If anything Conroy was here for ALL of it. He can see the mistakes that Feaster, Burke, and Treliving made and ultimately he can choose to act differently so let’s see how he handles Parekh and the other young stars on the team.
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And honestly at this point it feels like it was a necessary evil and some form of fate for Tkachuk and Bennett to end up in Florida to be the thing that defeated the Oilers.
Sure I wish it was the Flames but we never had a Barkov, Ekblad, Bobrovsky,etc etc to give those two the support needed to win here.
There will always be a bit of "What If?" That hurts a bit, but honestly at this point those two beating the Oilers and keeping them from two cups makes it all worth it.
I get your point but Florida never had Tkachuk & Bennett needed to win.
We had great parts, the other parts needed to be added. They're no different in that sense.
I remember a Conroy interview before Bennet was in the NHL talking about their young talent - Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Monahan, etc and how Bennet was the one he was most excited about.
I remember a Conroy interview before Bennet was in the NHL talking about their young talent - Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Monahan, etc and how Bennet was the one he was most excited about.
After the run in 2015 I was most excited for Bennett as well. I thought the Flames had the makings of 2 elite duos in 2016 with Tkachuk-Bennett on one line and Gaudreau-Monahan on the other. With a stacked blueline I did see the blueprint of a contender. Too bad when it worked out it wasn’t in Calgary.
Something from the Conroy interview from Barnburner yesterday that I don't think anyone specifically mentioned:
"Sometimes you just have to let them play."
A 'cookie-cutter' approach to developing prospects is stupid. Some players just need more rope, deserved or not. It can pay off.
Say what you will about Hartley - the man certainly had his warts - but he was excellent at developing young players. Monahan had the relative luxury of being developed under Hartley, and I think he would have ended up as a better center had he had one more season. Bennett would have thrived at center under Hartley had Hartley been retained for one more year. Definitely would have alienated the vets, though, so I understand why it never happened. However, long-term with the benefit of hindsight, things may have looked drastically different in Calgary.
No coach after Hartley was willing to really put up with growing pains. Centers have way more responsibility than wingers do, so they are harder to develop. Coaches here weren't wiling to accept mistakes. Better play Ryan in the middle than Bennett.
At any rate, I like that Conroy understands this. I think the Flames are excellent at drafting and development overall, but they let a huge piece slip through their fingers. It was a learning curve for the organization, and I doubt it happens again. I am sure there will be other prospects that end up leaving - there are only so many spots available. Letting some of these go will not be mistakes at all. A mistake is when a core-piece is not retained, and ends up as a core piece (and Conn Smythe winner!) on a two-time Stanley Cup winning team. I bet that doesn't happen under Conroy.
I am interested to see what happens with Zary now. I hope he gets more rope as a center. He has looked good down the middle in my opinion, though it is questionable whether he is a #2 or a #3 in my mind. He isn't a #1, unfortunately, but that's ok. #2 centers - as Bennett just showed - can be critical to your chances of winning a cup.
Sometimes you just have to give a prospect rope and allow them to play. I bet Parekh will be given that rope in the organization. Yes, Huska will reel him in sometimes as the goal is to make him an elite 2-way defencemen, rather than a Karlsson, but I bet he will be given a lot of rope to do his thing. Hopefully all high-end prospects will be afforded that luxury in the future as well.
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I remember a Conroy interview before Bennet was in the NHL talking about their young talent - Tkachuk, Gaudreau, Monahan, etc and how Bennet was the one he was most excited about.
We didn’t have Tkachuk when Bennett made the NHL.
That’s why it’s so important to have the right coaches and patience when building.
In the end what really killed that Flames team was naming Geoff Ward head coach and his decision to play Bennett on the 4th line.
After the bubble Dallas series you had Bennett who looked amazing playing center with Dube and Lucic.
He comes to camp next year and Ward has him as 4th line center with Lucic and Ritchie IIRC. That was what led to Bennett asking for a trade.
And if you look at that 20-21 roster it actually was in pretty good shape:
Gaudreau, Lindholm, Monahan, Bennett, Tkachuk, Backlund, Dube, Mangiapane, Ryan, Lucic as a forward core.
Gio, Andersson, Tanev, Hanifin, Valimaki, Stone, Kylington, as available d-men.
Markstrom and Rittich in net.
That roster was actually good and Ward made an absolute mess of it to start that season.
He had those forwards above at his disposal and he had Ritchie playing with Gaudreau at times. Terrible.
Ward was definitely the finishing blow, but it was a problem with Gulutzan and Peters as well and the GM that hired them.
Treliving did nothing but hire awful coaches, until Darryl showed up, but by then it was too late and things took a sour turn.
Treliving, Gulutzan, Peters, and Ward were all bad at their jobs at the end of the day. Treliving has seemingly failed up, however he's making all the same mistakes. Gulutzan is an assistant coach again, Peters is banished from the league, and Ward is in...Switzerland?
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Why was Geoff Ward the coach for so long? Bill Peters was not expected to turn out that way. And Ward as interim for a bit made sense. But i just don't get how that was a good long term fit.
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"Fun must be always!" - Tomas Hertl
Why was Geoff Ward the coach for so long? Bill Peters was not expected to turn out that way. And Ward as interim for a bit made sense. But i just don't get how that was a good long term fit.
Bad GM
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They should have shoehorned Bennett into centre. But Florida just had a way better setup to do so because their 1C was also the shutdown C. With Monahan and/or Lindholm at 1C and Backlund at shutdown C, each playing 20+ minutes per game, Bennett could only get 15 minutes at best.
