Ken King on the Fan now

[kehatch]

Originally Posted by Mike F

Did you see any evidence of the O'Reilly offer sheet before it happened? A move that would have added a very good young centre?

I sure didn't, which leads me to accept that even though I don't have their plan laid out before me today there could well be a solid, even bold one in place.

The O'Reilly fiasco makes you confident there is a solid and bold plan in place? Phew. I thought it was a sign they were doing desperate, incompetent, and out of options.

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

"It is pretty clear this roster is not going to compete at a high enough level to satisfy the fans over the next few years. Major changes are in the works".

Boom. Done.

That's the "right" thing to say in this situation.

And if no deals to make major changes that make sense materialize? Do you ship off a big piece for a return your not satisfied with just for the sake of doing something?

Teams that come out and say "Major changes are in the works" before ink is dry on a deal more often than not end up looking stupid when plans don't come to fruition. See: Kevin Lowe.

[kingkahuna]

So if O'Reiliy was traded would he have to go through waivers according to the rule? Did other teams try to sign him to an offer sheet?

[Mike F]

Originally Posted by kehatch

The O'Reilly fiasco makes you confident there is a solid and bold plan in place? Phew. I thought it was a sign they were doing desperate, incompetent, and out of options.

No, I thought I said pretty clearly that there could be; that the lack of an obvious plan laid out before us didn't mean there wasn't one.

But on the O'Reilly offer sheet, I agree with FDW: If Colorado hadn't matched, O'Reilly would have been a Flame. They would have added a solid, young centre for a price most GMs felt was below his market value. You could argue it was an overpayment on salary, but it was definitely bold and far from desperate, IMO.

[Where ru Chris O'Sullivan]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

I love that he clarifies the definition of meddling and that they have not prevented someone from doing what they want, and people here are still mad about some conspiracy.

Get over yourselves

This isnt KK's first job, in his past 'endeavors' he was infamous for putting his hands all over things to which there was multiple layers of people responsible for.

[Azure]

To me it sounds like they don't have a long-term plan at all, and are desperate to win short term at the cost of almost everything.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Azure

To me it sounds like they don't have a long-term plan at all, and are desperate to win short term at the cost of almost everything.

King kept it under wraps but we will find out one way or another by 1:00 p.m. August 3rd what their plan is. I'm hoping for the best and fearing the worst.

[timbit]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

King kept it under wraps but we will find out one way or another by 1:00 p.m. August 3rd what their plan is. I'm hoping for the best and fearing the worst.

History can be a great teacher, if allowed to be.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

Well the product he was selling before was better, so you don't have to do the sales job too much. Now he's trying to sell a used Yugo. Things change.

Hey, watch what you say about that fine automobile manufacturer.

[Stay Golden]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

King kept it under wraps but we will find out one way or another by 1:00 p.m. August 3rd what their plan is. I'm hoping for the best and fearing the worst.

We will find out sooner that on Trade deadline day April 3rd what their plan is and what it isn't.
What actions they deliver and what they don't.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by Mike F

And if no deals to make major changes that make sense materialize? Do you ship off a big piece for a return your not satisfied with just for the sake of doing something?

Teams that come out and say "Major changes are in the works" before ink is dry on a deal more often than not end up looking stupid when plans don't come to fruition. See: Kevin Lowe.

Or see: Jay Feaster and his rant about making big changes before the trade deadline last year.

[The Original FFIV]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

King kept it under wraps but we will find out one way or another by 1:00 p.m. August 3rd what their plan is. I'm hoping for the best and fearing the worst.

Let's hope Iggy doesn't get hurt before April 3.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by atb

What I got out of it:

- Thinks based on body of evidence they have (from being in the crowd games) that the fans are supportive, love the way they’re playing, the style of play, and the effort. The fans feel a sense of grimness but are supportive.

- While things with management may seem quiet from an outside view, there is lots going on behind the scene.

Message to fans is:
- Patience
- Gratitude for loyalty
- Thinks Flames fans are the most optimistic in the world
- Understand that the plan they have is not for public discussion
- Nobody should believe that there is no discussion taking place within the organization

- Denied any meddling has/is going on. They have never stopped anyone from what they’re doing, or forced anyone to do something.

- They are working hard to get this right (pretty sure this has been said word for word multiple times over the past few years)

Thanks for the recap!

Looks like a good enough interview from King. He hit all of the major topics that he should be talking about and ignored all of the topics that are outside of the scope of his role. Its pretty hilarious that people here are expecting him to answer GM questions when they are also bashing him for meddling in the GM role. Truthfully, aside from the topics that King seems to have touched in the interview, the only other thing I would expect to hear from him would be an update on the new arena.

