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Also worth pointing out, that under Treliving the Flames were a runner up for Panarin's services. He passed and picked Chicago but they were very close. Hard to compete when you can offer a spot in the lineup with the likes of Toews, Kane, Hossa etc.

Actually they won the cup 2 years into the deal. Bickell's contract was signed in 2013, Hawks won 2015 cup. Leddy was a solid top 4 dman, borderline top 3, that got dealt for picks/prospects. He got cap space back, which is what he really needed, so it's not like an colossal error but it wasn't a great trade either. Also you criticzie Treliving's draft record but have you looked at Bowman's? Lots of misses. I also don't understand the logic of taking a GM's best period of time and then saying this is the benchmark that Treliving needs to be held too. Rutherford almost ran the Penguins into the ground and if it weren't for Mike Sullivan he likely is already out the door. I don't understand how you ignore a a terrible record 1 year but a great the next and only use that as the benchmark. I think you are also conveniently leaving out Rutherford's record for the last several years he spent running the Hurricanes. I get its a different team but that is part of my point. You have talent the likes of what Rutherford/Bowman have its MUCH easier to GM and much easier to avoid mistakes. My point is that even the best GMs in the league lose trades and make errors. To be the best GM IMO you 1- don't repeat errors and 2- win more than you lose consistently. Treliving is well on his way. If you expect more I would argue your standards are unrealistic.

What GM has the perfect record you speak of? Remember Rutherford hiring a coach out of Junior and have to fire him less than 2 year later? Remember him giving up a 1st round pick for David Perron only to have to move him less than a full season in? Remember him letting 2 of his top 4 d go with no replacements and almost causing his team to miss the playoffs the following season? Stan Bowman signed Bryan Bickell to a contract. Traded NIck leddy for what turned out to be very poor return. When you are a GM and you have the likes of Crosby, Toews, Kane, Malkin, Keith, Letang etc you can get away with alot of mistakes and still look like a genius (and key point is that neither GM drafted any of those players). A mistake for Treliving right now gets magnified because the talent is quite there to mask it so I think you are holding him to an unrealistic standard.

Treliving in all of his press dealings sure doesn't sound like a guy who is concerned about his future and certainly speaks like a guy who is planning to be here a long time. Would have been pretty easy to push all your chips in and try to "go for it" this year and instead his biggest move is to pick up someone who may not pay off for a year or 2. He's certainly not operating like a guy who doesn't plan to be here long term. I still have to assume this is done and putting pen to paper is just a formality but i'm also not sure the Flames should keep this going. I think Treliving would be in high demand if ever got close to being a "free agent" and I think the longer you make him wait the more negotiating power you give him. By all accounts he is becoming extremely well thought of across the league.

I agree you throw out the LA game this year. That was one of their worst efforts of the season and really only Tkachuk showed up. That being, I don't disagree LA is going to provide a test. Flames have been better against the big and heavier teams this year but it's also a small sample size. I agree it will be interesting to see whether or not things like Ferland in the top 6 and Stone on D will impact their ability to play LA hard.

They lack blue chip prospects because they are all in the NHL. Vast majority of cases you get your blue chip talent out of the first round and the Flames have already graduated everyone and they didn't pick in 2015. The odd team finds a GM here and there, but typically when you look at top prospects list it's all first rounder and high 2nd rounders. Hard to always have blue chip talent lying around. Flames still burn through too many picks for my liking, Kanzig, Porier, Smith etc but I've quite liked the last 2 drafts and the dividends are there. Flames sent 5 players to the world juniors this year, 3 from the most recent draft, and their number 1 pick is in the Calder discussion (won't win it but he's there). Hard to find too many problems with that. Next step is to continue to give young players a chance. Make room for guys like Kulak, Klimchuk, Hathaway and keep playing them.

I agree that for the first month and change things were awful around here no doubt, but after that things got much, much better and Elliott didn't. It's really only in the last week or so I think he's played well, and even then I would stop of saying great. So that is 60 ish games and You can't convince me that for 60 games this team was terrible defensively and there was just so many goals he was letting in that were not the result of defensive breakdowns, or were just flat out saves you need a goalie to make. Remember, Flames are in the top 10 in shots against, scoring chances against and high danger scoring chances against, so Elliott should wear alot of the struggles. I've said across the forum though I'm not putting blame on Elliott. I just think its proof he isn't a number one goalie that's all. Last year his first 8 starts were pretty terrible too and then he caught fire. 2 seasons ago, same thing, only ok at the start of the season but got much better as the season went on. I think if you need your team to play basically perfect D in front of you to bring the best in your out you are not a number one goalie. Could they ride with him next year, sure it's an option, but I don't think its Option A. I think you want a guy who can bail you out once in a while and I can think of 1 maybe 2 times that's happened all year with Elliott.

