Francis: Flames not making excuses for challenges luring top players to Calgary

[sureLoss]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article...ayers-calgary/

“I know everybody screams for change, and we talked about that, but we can only do things that are available to you,” said Treliving, whose challenging off-season included losing captain and top defenceman, Mark Giordano, via the expansion draft.

“I can’t click my heels and make things happen. You have to have a trade partner. Nobody is ever done in this business — you’re always looking for ways to improve. But it has got to make sense.

“It doesn’t make any sense for us to give a player away for 50 cents on the dollar. It’s great to say, 'go get this guy.' Problem is, this isn’t fantasy hockey. The idea that you can go pick ‘this player’ off the player tree ... it doesn’t happen that way.”

Calgary is proving to be a tough sell to many players, given the dated arena, winter weather, high taxes, the team’s lack of playoff success, the scrutiny in a Canadian market and a coach who scares some players off.

Zach Hyman, for example, was pursued by the Flames before the former Leafs favourite chose to play alongside the world’s best player in Edmonton’s fancy arena.

Given how attractive so many teams are in places like Florida, Vegas, Dallas and even Seattle, it’s getting harder and harder to lure players here.

“That’s not an excuse for us,” said Treliving, who paid $29.4 million for six years of Coleman’s services.

“I think it’s a really attractive market, but players look at different markets for different reasons. They want to get paid, they want a lifestyle. Not every market is for every player.

“I think it’s an unbelievable experience to play in a Canadian market and in this market, but it may not be for everybody to play in Canada. We get that. But that’s not a barrier to try to go out to make the team better and do the things you’ve got to do. We’re certainly not making any excuses that we have challenges in our market. We’re not playing that card.”

[Toonage]

Hang on, going to get some popcorn...

[CF84]

I am quite excited for all the respectful debates and rational comments that will take place in this thread.

[Reaper]

Don't give Francis the clicks.

[chedder]

He's just setting the fans up for why Johnny and Chucky are going to walk for almost nothing in return. (Only half joking)

[dammage79]

And that was exactly what I expected Tree to say. And does not save him from the growing lynch mob.

Fans may have wanted big change as they do when teams underperform , but you cannot go out and publicly proclaim you are going to make big changes and come up empty handed and expect a pat on the back for sticking to your guns on what you expect for a return.

A not so bold prediction:
Trade deadline, Flames are put of the playoff race, time to sell some expiring FA contracts, none move. Lose players to FA for nothing.

Booster posters defend inaction vehemently stating player x was going to re-sign any day now. Refuse to accept the ever cascading failure of the franchise.


End of the day, Tree is a dead zone GM now IMO. He's boxed himself in at the trade table.

Time to go. Bring in a new management group.

[Enoch Root]

LOL at using Hyman signing in Edmonton as proof that getting players to come to Calgary is hard. I mean yeah, it is hard. But Hyman is not an example of that (his short list included Calgary and Edmonton).

Francis is determining the topic and then trying to fit recent events to the topic, instead of letting the events be/define the topic.

[GreenLantern2814]

“We’re not making excuses, but if you’re wondering why we can’t get anybody good to come here, it’s because we’re Calgary.”

[868904]

I'm not sure what the argument is, they got one of the most highly coveted free agents to sign here this year.

And they got arguably the prize free agent last year.

[mrdonkey]

When the market isn't willing to pay what you what you want for your players, perhaps that's an indicator that the team you've assembled is not very good.

[the_only_turek_fan]

Yet Eric Francis still resides in this "undesirable market".

I don't think this city has ever had a worst sports writer.

[saillias]

Well I didn't like reading that much at all. Tre sounds defensive. Francis has his usual bias inserting his agenda about Calgary and arenas into the narrative. I guess the good news is that Monahan is recovered and healthy.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

When the market isn't willing to pay what you what you want for your players, perhaps that's an indicator that the team you've assembled is not very good.

I have less of a problem with that. At least you're not peddling this nonsense that he can't identify a good offer or is over valuing players that this site literally complains about every day.

But once again did you see Monahan getting hurt and the production falling for Gaudreau and Tkachuk?

Because that's what it would have taken.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by 868904

I'm not sure what the argument is, they got one of the most highly coveted free agents to sign here this year.

And they got arguably the prize free agent last year.

Let's not act like the Flames didn't overpay to do it both times. If another team was in the ballpark, both players are likely not wearing these jerseys. It's undoubtedly a tough go at times, but Tre created this mess by not making changes when he could still extract value from players like Monahan, Guadreau or even Gio to a much lesser extent.

It's not like the last 7 years of futility snuck up on anyone either. Aside from a dominant 2/3rds of one season, he's failed to get this team anywhere close to where it needs to be.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I have less of a problem with that. At least you're not peddling this nonsense that he can't identify a good offer or is over valuing players that this site literally complains about every day.

But once again did you see Monahan getting hurt and the production falling for Gaudreau and Tkachuk?

Because that's what it would have taken.

Monahan is apparently hurt every year or has some sort of issue going on. So yes, it should have been obvious to a General Manager at least some time in the last 3 years.

Unless your franchise is continually excelling you should be looking to tweak and move significant players to get a different result or find the right mix. What's the alternative if you don't? Exactly what we're seeing now. A rudderless team that is churning through coaches.

[Strange Brew]

If he was serious about this topic, he would bring up examples of players signing below market deals to play in preferred markets. IMO it happens extremely rarely.

It's a salary cap league with remarkable parity.

[Icantwhisper]

A lot of attacking the messenger and not countering the message.
Do people think Tre just made this up to save his job?
Do people hate Francis because he is always down on the Flames? I think some people are so enthralled with being a Flames fan that ay negative commentary is looked at as hate speech

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I have less of a problem with that. At least you're not peddling this nonsense that he can't identify a good offer or is over valuing players that this site literally complains about every day.

But once again did you see Monahan getting hurt and the production falling for Gaudreau and Tkachuk?

Because that's what it would have taken.

I didn't have to foresee some very particular events impacting player value to be able to predict that they overachieved after that 2nd overall finish and believe that was the time to extract value with a shakeup. Collapsing to an 8th seed was enough to indicate that perhaps some change was necessary before their value declined. It doesn't matter how that value ended up declining.

Plenty of people were worried that the league had figured out Gaudreau after that series; that Monahan was perhaps a bit of a coattail rider with some injury concerns; that age was not on Giordano's side (although Seattle ended up making that decision on Treliving's behalf). This scenario, no matter how the details eventually unfolded, did not sneak up on us.

[Monahammer]

They're just trying to copy the Raptors PR move. Yawn.

[Patek23]

I swear Tre says this every year. And then we trot out the same core forward group year after year. Im baffled that alot of people on here can still think Treliving is the guy to lead us anywhere. Its the same excuses. The same replacement level swap outs. The 3rd and 4th line has not been our problem the last 6 years......