cross16

The best direction is owners take a step back because I think they are too hands on and they've created an environment that encourages short term decision making. My belief is that the standard here is playoffs every year. We'll tolerate 1 year out if we need to, but you better get yourself back in the playoffs the next year. I've also led to believe they are they are very involved in the decision making process and will directly challenge the GM on certain player trades/acquisitions (ie Zucker trade falling apart because they required ownership approval). IMO, that is why you see picks constantly traded because if the standard is playoffs every year and little tolerance for missing a year then you need to fill holes and you can't wait for those picks. I also strongly suspect that when it came to trading Tkachuk I don't believe Treliving would have been permitted to look for futures, owners would want to be back in the playoffs this season. Maybe i'm wrong about all of this but i've just heard too many stories to believe differently. I should acknowledge that there does exist a possibility that Treliving is right there with them and he personally believes that they can get back in the playoffs. Perhaps he was the one that told Edwards I can move Tkachuk and get help now, I can't say definitively either way. So it's a bit of a chicken vs the egg debate but at the same time this has been the way the Flames have operated for 20 years now. All this being said, to answer your question directly the new direction should be we need to do what its going to take to win a cup. That means changing our operating model to match the system you are in. Flames are a small market club so they should not be allowing assets like Gio, Brodie, Gaudreau walk for nothing. They should be stockpiling picks every year to find assets and become an asset rich organization. They shouldn't be big players in the UFA market like they are so they can pivot easier. They need to have excellent pro scouting so they can identify undervalued assets. And above all of that, they need to be prepared to pick in the lottery if that's what it takes to rebuild a core. so that is my direction. How do you get there, I think that's open to debate. I'd hire a President of Hockey ops but perhaps there is a GM out there that could convince the owners differently. I'm very, very skeptical of that though because it doesn't match the previous hiring behavior of this org. Sorry for the long post.. tough question to answer directly which makes the new few years are going to be interesting to track for this organization.

And I will say that my expectation is that they do move on and I would suspect if that happens Conroy will be the replacement. I don't thikn the owners are as upset as some fans so I don't think they will see the need to upset the apple cart sort to speak. I just don't think it's the right direction and I don't think it will lead to and improvement.

it sounds like I'm against firing Treliving but that's not really the case I just don't think it's going to do any good. Hiring Conroy is an upgrade Why? What's Conroy going to do differently and better than Treliving? For years now the organization has had to take a hard look at itself and decide what it wants to accomplish here and until they do that I just don't think the coach/GM are the issue or the point. I think if they are serious about winning a cup then they need a president of hockey ops and they should go outside the org for that. Fresh set of eyes, someone who doesn't have ties to the owners (Burke did through Bettman) so I would not be in favor of Maloney. They need a new/progressive thinker and then allow that person to set the tone and decide on Treliving. If they are fine with this direction (making the playoffs more often than not but not really reaching contending status) that I personally don't see the point in firing Treliving as I think the odds are the replacement is worse and not better. If they choose the playoffs route then I just don't see how Sutter can coach the team next year. I am in agreement that the primary reason they are going to miss is goaltending but at the end of the day by now you should see some progress. You should see things clicking, you should see the coach understanding his players etc etc and you are seeing the opposite. I don't see how an off season can correct that. I'd also probably just hire Mitch Love if I were the Flames.

Not that i follow NCAA super close but i've seen a bit of Harvard and honestly I don't' think they are that good. I'd be really surprised if they go far in the tournament.

