[Rumour] HNIC: Jagr's time with the Flames is coming to an end

[Press Level]

Originally Posted by Snuffleupagus

Because even know he bought a house here he's rarely in it, He spends far more time in Toronto than here.

Ken King should be fired for hiring a $3 million a year part time mouth piece who really does nothing for the team that can be seen

There are many reasons to fire Ken King, but this isn't one of them.

[TheFlamesVan]

Who cares what Burke makes, is anyone here financially responsible for cutting him cheques??

[browna]

And the owners, not King, hired Burke to restore the franchise’s reputation around the league and amongst players and agents, that was eroding rapidly thanks to the former GM.

Recall they wanted Shanahan prior to that, as that’s because Edwards gained respect for him in the CBA negotiations.

And it’s got nothing to do where he spends most of the time, sounds like he’s in Calgary a fair bit, was in the Dome during the timing of the stick throw from that interview. Doesn’t have to even be a sit down interview with a local media guy, even a phone call to ask him his thoughts. He seems to have no problem talking about the team with the Easten guys, is he just not being asked by the local crew?

[Strange Brew]

I'm not telling the Flames how to run their business but paying Burke $3 million with team revenues of $129 million (per Forbes) makes no sense. I can't believe he's making that much.

[mikephoen]

Originally Posted by browna

And the owners, not King, hired Burke to restore the franchise’s reputation around the league and amongst players and agents, that was eroding rapidly thanks to the former GM.

Recall they wanted Shanahan prior to that, as that’s because Edwards gained respect for him in the CBA negotiations.

And it’s got nothing to do where he spends most of the time, sounds like he’s in Calgary a fair bit, was in the Dome during the timing of the stick throw from that interview. Doesn’t have to even be a sit down interview with a local media guy, even a phone call to ask him his thoughts. He seems to have no problem talking about the team with the Easten guys, is he just not being asked by the local crew?

It might be a case of Burke letting Treliving deal with the local media while he handles some of the requests from the outside media. Just a division of labour situation so Treliving can concentrate on the more important aspects of the job.

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

I'm not telling the Flames how to run their business but paying Burke $3 million with team revenues of $129 million (per Forbes) makes no sense. I can't believe he's making that much.

Is it any different from the common business world?

In just about every company out there you have several overpaid, out of touch and basically useless executives (for the most part) reeling in disgusting salaries year after year while the rest of the workforce is left pinching pennies and falling on the sword via layoffs and loss of perks/benefits whenever the needle shifts even slightly off North.

This is the Flames to a T except that the bulk of the workforce outside of the front office are all millionaires instead of multimillionaires.

[curves2000]

Without derailing the thread too much here are some things related to Toronto and Brian Burke.

If you recall back when Anaheim won a cup in 2007, Burke was the GM. The following season there was a massive shake in Toronto and they cleaned house and started looking for a new team to bring home the cup and restore franchise respectability.

Burke was still the GM of the Ducks but got special permission to interview for what he calls "The Vatican job" in hockey, GM of the Leafs. He was formally married to CTV News anchor Jennifer Burke and had 2 young children in Toronto and he spent 10 days a month there. He was hired to massive fan fare and the talks about championships and all sorts of amazing news filtered out. I mean how often does a GM switch jobs in the middle of a season?

In any event after being fired in Toronto for a variety of reasons the Flames snapped him up for what is his current role, President of Hockey Operations. He still spends a minimum of 10 days a month in Toronto visiting his family and working, I have been on a few flights with him to Toronto. Since he is an "interesting" interview and was a controversial figure in Toronto, he get's a lot of airtime to discuss a lot of things in Toronto. He also hosts an annual sports management conference there every year. He has joked on record about doing such a poor job in Toronto that nobody wants to admit he worked there.

There has been a noticeable shift in the interviews and management talk from the Flames here locally, I don't know if its a result of the arena disaster or not but not much to see from the Flames locally on newspaper, tv and radio.

[albertGQ]

I wonder what this team would look like if Brendon Shanahan didn't turn down the POHO job with the Flames.

[browna]

Originally Posted by mikephoen

It might be a case of Burke letting Treliving deal with the local media while he handles some of the requests from the outside media. Just a division of labour situation so Treliving can concentrate on the more important aspects of the job.

Sure. It’s just that Burke dove into a few topics thet are newsworthy for Flames fans. Haven’t heard him talk at that length here, nor Treliving, here, lately.

CP we tend to dive into speculation trying to put pieces together from what’s observed and sound bytes, so even though it’s not eye opening stuff, it’s good to hear from the upper management (which is of course still guarded words for public consumption, but point still stands) on the topics.

Same when Sutter was GM. Wouldn’t hear from him for a month and everyone had their theories on certain players or situations, and then he would come on with the radio guys and talk for 10 minutes about the state of the team in general and even some details, more than you’d expect, and make things pretty clear.

In addition to the Jagr talk above, Burke went on about missing Versteeg as a big piece to the PP. Also when asked about what player the Flames could add (phrased by Sid in the context of adding any type of player to help the franchise right now), he again brought up Versteeg, as he did when asking about deadline deals and not having picks, but needing Kris back.
Talked about the stick throw, arena issue, talked about how they wasted some great games by Smith. Nothing earth shattering again, and all somewhat talked about here at CP.

But for the casual fan who gets their Flames info from the local radio, watches the game broadcasts and reads only the local paper, you’d have missed all that and may wonder when Burke is going to say anything, when he’s said lots.

[killer_carlson]

Burke also has a great knack for dropping these interviews as a distraction tactic.

Makes me wonder ...

