Spirit feeling broken

[Wedge]

Originally Posted by Groot

Him walking after no Cups in Edmonton, and then winning in his 1st year with a new team, just to highlight how terrible the Oilers organization is would be the perfect scenario for me.

Especially when that team is the Kings where Kopitar is on the last year of his contract coming up.

[Manhattanboy]

Originally Posted by V1nnyTh3Flam35Fan

I’m trying to find optimism in the Flames future; but right now, it feels like the hockey gods handing us eternal punishment . Really at a loss of thought of where the silver lining is in all of this…

Try looking at it this way. Like I said last night, would you rather be a fan of LA, Vegas, Dallas or the Flames right now? I would be angry as all hell as a fan of those teams. Ya EDM played well but each of those teams failed miserably in several respects. Dallas didn’t even look interested for most of the series. Vegas looked like November Vegas. None of them stepped up their games.

I’m way happier and optimistic as a Flames fan right now. Imagine being an Oiler fan through these rounds. Think they have really enjoyed the ride? At one point they were ready to trade Pissy and run Skinner out of town. They called him the worst goalie in franchise history.

Now their fans get to watch their team play Florida. In the only round that matters. Florida. Again. The team at the top of their list of teams they didn’t want to play. Imagine their nerves. If they say they are glad they get to play the Panthers again and seek revenge, they are lying.

Their window is about to shut. They might lose their superstar. Then what? What do they have to look forward to. Again, I’m way more optimistic as a Flames fan.

Sure they might win it all. What are the odds? 50-50 at best? Those are not great odds. There’s probably a better than even chance Floria will crush the Oilers cup hopes again and put another dagger in the hearts of their sweat pants wearing fans. Stay tuned.

[VANFLAMESFAN]

As a hardcore Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo fan, I naturally despise all things Lionel Messi. If I can get over FIFA handing Messi a World Cup, I can get past the Oilers winning this cup.

Yes, it will suck, but I'll get over it.

[midniteowl]

The Kings played like they have an idiot as HC, Knights played like an aging team, old and slow. The Stars really played like they want their HC fired. So, the Oilers had not face any adversity, everything had been going their way, let's see how they'll respond with one of their top forward gone for the series. And they are facing a team not only can responds rough play with rough play of their own.



A lot of their fans on Twitter are saying, they have scoring depth and all they need is average goaltending from Skinner. The way I see it, Bob's average goaltending will be way better than Stinker's average goaltending. Can't wait and see how the Cats ragdolled them.

[Yobbo]

Everyone has to try and remember that the Panthers have players like Bennett and Chucky that absolutely despise the Oilers. They wouldn't want that team to win a Cup at their expense. Florida will be up for the challenge and with the additions of Marchand will be up for the challenge.

[Hackey]

Originally Posted by Manhattanboy

Try looking at it this way. Like I said last night, would you rather be a fan of LA, Vegas, Dallas or the Flames right now? I would be angry as all hell as a fan of those teams. Ya EDM played well but each of those teams failed miserably in several respects. Dallas didn’t even look interested for most of the series. Vegas looked like November Vegas. None of them stepped up their games.

I’m way happier and optimistic as a Flames fan right now. Imagine being an Oiler fan through these rounds. Think they have really enjoyed the ride? At one point they were ready to trade Pissy and run Skinner out of town. They called him the worst goalie in franchise history.

Now their fans get to watch their team play Florida. In the only round that matters. Florida. Again. The team at the top of their list of teams they didn’t want to play. Imagine their nerves. If they say they are glad they get to play the Panthers again and seek revenge, they are lying.

Their window is about to shut. They might lose their superstar. Then what? What do they have to look forward to. Again, I’m way more optimistic as a Flames fan.

Sure they might win it all. What are the odds? 50-50 at best? Those are not great odds. There’s probably a better than even chance Floria will crush the Oilers cup hopes again and put another dagger in the hearts of their sweat pants wearing fans. Stay tuned.