I'm not in the room of course but from afar I haven't seen the same Darryl Sutter this year. Last year we was surprisingly positive. He seemed to do a good job of playing that "we aren't supposed to be good" card and it worked really well. He hardly ever spoke negatively about his team/players in the media because he was too busy telling the media to shove it when they were playing well. This year I found it was the opposite. Right from the start he was pretty negative. Talking about how they were less skilled, didn't have the same depth, no one stood out in camp and then they got into the season he never seemed to have a plan. Even on BarnBuner, guys like Sarich and Warrener have commented about how they are seeing things in Sutter they've never seen before. I mean the flames were playing great to star the season and he overhauled the lines. The weird fascination with Lucic. The PP, both in terms of strategy and combos, has not made sense all year but they'd done nothing about it. Not using Huberdeau on 3 on 3, no using Weegar on PP or 3 on 3, not playing his best players appropriate ice time. I said this about a month into the season and I'm still thinking it, what is the game plan here? What type of team are the Flames trying to be, what do they want to achieve on their PP? The "why" behind what they do or want to do I haven't seen all year so it's not surprising to hear that players would be struggling with it too. but I mean it's also fair to point out this is Darryl Sutter and the most players don't like playing for him especially after a while. I'm betting, and I've heard this, that alot of players had concerns last year but the feeling is a whole lot different when your winning.

Seem like the flames plan is to be aggressive. Not a big surprise given the history

Key to their whole plan moving forward. If they can't keep him then past next off season they have the following centers under contract: Kadri Zary Ruzicka's an rFA and Backs will be 35. That's lottery/rebuild territory.

Whether or not the Flames need to move a contract likely comes down to Kylington. If he doesn't play again then the Flames likely wont' NEED to move a contract. Bettman has already said there is a possibility for the cap to go up a bit more and traditionally the PA does take the multiplier. So factoring in Kylington on LTIR the Flames could be looking at 4-5 mill in cap space. If he comes back then yes they will need to move a salary of likely at least 3 million.

Kadri hasn't been great so this isn't a good look for either side. But the question starts to get louder that in the mix of a brutal season how much more of this can you tolerate before the organization starts to wonder about Sutter? Kadri is not the first player to openly question the communication. I don't put the results of this season on Sutter that much but at the same time there is a ton of negativity around this team that seems to stem from the coach. When the likely game plan is to run it back next year can that continue (it can't iMO) then what can you do to change it? And how does this impact a MAJOR UFA negotiation in Lindholm that should be taking place this off season.

I'm not familiar with any rumor that said he didn't want to sign. I know his last comments on the deal were they were working through it and see where it lands. I do think that him choosing to leave is more likely than him being let go. Can't fault him if you like but I think the reality is his stock is very high right now so he's got a bunch of leverage in his negotiations with the Flames.

And to clarify I don't really have a problem if the Flames did sign him for this season and burnt the year. I don't think it's ideal but it's far from the end of the world if that is what it took. They also don't need to have him in the lineup in order to burn the year. Signing the contract will do that, games aren't needed.

Tough position. I can make a sound argument that the Flames should get into the playoffs because I agree the West is so wide open. There is no team in the West that I think would walk over the Flames if they got in. Heck if Markstrom can play like he did up until the Edmonton series last year I could make a case they should be the favorite is some series. I just don't see how a switch is suddenly going to flip for Markstrom or this team. There really isn't a "team" here anyway (in terms of how they play/execute) and the coach can't even decide on a working lineup. Too many things that just need to click for this group.

The Meloche fascination is weird to me. I'm not sure what anyone sees in him that makes them think they should be trying him out. Was signed for depth and likely a small roll of the dice that they could unlock something. They haven't so he's settled into the depth role they signed him for. Didn't stand out in trainging camp and hasn't on the Wranglers either so don't really get why his name keeps popping up. If it's simply you want to see someone different then you should be asking for Ilya Solyvov. I also don't really get the complaint as I think Stecher's been solid.