Elliott's played well last week or two but overal I don't think the flames goaltending has been Very good this year. That being said Elliott has been known in the past to get hot at the end of the season so now I advocate just letting him run with it. I'd rather stick with the devil we know than the devil we don't, sort to speak. Bringing both back next year isn't a regression but it's not an improvement either imo. I do think the flames need to upgrade at net just at the right cost. I'm also not keen on giving Elliot a multi year deal at anything more than 3-3.5 million.

If your benchmark is he need to be GM of the year sure but good luck continuing to search for that. Point is he's been very good so why let someone go who has been very good? Very easy for flames to hire someone worse. 1- no ive never called it a fluke. It was an unsustainable year and not repeatable. Fluke is not my word. If Treliving doesn't sign Engelland and Hiller they don't make the playoffs so yes he had Something to do with it. 2- because I don't think they are a playoff team on paper I say they are average? I didn't think they were a playoff team in paper because of depth on D (something Treliving has already addressed BTW) and they are a young team that I thought would go throw too many growing pains. Also didn't think young players like Tkachuk, Ferland, Bennett were going to give them enough. They have more than average talent but I didn't think it would come together but thst does bit mean I think Treliving has done av average job. 3- stajan was signed by Burke not treiving. Engelland was not a bad signing. 4- he signed Brouwer, Chiasson,and traded for Stone all of which have made them harder to play against. Teams are not built overnight, especially when you still need to be skilled. I think there is no question the flames are harder to play against this year than last. In terms of the draft keep in mind that flames just sent 3 players to the world juniors that were picked in the last draft. That's very uncommon and a sign the flames have injected more skill into their system which is the change I have noticed under Treliving. Bennett and Tkachuk were smal dunk picks, but it's the later rounds that I'm referring too.

Treliving has his mistakes no doubt but they are all minor. Raymond bouma- which he quickly leaned from and didn't repeat with Colborne. A 2 year deal for Hiller. I think the Brouwer contract will be a mistake but at the end of the day I can see why he wanted to add that leadership element. I'm not in the room so I can't say this is a mistake if I don't know what Brouwer impact there has been. I also don't consider Bolig a mistake. A 3rd in a non deep draft for a guy who kept your young stars safe for 2 season really isn't a mistake imo. If those are your mistakes in 3 season you deserve an extension.

Wins a majority of his trades. Gets very good value out of pending UFAs because he learns the market. Hamilton trade Almost every extension he has signed has been at market value, maybe even less Last two drafts have been very promising. Has a blueprint and is following it. Extremely hard worker, which is why I think he avoids getting fleeced in deals or making bad ones. Of all the things you want a GM to do well he does them and if you actually look at it there are very few negatives he's done. Good far out weighs the bad and the flames are potentially looking at 2 trips in 3 years to the playoffs during a rebuild. That's fantastic.

Can debate semantics if we want but for me if you are not renewing someone's contract you are firing them.

Best way to stop that is to stop hiring bad fits and firing people too early. I actually don't have a big problem with it so long as it doesn't frustrate their employees or cause them to lose respect around the league. And no it really wouldn't.i don't think you'll ever win anything of value in pro sports when you turn over your management for no reason. Treliving does not deserve to be fired.

I agree 100% that the whole left side vs right side things is completely overblown and has nothing to do with it, but I also think that people are giving Brodie way too much flak. Has he had a great season, no probably not but I also feel like he had such a bad start to the year that people made up their mind on him. Personally, I thikn Brodie has played quite well since about the start of December. As well as he did last year, probably not, and that is partly the Gio effect for sure. I"m not sure how much credit i would give Gio specially but I would certainly agree that it is a massive talent drop to go from Gio down to Wideman/Engelland. Brodie is carrying those 2 on his back where you never have to carry Gio. I'm not taking anything away from Gio, he's a great dman but I do really wonder what would happen if Gio played with Wideman and Engelland. I"m not so sure you would see that different a result. Since Dec 1, Brodie has 3 goals and 16 points in 34 games. That is a 6 goal and 38 point pace over a full season and basically right at his career norms (within about 5-7 points). The only dman who suppresses shots at a better rate than Brodie is Gio. He and Gio are basically equal in terms of their ability to limit scoring chances, and Brodie isn't far off in his ability to limit high danger scoring chances either, all from a 5 on 5 standpoint. Sure his plus minus is terrible but IMO that speak way more to who he plays with and less about Brodie himself. So I really don't understand the heat he takes. He has been asked to shoulder a TON this year and IMO he's done a more than admirable job. You are going to have to live with turnovers like last night but overall Brodie is still an upper end dman in the game IMO. I do think he can play better yes but I think people really underestimate the effect playing with Wideman and Engelland have on his game and his numbers. He literally is carrying 2 guys that quite frankly shouldn't be playing for a contending team period, let alone in a top 4 role.

