A Retrospective on the Gaudreau and Monahan Era

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by 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.

This is pretty much it except management was forced into this retooling as they fully intended on keeping Tkachuk and Gaudreau.

Still shocked and amazed how Treliving pulled it all off

[redforever]

Originally Posted by 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.

That was the year I took my grandson with me to his first Flames games. What fun we had. Then GG came along and my love for hockey faded in a hurry.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Johnny is honestly one of my favorite players ever. I do wish him well in Columbus. But people are always gonna point to this video of his last shift in a Flames jersey:

https://twitter.com/user/status/1547012956071661568

Now, this goal was not exactly Johnny’s fault. He was playing his position and Hanifin made the mistake of switching off McDavid and letting him get space. But the fact that he even refused to try to battle for the puck was a reoccurring theme from him.

I get that he’s small, but other undersized stars like P. Kane, Marchand, Theo and St. Louis will battle for the puck and get into the dirty areas in the playoffs because they knew they had to do it to win. Johnny didn’t take those risks enough in the post season which is why his playoff performances were usually lackluster.

He played well against the Stars and got the series winning goal because he was getting into the dirty areas more than he did before. He got a lot of assists against the Oilers but it seemed like he was falling back into those bad habits again that made him ineffective in the playoffs as the series went along

I don’t know if it’s a mental thing with Johnny, but he’s gonna have to realize that if he truly wants to win a cup that he’s gonna have to battle for the puck in the playoffs. He’s gonna have to put himself into positions that’ll likely lead him to sacrificing his body. If other undersized greats before him can do it, so can he.