The did get a Frozen four invite. Next game for Harvard is March 24th. Single loss tournament so as soon as Coronato and his team loses he'll be eligible to sign/play for the Flames if that is the decision. I'm with Conundrumed on this, I don't see a top end prospect. Good player, solid in all areas, but I don't see a skill set that is going to separate him at this point. If he can work on his shot then maybe he can increase his upside but I also think it's highly likely he becomes a pro. Very Pelletier like. I do think it's a bit of a red flag though if he doesn't want to sign this offseason. I think he's ready for the next step and I don't see how playing in the NCAA is going to further his game at this point. If he wants to go back for his junior year I'd be asking some questions as to what his true intentions are because I think he's ready to turn pro. His negotiation is an interesting one. I personally don't think he's enough of a highly valued prospect to warrant just giving him what he wants, but he's got some leverage given what the Flames have gone through. Ideally they'd sign him for next year but does he have the leverage to make them pay him now and get him games? Be interesting to see. Before anyone freaks out a reminder that he needs to play 2 more season in the NCAA before he is UFA eligible so this off-season is not really a trigger point for a decision.

Another lost point due to goaltending. there are many things that have gone wrong for the flames this year but goaltending is the number one reason they are going to miss the playoffs. it’s a steep drop off to number 2.

Right because linking an article where his mom and dad are directly quoted is the same as baseless speculation.

Do you happen to have a quote where she says she didn't want to stay or didn't like Calgary? I think bringing his wife into this is silly and unnecessary as this who trying to complicate the process. It can be really as simple as Gaudreau wanting both things (play in Calgary and also be closer to home), wrestling hard with the decision, likely putting off making it as long as he could and then ultimately not getting over paying closer to home, so he picked that. Really doesn't need to be complicated. And all of this because the Flames might have missed out on a late round first round pick or some roster player we'd probably already dislike by now.

The point is this is an opinion not fact. His agent reached a deal with the Flames, his own parents thought he would stay and I've heard he was telling teammates days before he was staying in Calgary. It is 100% hindsight to make statements like "we knew he was leaving" or "always a higher than likely possibility". His actions, and the actions of his family tell us differently. Was it an unnecessary risk, that is for sure up to debate but there are a lot of factors in play there. What were the offers for Gaudreau? Was BT allowed to accepts futures? Was there even an appetite to move him knowing (remember he was coming off back to back underwhelming season) they would come no where close to replacing him. Would that have been tolerated? Unfair to put this on BT. This is an organization failure that should cause questions around why does this team value winning every year over asset management or why does this team seem to not want to acknowledge it is a small market club. Not really up to a GM to answer those questions.

Gaudreau loved Sutter but I don't think Tkachuk and Sutter got along well. He's made comments since he left that allude to the two of them not seeing eye to eye. Commetns around his ice time, playing in OT etc and I Sutter's never taken a shot at Gaudreau like he did with Tkachuk. He also went out of his way to praise Maurice when he got to Florida. He's also gone out of his way to praise Treliving and call him a friend. Kind of like how Gaudreau's own parents have said even they thought he was signing in Calgary. Funny how obvious it was to everyone else though. https://dailyhive.com/calgary/johnny-gaudreau-parents-stay-flames Hindsight indeed.

Hope Sutter enjoyed watching Valimaki make a play to help win the game.

Whether or not you want to blame him is an entirely different conversation. All head coaches make bad decision but this year Sutter has make far more than his fair share and done so in the face of very obvious and overwhelming evidence to show what he is doing is dumb, yet it's continued. Very, very head scratching job from the coaching staff this season. Far too many situations where you just can't find the why or logic behind what they are doing.

He didn't behind closed doors, at least not what I understand. I agree that ideally they would have someone who can push back and that's why I advocate for the return of the President of Hockey ops role. Just don't think your going to get there with Murray Edwards. Not really how he operates.

No, that time is passed already. There are not enough games left in the season to give him a meaningful shot and I think it's basically a given at this point he'll walk as a UFA at the end of the season.

Didn't listen to him when he was the GM. At least not to the level you are describing. Burke spent years trying to wrestle power away from the owners and that's Brian Burke. Dont' think this is a "BT can't set the owners straight issue".

Smarter thing is to get into the lottery. Odd are small but man a blue chip prospect, especially at center ice, would be a game changer for this franchise. Their odds of the playoffs are marginally better than their lottery odds at this point. Lottery would strengthen the franchise more than the playoffs.