Ya how terrible to be on Oilers fan. Game 7 of the finals last year and back to the finals again this year. All while watching the best player on earth. That sounds terrible. I wish I had your level of delusion.

[dino7c]

Its always darkest before the dawn

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Ya how terrible to be on Oilers fan. Game 7 of the finals last year and back to the finals again this year. All while watching the best player on earth. That sounds terrible. I wish I had your level of delusion.

Judging by your avatar you do have high levels of delusion.

[Geeoff]

At the end of the day, the result of this series has no bearing on the Flames future successes or lack thereof

I thought of a silver lining. If Edmonton wins the Stanley Cup, we won't have to hear about "Canada's Cup Drought" and maybe whatever unlikeable Canadian team is remaining in the playoffs won't have to be forced as "Canada's Team" going forward

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by Wedge

Been to all of your fancy cities, and would still prefer to live in Calgary or Vancouver based on my enjoying to get out in nature. Maybe it's just me, but I don't find fashion terribly exciting.

We noticed

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Wedge

Been to all of your fancy cities, and would still prefer to live in Calgary or Vancouver based on my enjoying to get out in nature. Maybe it's just me, but I don't find fashion terribly exciting.

I agree. The world class cities are great to visit, but, unless I was quite wealthy, I wouldn't consider living in them.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

There is no silver lining, the Flames and their fans are not owed anything and there is no higher power responsible for meting out justice on our behalf. Edmonton got incredibly lucky in the Connor sweepstakes and the Flames have one of the worst/greediest owners in pro sports who oversaw a series of poor management decisions that Florida is now reaping the benefits of, and that's where we're at.

Even if Edmonton wins it all, life will go on and you're free to just focus your mental energy on other things. The writing was on the wall for this organization looooong ago, and it is actually very freeing to just not care. The Flames will more likely than not continue to wade around in the mushy middle and chase wildcard spots until Edwards either dies or sells out, and the only thing you as a fan can do is choose to either accept it or walk away. That's how the organization is run and it ain't changing.

A) how do you blame the greedy owner for the GM coming up with a blockbuster deal. Sure he woulda had to approve it but it would have been the sent office orchestrating this? B) Tkachuk wanted out, he made that known. The flames did pretty damn good getting Huberdeau and Weegar, and a first round pick, at the time it was a sweet haul. It didn’t pan out as expected for Huberdeau. Weegar has been unreal. If anything blame the GM for signing Tkachuk to a bridge instead of locking him up long term.

I’m no Murray Edwards apologist but it seems pretty biased and takes away from your argument to equate a trade in which the GM’s back was to the wall, and one that looked really good at the time, to the “greed” of the owner. What am I missing

[Groot]

Originally Posted by heep223

I’m no Murray Edwards apologist but it seems pretty biased and takes away from your argument to equate a trade in which the GM’s back was to the wall, and one that looked really good at the time, to the “greed” of the owner. What am I missing

A portion of fans have convinced themselves that Murray only cares about sneaking into the playoffs for a couple games of playoff revenue and forces all management decisions based on that. So any decision that isn't burn it to the ground is derided as being based on Edwards greed. It's nonsense and has no basis in reality but they're convinced the $5-$6 million they would earn from 2-3 playoff games is all $3.3Bn net worth Edwards cares about.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Wedge

Especially when that team is the Kings where Kopitar is on the last year of his contract coming up.

It's the Leafs. 100%.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Groot

A portion of fans have convinced themselves that Murray only cares about sneaking into the playoffs for a couple games of playoff revenue and forces all management decisions based on that. So any decision that isn't burn it to the ground is derided as being based on Edwards greed. It's nonsense and has no basis in reality but they're convinced the $5-$6 million they would earn from 2-3 playoff games is all $3.3Bn net worth Edwards cares about.