Is that really happening? IMO that's a narrative that stuck around 2 off season ago when they acquired Hamilton but after lat year no one considers the Flames an "Elite" D group. Most acknowledge that the Flames have a very good top 3 but they have below avg and borderline poor depth at 4-6. I don't think i've seen anyone call the Flames D elite or even very good in a while.

I'm choosing to believe that they have a "handshake" style deal that they just don't want to announce, or something like that. ive said it before but I'll be extremely choked if they don't bring him back. He's earned an extension and you simply will never win in pro sports if you constantly churn your operations team for no reason.

One thing that points in Huska's favor is the Heat tend to roll lines and defensive pairings, they don't appear to stack their lines in an attempt to win. They model is based more around development than it is necessarily winning games. I don't watch the games, but so far I like what i've seen. Most of the "prospects" that appear to be taking steps back i'm not sure you can put all on Huska and for me I don't really see many prospects who aren't taking steps forward

Not really. I really like Huska as a coach. In Kelowna, they ran a system that would parallel Gulutzan more than Hartley. I would argue Hartley's strategy would have been more foreign to Huska as that is not how his Kelowna teams ran. I just happen to think Huska is just a good solid hockey coach, but he's coaching a really young team with a not so good blueline. Goaltending can only mask that for so long.

Heat are alot like the Flames, very young. Pretty natural that a hot start like they had would even out. REally hard for young teams to be consistent. I'm personally really happy with Gilles and think he is taking too much flak. Number don't wow you but for a guy who missed a full season, playing behind a young dcore, and seeing a ton of rubber every night he is look pretty good if you ask me. I also think Klimchuk should be in the NHL next year.

correct. I didn't expand my answer so thanks for the extra input JTech but its the Justin Schultz loophole that allows a player to become a UFA earlier. It was designed to close the loophole that Mike Van Ryn exposed. At that time teams held the rights until the player left school but Ryan left college to to play in the CHL and won a case that because he was no longer a college player he should be declared a UFA. Next CBA, NHL changed it to that even if you left the level of hockey you were playing you still couldn't become a UFA until you played a certain number of seasons.

Tend to be but not required to be by rule. Player becomes an undrafted free agent when he is no longer eligible for the draft, which happens once he is over the age of 20 by the end of the calendar year the draft is held. At that point he can sign, but issue is he has to go pro. If a team doesn't think he is worth drafted then he likely isn't ready for pro hockey. Teams want college to handle the development and use a contract when they feel he is more pro ready. Also lots of kids become undrsdted free agents after their their year of college but turn down offers to turn pro to finish their degree, play another year or maybe up their stock. So not required that they be in their final year, but your right tends to happen that way. Correct on all counts here. Outside of the "Justin Schultz" loophole a drafted player needs to play all 4 years and then wait till August.

What is more likely, Elliot get it together and plays well down the stretch of Neuvirth does? I would bet on Elliott over most of the "reclamation" options that are out there. Elliott has played at a higher level than almost all the available goalies.

Technically you are right, he could have signed with anyone. He did get a few camp invites, but the tricky thing with signing is as soon as he does he loses his NCAA eligibility. So from the NHL perspective they need to be comfortable with him in the AHL and from the player perspective he has to be comfortable giving up his education and some of them don't want to. I may be wrong on this but I thought I remember reading that Dan Dekeyser had offers to go pro earlier than he did but he wanted to get his education so he stayed. Lots of valid reasons why players in College became UDFA. That being said, I do agree with the theme that the process is overrated. The VAST majority of College Free agents flop and just are not NHL caliber prospects. Obviously you have to scout it and take a shot when you believe in a guy, but it's not a good source to gain prospects.

I'm not the biggest Elliot fan and really don't like how he has played but i'm not so sure I would be dealing him at this point. I'd consider it if it brought back a better goalie, but not a chance of scenery option like Neuvirth. Last year, Elliott was pretty sup par the first half of the year and then caught fire in the 2nd half. I think the best value he can give the Flames is hold on to him and hope he can do the same thing.

Just take a look at the trend we are seeing with scoring and I think you'll see why the NHL was so desperate to get this done.