PokernHockey

I think these three articles are very poinient for this discussion, and they address the counter arguement to people who point to his SV% and GGA as clear proof that Berra is not an NHL tender. http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/shot-quality-reveals-rasks-true-value/ I would argue that Berra (and Ramo, as well as to a lesser extent JMac since the team was playing better when he was up) would be pretty high up there for the difficulty of shots he faces. The two previous articles: http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/introducing-the-shot-quality-project/ http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/introducing-the-shot-quality-project-part-ii/ Warning: These are discussing advanced stats, so if you believe that GAA and SV% tell the whole story about a goalies skill or don't believe in them, Not looking at anyone in particular on THAT one, you likely won't like the thesis or the dissonence these articles will raise with your way of thinking. Interesting fact I was told the other day: based on the speed of an NHL shot, it is impossible for a human to react to a shot from the hashmarks. So if a shooter rips a shot from in close, it is all about anticipation/dumb luck. In my mind its pretty easy to accept if you think about it, however I wish I could find the academic study that explores it in far more detail then I ever have.

Your right. if the flames don't cut him tomorrow they are waiting far to long. there has never before been a goaltender who did not play in the NHL until he was 26 who had any success. Especially if he was playing in Europe. nor has there ever been a goalie who's career start was anything but storybook who ever became someone. especially when they play behind a team that has terrible D. Further, after one bad game, he cannot possibly become anything good. there is absolutely no way that if the flames give up on him today it could ever come back to bite them. by no means am I saying he will become any of those players. However if you can legitimately be making the predictions you are you really are doing the world a disservice by focusing your attention on how the flames are mismanaging life.

that is a very common clause in Euro players contracts. especially when they get released from a contract in another league early.

Just to follow up on this. I got offered season tickets in (i believe) the fourth round of offers at the end of August. I just purchased a condo, so I decided to forgo the tickets. I got an email today, once again offering me season tickets. And I can get tickets in the red, white, orange, or green section, not all of which are even in my wait list level. which means that they went through all hot house members and they were unable to sell all of the season tickets for the upcoming year, so they are trying again. I don't recall what number I was prior to last year, but I know I didn't get the offer to buy tickets once, let alone twice. I was #416 on the wait list in January. 6 months into the rebuild and season ticket holders are already dropping like flies, and that is, as you pointed out, without any of the outside factors of the 90's.

Fair enough on the economic thing, however Gas was near a all time high near the end of that rebuild and fans didn't start showing up until long after kipper jumped on the scene. What is the excuse for the last few seasons? Calgary has by all rights had one of the strongest economy's in the world since 2008. Those games that half the stands were empty in the past few years were still near sell outs because of pre-purchased tickets. If people were not going to games that were already paid for, what do you think their incentive is to pay for those same tickets? I grew up as a flames fan through the 90's playoff hiatus, so to be fair, I was not around people who would actually be buying the tickets in any significant quantity. I spent a significant portion of my money on Flames swag/tickets, but to be fair, short of car insurance, my movie theater wage was 100% disposable income. However, I distinctly remember as late as January 2004 being told off, etc. whenever I wore my flames jersey to high school. I purchased tickets and sometimes had trouble giving them away to my friends! And these were kids at the age when theoretically most people are most passionate about professional sports teams then they will be as adults! In my experience, it was not that people could not afford to go to games, it was that they couldn't be bothered. Although being an adult the economic situation is quite different for me and my friends then it was back then, the lethargy that grew over the last season from coworkers, friends, etc. is quite similar to my experience back then without the vitriol for things that are not to your liking that comes with high school. To be fair, some of that is likely to blame on the lockout however the lockout does not explain why it continued to grow as the season went on. Whatever precipitated it, the problem (fans not going to games) remains. I hope I am wrong, but at the end of the day, I still feel like that is a pretty significant, and valid, reason for ownerships trepidation towards entering a re-build until last year.

Feaster has stated he has not asked for, or gotten a definitive answer from kipper for the simple reason that if he (feaster) asked him "today" (this was about a month ago), kipper would retire. The reason it is delayed is because the Flames are hoping he changes his mind over the summer. My understanding of the cap recapture rule is different from yours; If kipper plays, the Flames recieve a 5.833m cap hit, and pay him 1.5m. If he retires they get a 4.333m cap hit (since it is 6+ years the lou rule comes into play), but no actual money payout. As either way the Flames are over the minimum cap payout, assuming we can agree that they will not hit the ceiling, whether he retires or not does not affect Calgary from a cap perspective. Where it does affect them is in the crease. Considering how Calgary is expected to occupy the bottom of the standings this year, I am betting the reason the Flames want to do everything they can to keep kipper from retiring is out of hopes that he plays and it keeps them somewhat respectable in losses. Last season after the trade deadline the dome was far from packed, and by the last few games it was half empty, and that was with most of those seats being pre-sold before we traded iggy, etc. Every year in the current playoff hiatus after the flames are out attendance drops noticeably. During the infamous 90's-2000's drought the flames almost moved due to lack of ticket interest. I cannot imagine how bad attendance (and ticket sales) will be if not only are we losing, but we are consistently losing badly enough that the outcome is never in doubt, Considering we are expected to finish in the bottom five for the first time in Flames history. by all rights attendance should be worse then the past few seasons. Most fans on this board like to claim that Calgary supports a re-build, and they may very well be correct from the perspective that the average Calgarian believes it is needed and the right thing to do. However Calgary certainly have demonstrated time and time again that they will not support it with their dollars.