He has a reputation for being a penny pincher and over stepping, and I think that’s probably justified generally, but it’s a pretty lazy argument to blame the perceived greedy owner for a hockey ops decision.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by heep223

He has a reputation for being a penny pincher and over stepping, and I think that’s probably justified generally, but it’s a pretty lazy argument to blame the perceived greedy owner for a hockey ops decision.

Last number i could find was Flames making $184M in revenue for the year. Nobody in the organization is making decisions to try and sneak in so they can push that revenue to $190M at most, it's preposterous.

[BagoPucks]

Flames did a lot of things right this year. Building a winning culture takes time. We got this. This has been the most hopeful season for me in over 20+ years. Let's see if we can continue on this path and achieve a championship

[Calgary4LIfe]

From what Maloney said, the best offer on the table was a rebuilding offer which they were going to take, until Florida tendered their offer. It was then that the organization - and I assume mostly Treliving - remained in the 'win now' camp. Had Huberdeau and Weegar both decided to wait the season out before re-signing, I am sure that they would have been flipped for futures during that off-season, and the rebuild would commence. No way was Treliving going to stick his neck out trying to get Huberdeau to sign after seeing Gaudreau leave.


I don't think that Edwards 'forced' any decision there. That return - plus knowing that Kadri was willing to sign here in Canada - made Treliving believe that this team could compete. To his credit, most people felt that this team could compete, and were perhaps better structured. It just didn't happen. Too much change, team was still probably 'down' after their two most important players forced their way out, and we know the result.


Now the Flames are where they are. I still don't think that Edwards is 'forcing' anything here. He is not forcing Conroy to rebuild, or to remain competitive. I think Conroy has a plan, and he has been given the rope to see it out. I am curious to see what happens this off-season, as I am still thinking that Conroy is rebuilding here without doing an absolute tear-down. I guess we will see if that direction has shifted.


As for the Oilers, yes this sucks. This is sports. Next time the Oilers suck - and they will, guaranteed - we will savour it more, and we will not 'feel sorry' for them as some people have. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best. I would love it if the Flames went to the finals back-to-back, but the consolation prize here for a Flames' fan is that I will love to bathe in the Oilers' tears again this year. I will enjoy the weird locker room tantrums by McDavid. Panthers are an improved squad vs last year, so I am still betting their result will be similar to last year. If not? Well... maybe it is time to hit myself on the head with a hammer until I forget my own name, and then continue to enjoy life.

[taxbuster]

Wow -- this is quite the thread!!

From "my city is better than your city" (isn't that what 5-year olds do?) to an argument about something that happened several years ago when Chucky and Johnny left (there haven't been ANY threads on that... /s).

Good thing that I do NOT live in Van (with or without the "poors" - who the hell says that?), but live on a small and quiet fishing lake in BC, where I can happily ignore the Oiler gloom and doom ... although if they lose I will be more than happy to chuckle at my next-door neighbour who is a rabid fan of the No Goods.

Meanwhile, back to elitist hockey players on trial for sexual assault ... just to change the topic again, LOL.

[Lewis_D]

Originally Posted by taxbuster

Wow -- this is quite the thread!!

From "my city is better than your city" (isn't that what 5-year olds do?) to an argument about something that happened several years ago when Chucky and Johnny left (there haven't been ANY threads on that... /s).

Good thing that I do NOT live in Van (with or without the "poors" - who the hell says that?), but live on a small and quiet fishing lake in BC, where I can happily ignore the Oiler gloom and doom ... although if they lose I will be more than happy to chuckle at my next-door neighbour who is a rabid fan of the No Goods.

Meanwhile, back to elitist hockey players on trial for sexual assault ... just to change the topic again, LOL.

If you spent much time around here last year during the finals you'd recall that things can go a little sideways around here when the Oilers are this close to winning another cup. Which I understand, we all have our different coping mechanisms (I've tried to make mine focusing more on golfing, watching the memorial cup, and just generally tuning out of NHL for the next month or two)