cross16

This is the reason I point at the owners, IMO the Flames never rebuilt. - After they traded Iginla, Feaster publicly stated his marching orders were to get back into the playoffs the following season - They didn't even "rebuild" by choice. Iginla told them he wasn't going to sign - They hired Burke, a hockey executive who is famous for not being patient - when Burke fired Feaster he was asked point blank was this to speed up the rebuild. Answer "yes". That's a direct quote. - You don't sign a starting goalie like Jonus Hiller to a 2 year deal if your plan is to rebuild through the draft. Can't rush what you don't start.

if the question is what is holding back the flames then imo that is ownership. I think the blueprint on how to be a consistent contender is pretty straightforward. You need to have a min of 4-5 star players. Game breakers who are among the best in their position in the league. Without that you’ll be a middling tram at best which is where the flames find themselves, and to defend them a little where most of the league does to. Obviously you need more pieces to supplement that but you need to start there. Really the only way to get therre, especially for a small market Canadian club like Flames is to draft them and to draft players like that you’ll need lottery picks which I think it’s pretty obvious by now the flames owners don’t want to do that. So the flames are in a spot there they can have anywhere from 0-3/4 stars which means they’ll be on this roller coaster for a while. j don’t think they get off of it without a philosophical change. You can change GMs and j think it’s looking likely they will but I don’t think that will change anything because it doesn’t solve the problem. If the flames don’t want to rebuild like that how do they acquire these players? What’s a new GM going to do that previous ones haven’t? imo they are on this path until they get new owners or the current group changes it’s philosophy.

Look who their head coach is. That’s why.

this happens frequently in hockey. Heck it’s common in all sports. no of course the message wasn’t go out there and blow a lead. But protecting a lead by playing safer,more passive style of defending it really common. It just didn’t work.

When a team does something again and again, and it's the entire team, over the course of the season you should ask yourself if it's not being coached then why is it being allowed? the dime a dozen center who has as many 5 on 5 points as Connor McDavid since January 1st? I can understand the frustration, i can understand the desire to move on from aging pending UFAs but if there is 1 player who should be exempt from criticism this year it's Backlund. Probably the only player that has pulled his weight, and more, since day 1.

Flames had 1 shot in the 3rd period. That’s it. Sat back, dumped it in and then acted surprised when Vegas came at them with speed. just an awfully frustrating game plan

Just not good enough at this point in the season. You have any hopes of being a playoff contender you had to lock this game down. Goaltending not good enough and came out way too conservative in the 3rd.

Flames came out very conservative to start this period and it’s burned then. Have given Vegas all kinds of space and time

back to backs

A goal that Vladar simple cannot give up. Simple as that. That’s the type of brutal goal against the flames goalies give up just far too often Hopefully it’s not a back breaker

This is what makes draft analysis tough because I would counter by saying have they missed on anyone? From 2015 to 2020 they took 8 players outside of NA, only one of them was in the top 60 and that was Kylington. Think we'd agree they didn't miss on that one. Rasmus only played 1 year in Barrie so pretty fair to assume he was scouted heavily in Sweden too. Have to factor in opportunity there too, it's not just a scouting thing IMO.

but who is helping with those drafts? Who keeps stocking the team with solid talent to allow Rod to be a good coach? I think the Canes do the best job in the league of synthesizing their operation from the top down. Yes I agree Rod is a good coach but I think the success of that franchise has a lot to do with the front office brining in solid players that really fit the system. This allows him to be a good coach and for them to be consistent year after year because the fit always seems to be there. It’s a really good operation that goes beyond just having a good coach.

They are creative too. Took on Burns for nothing and he's been a tremendous fit. Use cap space as a weapon. Just a really, really well run org IMO. Tulsky is probably the only GM out there I would want over Treliving. If the Flames want to make a change after this season, and again merit to that decision, the list isn't that exciting outside of Tulsky IMO which is part of the reason that despite how this season has gone i'm not in a rush to move on from Treliving.

Don’t have much to base an opinion of whether or it be would be good but what I would say is I don’t see how the flames get better if they go to him. They already have a good GM so going from one good GM to another doesn’t do much for me. if the flames want to go in a different direction, and there’s merit to that opinion, then they need to be prepared to do things differently. They need to either be ok with a deep rebuild or you need to hire someone who will do things different and maximize value for a small market team. Someone like Eric Tulsky from the Canes. hiring Conroy, or someone like him, is just going with the same plan and your hoping he’s a better talent evaluator, is just change for the sake of change. I don’t get it.

I agree but the only thing I would point out is the expected goals stuff actually highlights what its wrong with the team. Another debate for another thread probably but this isn't a case of the analytics trying to paint a pretty picture because they really don't. And this is why I would move on from Sutter. This is not his fault and I don't even think it's done anything "wrong" he just isn't the right coach for how this team is built and I don't like Sutter hockey so move on and find someone who will play a more entertaining style of game with a more positive message.

This if fair. There were multiple breakdowns and in Z's defense Pelletier got beat very easily. But still, it was a WTF are you doing type of play. I really dislike it when players hit the ice like that.

No idea why he hit the ice. That's almost never a good play but with the play that condensed? Now sure i've ever seen that before but it was bizarre and brutal from Z. Felt for Markstrom on that one.

Yup. I think your to the point where the idea of moving out your pending UFAs is not about what value you receive in trades it's what value do you get by the replacements who can play and get ice time. I don't really care if all they get is late round picks for Lucic/Lewis. I'd rather see Ruzicka in there full time, or bring up Zary, Duher heck even Klapka or Schwidt.

This isn't for Sutter to think about but I do think the Flames management is going to have to find ways to inject some life into this franchise. This is probably the most boring season the Flames have had in quite a long time (honestly since before Sutter got here the first time) and I think your starting to see it in the fan base. I said this in the GDT but i'm the most disengaged i've been in a while. There is no excitement, energy, belief, skill or fun to the Flames this year and I can tolerate that if your winning but when you are not, well yikes. The Flames are currently 5th worst in the league at all situation save %. Sure Wolf is small and sure player are going to shoot high on him but at some point you have to realize you can't really do worse and you need something for these fans to get excited about.

Depends on your expectations. Funny me is they are only about 6-7 points beyond where I’d thought they’d be. For this tram to do something this year it was going to be a team that peaked late. That isn’t happening so therefore the decision is clear

Lose a game they just simply could not afford to and lost in in pretty horrible fashion. Just an awful loss. no matter waiting for them to tell you, you know what your team is no and there is no way you can justify adding at the deadline. The flames should sell all of their UFAs, fill the spots with kids and see what happens. Isn’t going to get worse than this. if they can add a piece that more sense this year and beyond then sure but they should be nowhere near any rental players. Them start getting an idea of who yon want to coach the team next year because Sutter isn’t going to get this team anywhere imo.

Hard to play it correctly when your dman does something that dumb in front of you

This team just loves shooting themselves in the foot this year. what a horrible play by Zadorov. That’s not on Markstrom

There’s just nothing to like about this squad this year. There’s really nothing they do well, there’s no emotion, there’s no fun, attitude and almost no skill. Just gets worse when you don’t win. And even if they do play well their goaltending just gives ip back breaking goals. this is the most unengaged I’ve been on a flames team in a while. Just incredibly boring to follow this year.

IMO it’s two fold 1. their volume based system isn’t working, nor is there let’s turn it every game not a slog fest. 2. Huberdeau and Kadri arnt really clicking. When you have other likes not exactly lightning it up why are we sticking with the same lineup?