[Torture]

That's strange, I could have sworn I clicked on a thread about Jagr...

[DeluxeMoustache]

I like the way Sportsnet handled the Jagr clips when they asked Tre about him. Laughing with Lack, talking to his linemates on the bench, pat on the head for Bennett, interspersed with some on ice highlights.

As for Tre’s answer, his main answer was that Jagr is dealing with an injury.

Lots of reading between the lines available on the other side, though. Certainly no commitment that he is going to be returning.

I personally still hope it truly is an assessment of how likely it is Jagr can get past the nagging injury to contribute meaningfully on the ice. Because I think a healthy Jagr, not behind the play due to injury, still has the mind and does certain things that no other players do.

I don’t want to see him on ice lagging the play but I would like to see him playing again healthy. And I hope the Flames position is that he needs to determine if it can truly be overcome, if it is season ending, requiring surgery, or if he can have time to get healthy, but to be honest with himself and everyone about it, not to hide anything and do everyone a disservice.

[CroFlames]

If Jagr heals, why would the Flames not deploy him in special situations? You're paying him to play hockey for your club.

Should the Flames make a deep playoff run, I imagine having the Wise Man on your roster to fill in when needed and offer wisdom to the young ones would be a huge benefit.

[Puppet Guy]

I found this article while prepping the GDT - young Panthers players and the effect Jagr had on them. Worth the read:

In Florida, Jagr served as a mentor for Barkov and Huberdeau, the trio that formed the Panthers’ top line the past two seasons. This season, both are having career years with new winger Evgenii Dadonov. Huberdeau leads the team with 43 points, on pace to smash his career high of 59 points. Barkov has 40 points, also on pace to sail by his career high of 59 points.

Jagr’s effect isn’t lost on them.

“The main thing is probably how to be a professional hockey player and how to live a life like a hockey player,” Barkov said.

Huberdeau added: “Even if he’s 45, 44, he’s just a guy that wants to get better and wants to win.”

And although Barkov and Huberdeau primarily played alongside Jagr, players like second-line center Vincent Trocheck and forward Colton Sceviour also benefited from his presence with the Panthers.

“It’s good to watch him do what he does,” Trocheck said. “The way he works off the ice and on the ice in practice. There’s definitely things that you watch to see what it takes in order to play as long as he did.”

full article:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/f...111-story.html

[overtimewin]

It would be nice of the Flames (ofcourse if Jagr was healthy enough - who knows) to have him dressed this game.... maybe he's really too hurt. Going out with an standing O - which he deserves! from FLA fans would have been ideal.

Kinda like what iggy got from flames (vs LA) would have been a good touch... knowing that he is likely done (and iggy's was even less for sure when they came back).

Feel it's a bit of shame..

Originally Posted by Puppet Guy

I found this article while prepping the GDT - young Panthers players and the effect Jagr had on them. Worth the read:




full article:

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/f...111-story.html

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by overtimewin

It would be nice of the Flames (ofcourse if Jagr was healthy enough - who knows) to have him dressed this game.... maybe he's really too hurt. Going out with an standing O - which he deserves! from FLA fans would have been ideal.

Kinda like what iggy got from flames (vs LA) would have been a good touch... knowing that he is likely done (and iggy's was even less for sure when they came back).

Feel it's a bit of shame..

He's not even with the team on this road trip. He's done.

[Beninho]

I wish it would've worked out but this team is much better with Hathaway on the third line and Mangiapane giving the 4th line some much-needed energy. Playing Jagr on the shutdown line was never going to work. Jagr still looked to have some magic when they play was getting cycled but when the play was transitioning between zones his lack of speed and old age showed. I still feel honored that Jagr played for the Flames even if it was a short stint to end his career, it was awesome seeing him live in Vancouver! Still wouldn't be against him getting healthy and possibly have him ready for playoffs, but that seems unlikely at this point.

[Johnny Makarov]

Originally Posted by N-E-B

Sounds to me like Jagr is just too banged up to play in the NHL. The part about not joining another NHL team to me says that the Flames know he can't hold up anymore. I'm sure other teams know too. That Jagr has permission to talk to other teams says to me that he might be in denial about his situation.

It's a shame Jagr didn't sign here a year or two earlier, but it was still really awesome to see him in a Flames uniform even if it was very brief.

He should call up Gretz and ask if his no-hit pass expired or not.

[Max Cow Disease]

Originally Posted by Beninho

I wish it would've worked out but this team is much better with Hathaway on the third line and Mangiapane giving the 4th line some much-needed energy. Playing Jagr on the shutdown line was never going to work. Jagr still looked to have some magic when they play was getting cycled but when the play was transitioning between zones his lack of speed and old age showed. I still feel honored that Jagr played for the Flames even if it was a short stint to end his career, it was awesome seeing him live in Vancouver! Still wouldn't be against him getting healthy and possibly have him ready for playoffs, but that seems unlikely at this point.

These are more or less my thoughts. It's been great watching him glide down the ice with mullet in tow wearing Flames silks, but outside of the isolated moments of excitement in which he helps to sustain puck control down low in the offensive zone, he hasn't been particularly useful. Every time the puck squeezed out and ended up going back towards our zone, I'd kind of cringe for the old buggar as you saw him start trying to shovel coal in to that antiquated steam engine of his and chug his way back up ice. On balance, you're probably quite right. The team's likely more primed for success with Garnet Hathaway and Eat Bread in the line up providing some sustained motor.

[sureLoss]

Jagr is switching to Lacrosse:

Mike Board
@mike_board
Jaromir Jagr tests our lacrosse following @calgaryroughnecks practice Friday.