I'm really glad no time was wasted pandering to the drama of that ROR situation. As everyone has said the topic is entirely academic now and no one will benefit from rehashing it aside from the trolls.

For the Feaster-haters you can take away the fact that the reassurance that neither King nor the owners are meddlers would make the organization more desirable for someone like Burke to come in.

[trublmaker]

Originally Posted by JayP

Or see: Jay Feaster and his rant about making big changes before the trade deadline last year.

so what big change would you have done? maybe there was no deals to be made other than crappy ones for us.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Joe Sports would've never allowed this to go unaddressed with King on the line.

This is what I can't stand about the Calgary radio media, gutless to ask the real questions. Pat will give his opinion on overtime or the "big" show and then suck on everyones tit in an interview,even during the lockout Pat and whoever would give their opinion on how stupid the players were and 10 minutes later would have a player guest on and just listen to them ramble on about "fairness" but never ever question them...drove me nuts... grow some Steinburg!

Since Joe left there hasn't been anyone aside from the 2 ######s that nobody will talk with..Eric Francis makes up 90% of his drivel because nobody with the Flames will talk to him and Jermain Franklin just asks god what the dumbest question of the day is..and he asks it.

I vote Rhett Warrener to interview these guys

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by T@T

This is what I can't stand about the Calgary radio media, gutless to ask the real questions. Pat will give his opinion on overtime or the "big" show and then suck on everyones tit in an interview,even during the lockout Pat and whoever would give their opinion on how stupid the players were and 10 minutes later would have a player guest on and just listen to them ramble on about "fairness" but never ever question them...drove me nuts... grow some Steinburg!

Since Joe left there hasn't been anyone aside from the 2 ######s that nobody will talk with..Eric Francis makes up 90% of his drivel because nobody with the Flames will talk to him and Jermain Franklin just asks god what the dumbest question of the day is..and he asks it.

I vote Rhett Warrener to interview these guys

I wasn't a huge Joe Sports fan but I tend to agree he would have been all over the Flames for the state of the team. It wouldn't be like how he ran over Dunnigan and called for Stampeders season ticket holders not to renew but I sense he wouldn't be afraid to call out Feaster and King.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Igottago

Really guys, what has any other management team in the league been revealing in interviews lately? We are around the corner from the trade deadline, everyone is going to keep things pretty quiet right now, they are busy working on potentially huge changes. Let's put the pitchforks away for a little bit longer, see what they do, then hear what they say. It's not realistic to hear them divulge their entire strategy right now.

The voice of reason.

We're either reading too much in a whole lot of nothing, or getting too angry at not getting something that we should not have expected anyways.

We're only a couple weeks away from some inevitable changes, whether it be big or small, aimed at future or present. We simply can not know until things happen then... I would be expecting any kind of valid hint of plans to come from Feaster than KK. King is not going to divulge anything he has no right to share. They should press Feaster in their next interview, but even then I doubt we'll know anything until the cards fall on April 3rd. It definitely feels like purgatory right now for any fan of the team...but we just have to wait. They already know full well what the general consensus is around the city, let's not kid ourselves there.

[Vinny01]

Unfortunately I bet Feaster and King submit ground rules prior to agreeing to appear on the air with the fan guys forced to oblige

[Titan]

I find it laughable that anyone here even remotely associates the Fan with a "journalistic enterprise". They are the rights holders and chief flag wavers of the team. They exist solely because they are the rights holders. To expect them to actually ask King a tough question is naive. Where are the interviews with Duhatschek, or anyone else of his calibre? They don't exist because management knows that those guys will ask the tough questions. I get the hate for Francis but I have to give him credit that he would also ask the tough questions if he had a chance. There is no way King or Feaster expose themselves to that level of scrutiny.

A big part of me agrees that is their right. Fans are to be privy to the on ice product, not how it got there. However, as a fan, and a STH, it would be a nice luxury to get some actual facts out of management.

[Freeway]

When you're playing poker, you don't want to give any signs to your opponents as to what your hand is. Heck, you want them to think your hand is something entirely different than what it is, because playing poker is all about confidence, appearance and selling them on a course of action that will turn out to be the opposite of what they should be doing.

Nobody with the Flames is going to speak about major changes, personnel moves or anything like that prior to the trade deadline because it behooves them not to tell the media, the fans and the 29 other teams what they think their hand is right now. Other teams will think they know what their hand is, but that's all part of the game.