Just wait until we win two in a row, optimism will return to the board
only to be crushed yet again
the cycle continues
It's games like this that really sap the optimism. It was last season that the Flames played the Kings at the end of the year and needed a win to stay in the hunt for playoffs, got completely neutralized and lost 3-0.
It really lays things out plainly when you play against a well-built team like LA that's just won a Stanley Cup but is still really hitting their stride with a solid core of young players. The Flames are not close to their level at all.
This isn't to say the Flames need to go scorched earth Oilers style and draft first overall for three years, but they do have to draft a lot of players and draft well. For example the Kings drafted Kopitar 11th, Bernier 11th, Voynov 32nd, Clifford 35th, Quick 72nd, Martinez 95th, King 109th, Muzzin 141st, Nolan 186th. Their highest pick was Doughty at second.
Drafting well was also instrumental in setting them up to acquire Mike Richards. Schenn was drafted 5th overall but Wayne Simmonds was a big part of that deal and was a steal at 61st overall. There's also Hickey at fourth overall but the less said about that the better.
All that being said, if Feaster watched this game and really thinks that this team can do any better than sneaking into eigth and getting stomped in the first round he's lying to himself and doing the fans a disservice. If he trades our first round pick I will have lost all confidence in him and hope for him to be fired (unless the trade is somehow an absolute slam dunk win in our favour). Whatever the case I will be eagerly awaiting the trade deadline as it should really show where the team is headed for better or worse.
__________________ "If the oceans was whiskey and I was a duck, I'd swim to the bottom and never come up, but the oceans ain't whiskey, and I ain't no duck, so I'll play the Jack of Diamonds and toast to my luck..."
It's games like this that really sap the optimism. It was last season that the Flames played the Kings at the end of the year and needed a win to stay in the hunt for playoffs, got completely neutralized and lost 3-0.
It really lays things out plainly when you play against a well-built team like LA that's just won a Stanley Cup but is still really hitting their stride with a solid core of young players. The Flames are not close to their level at all.
This isn't to say the Flames need to go scorched earth Oilers style and draft first overall for three years, but they do have to draft a lot of players and draft well. For example the Kings drafted Kopitar 11th, Bernier 11th, Voynov 32nd, Clifford 35th, Quick 72nd, Martinez 95th, King 109th, Muzzin 141st, Nolan 186th. Their highest pick was Doughty at second.
Drafting well was also instrumental in setting them up to acquire Mike Richards. Schenn was drafted 5th overall but Wayne Simmonds was a big part of that deal and was a steal at 61st overall. There's also Hickey at fourth overall but the less said about that the better.
All that being said, if Feaster watched this game and really thinks that this team can do any better than sneaking into eigth and getting stomped in the first round he's lying to himself and doing the fans a disservice. If he trades our first round pick I will have lost all confidence in him and hope for him to be fired (unless the trade is somehow an absolute slam dunk win in our favour). Whatever the case I will be eagerly awaiting the trade deadline as it should really show where the team is headed for better or worse.
Thing is, most of the Flames' problems are extended from having Darryl Sutter as the GM for so long. He was way better off as a coach then meddling with the Flames' lineup & future. Does anyone think Sutter will become the Kings' GM any time soon?
The owners are people too - Does any one remember the preseason prediction thread? Or the OT loss to Chicago thread? Or the "We outplayed Anaheim and deserved the win" thread?
People see what they want to see.
If Calgary manages to win against LA the next game we play, there will be that group that will be saying that this IS a playoff team, and that they are close...
Thing is, most of the Flames' problems are extended from having Darryl Sutter as the GM for so long. He was way better off as a coach then meddling with the Flames' lineup & future. Does anyone think Sutter will become the Kings' GM any time soon?
Sutter was a terrible GM. But the real problem is:
A) King not admitting that sooner.
and
B) Ownership not being willing to admit how much of a hole the team was in with long-term assets, and refusing to give a green-light to the rebuild everyone else in the NHL has recognized as necessary for at least three seasons.
At least in the Young Guns era we had the excuse of an economic handicap and insufficient payroll. Is there a max cap team in the NHL with a worse record than the Flames over the last four seasons?
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Sutter was a terrible GM. But the real problem is:
A) King not admitting that sooner.
What do you mean King not admitting it sooner? King as was 110% loyal to Darryl and only fired him when he was told to by ownership. Ken King knows arguably less about hockey than many of us and wouldn't know a good GM from Mike Milbury. He's been riding the coattails of 2004 for nearly a decade now but has slowly run the hockey operation into the ground but what do you expect when you have a newspaper man as GM?
It's too bad we passed on a golden opportunity to get a real president in here. Now we'll have to watch him pull Columbus out of the sewer while we hear about 97% renewal rates on season tickets.
I just think he was fed up and finally capitulated. I agree with his ending thought. "It is time for a stiff drink". At the end of the day, we will follow, celebrate, and more recently (since 2005), constructively criticize our beloved team. It is terribly frustrating the ups and downs this team gives us, but at the end it is entertainment. Of course, I want, you want, we want, this team to go in a different direction. The organization, top down, as many of as you know, needs a fundamental shift in their direction.
I did not see the game but listened through the end of the second period.
I then had the choice to drive home and turn it on for the 3rd, or go to the movies and enjoy some entertainment, as I had a bad feeling in my stomach as to how it was going to turn out, and I just didn't want the night to end up sour after a long day.
And wow I'm glad I made the right choice! Terrible game. Where was the Kipper from his first game back? Although I'm sure the defense didn't do much to help the guy out either... Out-muscled again by LA..
But I actually wasn't even that mad about the game itself..disappointed, sure. But not surprised. However, upon listening to the post game show afterwards I heard comments about the HNIC guys tonight, and some remarks they were making. Something to do with "the look on the captain's face" "he wants out" amongst more ripping on the Flames. And I just about lost it just listening to someone just relay what was said. Who makes those kinds of inferences in a broadcast?!? I think I've HAD IT with these a#####s on the joke that is present day Hockey Night in Canada. They wouldn't know objectivity and being "Canadian" if it hit them in the side of the head. Not that it means an ounce of anything, but I'm boycotting HNIC for the rest of the season because I can no longer stand for the lack of professionalism from these clowns. Again, letting their personal preferences and bias influence the quality of discussion on the panels and even the commentating (Rhudey). As a passionate Flames fan just hoping to hear things called as they are WITHIN the game at hand (because that's what they are covering, nothing more) with consideration for the audience they are airing to, I feel constantly insulted throughout their broadcasts for dawning the flaming C and am pretty sure that I can never come in as a calgary fan and simply enjoy the game at hand. And that's not right. They should not have "Canada" inscribed in the program title on nights involving this team because they clearly just insult it.
All I have to say is that the Flames organization is a joke. Wasting a line on scrubs like Mcgrattan Begin and Jackman.
Comeau is the worst player in the NHL. Butler a close second.
Kings fans are a great bunch and the Staples center is amazing.
It isn't even close to how much better Kings fans are than Flame fans at the Saddledome. Much more passionate and loud than the library at the
Dome.
Sick of this train of thought. Flames fans WANT something worth cheering for. You see it every time we get a glimpse of something good. Sven getting announced at the start of the season...the pops kipper and iggy still get. We as fans have had a hockey team with a near league-worst compete level for 3+ seasons now. To hell with anyone who thinks Flames fans are bad fans. We're quiet because the organization we all love does nothing but disappoint us and insult us with their pitiful efforts.
Awful management team. Don't care who is the cause ultimately, because they all share equally in the continued failures of this team.
Last edited by ComixZone; 03-10-2013 at 01:47 AM.
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