Flames assign Sven Baertschi to the Heat

[strombad]

If you're going to move it to Airdrie, you might as well just move it to Calgary.

[puckluck2]

Who would drive the Airdrie to watch the Heat play? It might be good for a few years but people will lose interest pretty quick and not want to drive in bumper to bumper traffic to see some kids play.

Edit: Unless you think Airdrie by itself can support a team which is absurd. They're lucky they are supporting a Tim Horton's let alone an AHL team.

[PeteLFan]

Isn't airdrie 15 minutes from downtown. Injury replacements are only 15 minutes away.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by PeteLFan

Isn't airdrie 15 minutes from downtown. Injury replacements are only 15 minutes away.

COP is 10 minutes away.

[saillias]

Originally Posted by PeteLFan

Isn't airdrie 15 minutes from downtown. Injury replacements are only 15 minutes away.

Sure, if it's 3 AM and you're going 130.

[PeteMoss]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

I don't disagree. But my question is this; who is the better coach? If you're trying to develop Sven as a player does it not stand to reason he should be coached by the best coach you have available? If Troy Ward is a better coach that he should be in Calgary.

It's hard for me to understand how you can develop an already NHL caliber player by sending him to the minors. When all the best resources are available on the NHL club. It seems old school punitive to send someone down like that. And I'm not sure that these kinds of tactics work anymore in the NHL.

Initially I was drawing the comparison to Kadri in Toronto but I'm not sure that that applies anymore. Because of the different nature of the teams. Toronto didn't need Kadri as badly as Calgary needs Sven right now. Calgary has virtually zero offense at the moment.

Why do the Flames need Sven? They'll lose with him and they'll lose without him. He's been bad this year. What kind of message does it send all the guys in the AHL putting up points and producing if you call up him up while he's doing nothing. Let the guy get through this down there and hopefully he returns at some point (maybe next season) a better player.

[macrov]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Who would drive the Airdrie to watch the Heat play? It might be good for a few years but people will lose interest pretty quick and not want to drive in bumper to bumper traffic to see some kids play.

Edit: Unless you think Airdrie by itself can support a team which is absurd. They're lucky they are supporting a Tim Horton's let alone an AHL team.

Growing at 10% a year. Will be 120k population in 10 years. Thats the size of abotsford today. Crazy.

Attendance of 4k would be considered very good for Ahl team.

With Airdrie at 120k + people from calgary at 1.4mln in 10 years, that type of attendance is very doable. For a lot of people in the North of Calgary, downtown Airdrie is closer than the saddledome. And cheaper for families with kids. And I'd rather watch the heat than the hitman given I'd get to see flames prospects; I feel a lot of people would say the same and might go to a game or two a year. And hitmen attendance is already 8k, so again...very doable.

[Brannigans Law]

we can call them the Airdrie Parasites!

[Tyler]

So how about that Sven Baertschi? Doing anything in Abby lately?

[Badgers Nose]

I think the Heat would move to EDM. They are starved for pro hockey.

[devo22]

I feel Sven has been horribly mismanaged by the Flames so far. Not on a Nino Niederreiter or Brett Connolly level, but still pretty bad. A lot of that is hindsight of course, and just my personal opinion.

I agree with Feaster that in hindsight, the emergency recall was a bad idea. It created unrealistic hopes and expectations among the fan base, and more importantly, himself as well. That whole "Svensational" schtick put a lot of pressure on him, being the only real blue-chip prospect the Flames have had in some time and being expected to be a saviour or something like that.

Second mistake was giving him a roster spot in the lockout shortened season without having to earn it, and also without giving him a situation to succeed. He didn't have to win a spot, he was just given one ... at that time, Cervenka was still injured, and all he really had to do was beat Ben Street and invitee Brad Winchester. After making the team, he's buried in the bottom six with no PP time ... paired with the sky high expectations and pressure that the kid put on himself after that emergency recall, you pretty much had a recipe for disaster. Of course, that injury didn't help either. Best move would probably have been to keep him producing in the AHL until April, but again, hindsight is 20/20. Would have saved the Flames also that apparent Pentincton thing ... Sven shouldn't have played 25 NHL games at that point, plain and simple.

Third mistake was gifting him a roster spot once again this season, even after a poor preseason/training camp. They should have sent him down to start the season after that underwhelming showing ahead of the season.

The Flames have simply rushed this kid although he still has holes in his game, and I think Feaster and Weisbrod had their hands in this. Surely no coincidence that he got sent down on the day that Burke fired them. Maybe they felt it was important to have a young blue chipper in the lineup when you have to sell a rebuild, but for his development, they should have been more patient. Not every 1st round pick is NHL ready at 19/20, and for Sven's development, it surely would have been better to send him down at the start of the last two seasons instead of keeping him first and then crushing his confidence.

Still, I believe that Sven is a fine prospect. I think that he will tremendously benefit from having Monahan, Poirier, Klimchuk and whoever gets picked this year alongside him. That should take a lot of pressure off his shoulders. I don't think Sven's the kind of kid that will excel when he's THE guy to carry a team, but I believe he'll be very good if he has a few players with similar/higher pedigree alongside him. Just look at Portland - he didn't have to carry that team alone, but instead had Johansen, Niederreiter, Rattie, Ross and Leipsic to aid him.

