Does Sven have a future with the Flames?

[Nme-Territory]

The Flames are in a position that this does not have to be a make-or-break year for Sven. Plenty of prospects are earning spots on the team or deserve a shot at it. He's young enough and the pipeline is flowing well enough that they can let Sven continue to develop.

What's the rush? If they sell him now they're selling him at a low point. Give another year... heck, give him two. I see no benefit to making any decisions about his future with the club right now. If he gets sent back to Addy, I hope he sees it as a chance to improve his game for his next call up.

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by Mattman

Baertschi + Cundari for Torey Krug and Adam McQuaid?

I would take that deal in a heartbeat.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Nme-Territory

The Flames are in a position that this does not have to be a make-or-break year for Sven. Plenty of prospects are earning spots on the team or deserve a shot at it. He's young enough and the pipeline is flowing well enough that they can let Sven continue to develop.

What's the rush? If they sell him now they're selling him at a low point. Give another year... heck, give him two. I see no benefit to making any decisions about his future with the club right now. If he gets sent back to Addy, I hope he sees it as a chance to improve his game for his next call up.

If you had read this thread then you would have noticed that Sven playing in the AHL for another couple of seasons is probably not doable because he has to clear waivers next year.

The other factor nobody has mentioned is that he got a pretty good break with multiple injuries happening at once and long term. He might not get another chance like that this season. Sure there will be more injuries along the way, but is Sven going to be first called up?

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

The other factor nobody has mentioned is that he got a pretty good break with multiple injuries happening at once and long term. He might not get another chance like that this season. Sure there will be more injuries along the way, but is Sven going to be first called up?

Given that not many of the baby flames are really tearing it up I think he'll be up again if there are more injuries. Poirier is having a great start to his season and Hanowski might be a consideration, but both are right wingers. In regards to left wingers on the team in Adirondack, Sven is probably the strongest option and then maybe David Wolf.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

This is a ridiculous statement. Sure Sven is off to a rough start but to suggest one of the 29 other teams would not take him for free is absurd. He is not a top prospect in the league but it is not long since he was. Several teams would think a change of scenery could jump start his career.

Fair enough, we will probably find out at the start of next season who's right.

[Calgary4LIfe]

It all comes down to if Sven puts his game together or not. He shows skill - I will even say flashes of brilliance - but he needs to get more consistent.

I think he absolutely still has a future with the Flames. He may also bust. Flames may also lose patience with him and trade him for something else. At this point, I think it is too early to say with any certainty what Baertschi's future is in the NHL, much less with the Flames.

I do think the best place for him is in the AHL. I do think he has the ability to become a PPG player, but he really needs to start showing more improvement and consistency. For me, he is exactly the type of prospect that I can see busting, or I can see being a huge piece to a winning club. Neither outcome will surprise me at this point, but I am very hopeful it is the latter (and that it is with the Flames).

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Mattman

Baertschi + Cundari for Torey Krug and Adam McQuaid?

Chiarelli laughs and hangs up.

[Nehkara]

Yes.

[dissentowner]

Baertschi for Tom Erixon.

[nickk382]

I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do but what I would do is this:

1) Give Baertschi a few more golden opportunities to play with our top guys, give him top minutes, and put him on powerplay lines. I know we're a playoff contending team but this side experiment shouldn't be so risky, due to it being an experiment with one player. I know we've been trying to fiddle him around with our players but what is there to lose? He showed some promising talent and who knows, it can be a ticking time bomb in him that will show his true talent. If we can give him that confidence again, great. If we accomplish that by putting him with top players with lots of playing time which then results in him getting points consistently, fantastic. Next step would be to see how long that can go for.

2) If number one fails, trade him before we lose him for nothing. I'm even worried that if he does end up doing well for us if whether or not he would even want to stay.

3) Go Flames!

[Samuelsson]

I think he has a chance, yes, and I'd want him to stay here. It might take him a while longer (see: Jooris) - and his skillset is something you can't ignore.

However on the other hand, I think he might be like Eric Fehr; messed around in Winnipeg for a bit (admittedly had a few injuries), but then gets a fresh start with another team and starts producing.

Hopefully it's the former.

[Tinordi]

He's in year two of his pro career. I'm expecting him to have a year four breakout which is a pretty normal timeline for prospects. How big the breakout will be is the question. I'm seeing him as a 40-50 point tweener but he could surprise and be the player we all imagined in those heady days.

[Thor]

People need to really show some patience. Now we have lots of youth, some progressing well beyond our wildest dreams, and Sven struggling.

We now have the luxury of taking our time with Sven, because our pool of youth is so much deeper and we should give Sven plenty of time to either sink or swim.

[Dajazz]

Another Sven thread, awesome.

