mind. Tim Jackman got an instigator and game misconduct earlier this season for doing far less in one of his fights. Ference should have been gone.
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It's even worse when the guy who got hit immediately goes after the guy who hit and doesn't get an instigator penalty. How Ference didn't get an extra penalty still boggles my mind. Tim Jackman got an instigator and game misconduct earlier this season for doing far less in one of his fights. Ference should have been gone.
I really didn't like Oktobers reaction to that hit, he's a guy that I usually hold in high esteem, but I lost a little bit of respect for the guy.
Frankly it was a clean solid body check, nothing more and nothing less, I was shocked that he was sitting there punching away and the refs didn't step in or didn't give the extra penalty.
But then again this is where someone has to step in and pull Ferrence off no matter what the penalty is, instead they stood back and let one of our players get beaten bloody.
Also at some point when that kind of liberty is taken, and that was a big liberty, Big Ern needs to go out, grab someone and pummel him.