[Tyler]

I don't think you can mismanage someone who is too small and doesn't know how to play defence. I think if anything, our scouts were too high on a guy with obvious flaws and his steller 5 start debut created overwhelming expectations

[Flash Walken]

I dunno, when his family comes over from Europe to watch him play in a heated rivalry game and you make him a scratch, then a late addition to the lineup, then only play him 4 minutes in the game, I'd say that's mismanaging a young prospect.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Tyler

I don't think you can mismanage someone who is too small and doesn't know how to play defence. I think if anything, our scouts were too high on a guy with obvious flaws and his steller 5 start debut created overwhelming expectations

Despite being in and out of Hartley's dog house Baertschi did get time some time with Monahan and Hudler and for the most part he was pretty bad.

I like some others believe he shouldn't have been handed a spot in training camp as he never earned it and his overall game isn't rounded enough. He should have started the season in the AHL and if he got off to a torrid start he probably would have earned himself a few looks with the Flames heck given the scoring issues he may have been brought up but now he's ice cold since being sent down and isn't in any position to help the Flames. Burke handled Kadri well so I'm not too worried about the handling of Baertschi going forward. At the end of the day it is Sven who will have the ultimate say in how his NHL career goes.

[sun]

Originally Posted by Tyler

I don't think you can mismanage someone who is too small and doesn't know how to play defence. I think if anything, our scouts were too high on a guy with obvious flaws and his steller 5 start debut created overwhelming expectations

You can't? lol wouldn't that be nice.

[jaginla]

I would definitely go support the Heat over the Flames at this point, can't justify spending over 100 to watch the suck anymore.

[moon]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

I dunno, when his family comes over from Europe to watch him play in a heated rivalry game and you make him a scratch, then a late addition to the lineup, then only play him 4 minutes in the game, I'd say that's mismanaging a young prospect.

I would say factoring in his family coming over into how much he plays would be a good way to mismanage him.

That should have 0 impact as to whether or how much he plays.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by devo22

I feel Sven has been horribly mismanaged by the Flames so far. Not on a Nino Niederreiter or Brett Connolly level, but still pretty bad. A lot of that is hindsight of course, and just my personal opinion.

I agree with Feaster that in hindsight, the emergency recall was a bad idea. It created unrealistic hopes and expectations among the fan base, and more importantly, himself as well. That whole "Svensational" schtick put a lot of pressure on him, being the only real blue-chip prospect the Flames have had in some time and being expected to be a saviour or something like that.

Second mistake was giving him a roster spot in the lockout shortened season without having to earn it, and also without giving him a situation to succeed. He didn't have to win a spot, he was just given one ... at that time, Cervenka was still injured, and all he really had to do was beat Ben Street and invitee Brad Winchester. After making the team, he's buried in the bottom six with no PP time ... paired with the sky high expectations and pressure that the kid put on himself after that emergency recall, you pretty much had a recipe for disaster. Of course, that injury didn't help either. Best move would probably have been to keep him producing in the AHL until April, but again, hindsight is 20/20. Would have saved the Flames also that apparent Pentincton thing ... Sven shouldn't have played 25 NHL games at that point, plain and simple.

Third mistake was gifting him a roster spot once again this season, even after a poor preseason/training camp. They should have sent him down to start the season after that underwhelming showing ahead of the season.

The Flames have simply rushed this kid although he still has holes in his game, and I think Feaster and Weisbrod had their hands in this. Surely no coincidence that he got sent down on the day that Burke fired them. Maybe they felt it was important to have a young blue chipper in the lineup when you have to sell a rebuild, but for his development, they should have been more patient. Not every 1st round pick is NHL ready at 19/20, and for Sven's development, it surely would have been better to send him down at the start of the last two seasons instead of keeping him first and then crushing his confidence.

Still, I believe that Sven is a fine prospect. I think that he will tremendously benefit from having Monahan, Poirier, Klimchuk and whoever gets picked this year alongside him. That should take a lot of pressure off his shoulders. I don't think Sven's the kind of kid that will excel when he's THE guy to carry a team, but I believe he'll be very good if he has a few players with similar/higher pedigree alongside him. Just look at Portland - he didn't have to carry that team alone, but instead had Johansen, Niederreiter, Rattie, Ross and Leipsic to aid him.

Sven earned his roster spot a lot more last season. He was having a good year in the AHL.

[Flash Walken]

Originally Posted by moon

I would say factoring in his family coming over into how much he plays would be a good way to mismanage him.

That should have 0 impact as to whether or how much he plays.

I agree with you.

Except for the part about barely playing him at all when he was in the lineup.

The family part is just the window dressing to why you yank your rookie around between 4-14 minutes in a game when he should probably be in the AHL.

I'm not advocating the flames check with their players about when it's good for extending family coming in from out of town, but, don't jerk him around in the days leading up to it only to barely play him anyway.

[Vulcan]

The way he's being reported as shying away from any physical contact, I think he's still suffering from concussion problems. Maybe not physically but mentally, he's afraid of it recurring. We may have damaged goods on our hands.