Sven is getting unfair treatment --> No Sven sucks --> Hartley hates him --> No he sucks trade him for XYZ --> No way is he worth that / No way he is worth more = Trade Sven Thread

Yea, I posted. Couldn't help myself. Even read all the pages, made my head hurt.

As far as adding something constructive, uhm yea, he does and he's playing better of late.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

You are completely blowing his injury situation out of the water.

I don't think you know what blowing something out of the water means.

Baertschi has run into a couple of significant injuries, including concussions. Try and run away from that history all you want, but it exists and it does coincide with his game taking a nose dive.

Your continious comparisons to Shinnimin are ridiculous.

Continuous? This is the first time I've ever mentioned Shinnimin. Check my posting history. Now quit your crying.

Baertschi missed games due to the WJC. He was concussed near the end of the tournament, and missed part of January.

Baertschi suffered through a few injuries during his big year in the WHL.

http://flames.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=615686

After that, he was recalled by the Flames.

As it turns out, that was a mistake of epic proportions. It seems everyone in the game acknowledges that.

I don't think he missed more than 2 weeks of hockey as a direct result of being injured. He missed more hockey whilst playing for the Flames.

Again, not true. Baertschi missed four games when called up by the Flames. If he had played the full schedule of the World Junior tournament, he would have missed another four games. The other 14 games were a result of injuries, including the dreaded concussion.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/t...=5402&sid=2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Wo..._Championships
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sven_B%C3%A4rtschi


His following year wasn't much better. He missed 5 weeks and 13 games with the Heat as a result of neck injury/concussion.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2012/12/05...tschi-on-shelf

http://www.calgaryherald.com/sports/...370/story.html

I really have no idea why you are arguing his injury history. Everyone is aware of it. It isn't a state secret. If anything you should be embracing it. It coincides with his nose dive in production and his change as a player. Of course it is irrelevant to the question at hand, and whether Baertschi is a Flame long term, but it does provide a crutch to explaining how he fell so far, so fast.

[Ashasx]

You downplayed his 2011-2012 WHL performance by comparing him to Shinnimin. You said he had less points than Rattie because he missed so many games because he is injury prone.

He missed 2 weeks of hockey with Portland as a result of an injury. The other games he missed, he was either with the Flames or at the WJC.

I wasn't talking about Baertschi's injury history as a whole. Just pointing out that this nonsense "7 in a sea of 3s" is revisionist history by the usual suspects.

[Erick Estrada]

I see people saying he should be traded but for what? His value is probably low as I'm sure any team that would be interested would have scouted him in the AHL and NHL where he hasn't shown a lot. Unless there is a team that really likes him I don't see the value in trading him for another middling AHL prospect or 3rd round pick. Best to just have him play out the year in the AHL and see if he can have a good training camp next fall.

[BurningSteel]

I see Sven making the opening day roster for 2015/16 with Bennett and Co.

[PeteMoss]

If he's still on the roster during training camp next year - he's either going to be moved like Colborne was to the Flames or kept on the team. They aren't going to put him on waivers and lose him for nothing.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

You downplayed his 2011-2012 WHL performance by comparing him to Shinnimin. You said he had less points than Rattie because he missed so many games because he is injury prone.

FACT: Shinnimin out scored Baertschii by 40 points.

FACT: Rattie out scored Baertschi by 27 points.

FACT: Baertschi missed 22 games, 14 of which were the result of injury.

Those are FACTS and you can't argue them.

Has it ever occurred to you that maybe, just maybe, you grossly over rated Sven Baertschi? I know we all got excited over that big year, but I do recall th re being some questioning as to who was the straw that stirred the Portland drink at the time. We hoped it was Baertschi but Rattie went on to repeat his scoring exploits without Sven. He also has proven to be a capable scorer in the AHL which Baertschi has not. Could you possibly have over rated him and be holding on to a hope that just isn't feasible?

He missed 2 weeks of hockey with Portland as a result of an injury. The other games he missed, he was either with the Flames or at the WJC.

He missed more than two weeks of hockey as a result of injury. He missed 14 games as a result of injury. That is more than two weeks. Again, FACTS you can't make go away.

I wasn't talking about Baertschi's injury history as a whole. Just pointing out that this nonsense "7 in a sea of 3s" is revisionist history by the usual suspects.

Seems that is the more accurate assessment than the 'mistreated superstar in waiting' narrative of the fan boy set. Baertschi has only shown one thing since he was drafted. He is not a complete player and doesn't have th offensive skill to cut out a spot where he can play a one way game at any level of professional hockey. That is not player you invest in long term. If his name was Nemisz you'd agree.

The fact of the matter is he came into the system when Greg Nemisz was the great white hope and Baertschi looked awesome in comparison. Now that th system is stocked with some really good prospects Sven looks really bad. Try and argue that away.