robrob74

i don't believe in you're a playoff team with experience. Experience can matter, but i think some players are born for the playoffs and some just aren't. Like the Leafs have a ton of experience but never go deeper. Granted they're playing teams that make the finals sometimes, but...

we could see it on TV. We could see it from our chair, and then you hear Johnny tell us all of that stuff... so it's probably more about that than him in general.

To your point and hear me out; he's scored some goals. Grant that... i am sure Conroy is looking at it like, what else does he do? Is he killing penalties at a good clip? Is he scoring 5v5 vs just the pp? im with you, is this the player? How close does he resemble kuzmenko? Is kuz's contract the one to base the contract on?

did Mangiapane say something?

possible the fact he and Johnny being somewhat a defensive liability together played a part of my bias... And they decided not to try Tkachuk with them as he was doing ok with Backlund. Benny was a mess. I'm not saying he was terrible at everything.

the thing about cup winners is, Crosby, McKinnon, Toews and Kane, Ovechkin and his linemates, Etc, there's an expectation that goes with their elite personality.... I liken it to Yzerman, Sakic, Lemieux, Messier... there's excellence. How many teams don't have that yet still win? once in awhile you get the blues. Sometimes you can get elite deeper in the draft... most of the time it's early, and sometimes it depends on the draft, which is why we are a year late to the retool, again... All good to have the mindset but there needs to be some elitist players coming in. Johnny has elite edges and vision. Tkachuk elite hockey sense. But they're not the full package...

i didn't get the memo. lol. To me he was just a shot. I didn't get the love fans had for him. He didn't seem as special as some made him out to be. also because he played injured so much i feel Bennett could have jumped up and we would have had to play him, and I felt Benny with Johnny would get a few goals. Monny wasn't the player to build around in my eyes and we were stuck with him. Solid #2 and low #1... I also felt we rushed him. i get it, 21 as a rookie. Maybe the year after he gets 30 as a rookie but developed a defensive game and worked on his stride

im not frustrated with the league process, I want the Flames to get a 1st overall as much as some of us, but realistic they need to tear to extreme bare bones, and ownership will do it when it's a must, yet avoid until the writing on the wall is barely noticeable.

the audacity.

A tricky one yup. At least I'd get to see Calgary draft 1st overall once in my lifetime maybe. I'm pushing 50 so it's possible I might not even get to with your suggestion, if it took 10-30 years to get there lol. What might be more interesting to adapt your idea would be, if a team gets 1st overall one year, they can only draft as high as 4th or 5th overall the next 5 drafts? I dunno what a magic number is. Say a team drafts first overall one year, but they're in the #2 or #4 Spot, they automatically get pushed to 5... or 4 depending on the rule. im ok with keeping it as is. id prefer a true lottery, but give the worst teams more balls in the bin to increase odds that way... Coming out of the machine: Ball 1 SJS - 1st overall Ball 2 SJS - where their pick lands in the second round ball 3 Flames - their 1st round pick ball 4 SJS - where their third rounder lands ball 5 CBJ they get put onto the 1st round section.... its their spot and so on, the Flames would get 9 Balls, San Jose gets 16... a team just out that just misses the playoffs get 1. The next would get 2, then 3 and so on... They'd still have a chance at winning it all, but that last team out only get one ball's chance.

Dallas in 7 Avs in 6 Canucks in 6 Oilers in 7 Hate the Oil, but LA still isn't deep enough in Net and if the goalie can pull it out. They've been so inconsistent as a team. I think the Canucks added the right kind of depth in the summer, what the Flames needed to do. Avs, not a believer in Jets. Don't like Toffoli or Monahan. Dallas is deep. Depends on VGK stars coming back healthy enough.

Florida Bennett's in 7 Toronto in 5 or 6 (they gotta shut it out early or they choke in game 7) Rangers in 5 Canes in 5

When my dad was alive, he was hardcore Leafs. So when they Purged the Flames of players and turned to instant playoff contender status, I cheered them. As much as I hated the deal, that's on the Flames and not the Leafs... so the ex Flames I still liked and cheered for, like I did with Niewy... Roberts, etc. I guess I'd still not mind if they went a few rounds or all the way, just be like, here's to you Pop! I used to be everyone but Canucks or Oilers. Now I don't seem to care. Although, I hate their fans mostly. So it's more so they don't get to gloat and rub it in my face. I was the only game 7 Flames fan in '94 in a room full of 'Nucks fans... yuck. I felt like the way Steve Bartman looked sitting in the stands after interfering with the pop foul ball... only, the Flames didn't have an extra inning to make up for it.

So, they're moving to Utah and then expanding back into Arizona or Phoenix? why not move the team back? I guess they need to settle the players in. Not fair to them. I find it weird the Winnipeg team is called the Jets when we all know they're the Arizona team.

I just did a draft lottery simulator. About 70% of the time we moved to 10 or 11 draft spot. Once in the whole time we got 1st...

ya, I think he's priced ok... and if he was on the market could fetch a bit.... but I like him.

then we don't have enough depth in the A. If he's doing Bennett things then he's not NHL. Bennett needed the A to get his timing right. We probably play Coronato for a few years then trade him like Benny. theyre sending a few to the A for a playoff run. He'll have guys to play with then.

should be in the A

sounds like you're downplaying Weegar a bit. Maybe he's not worth his deal? What would he get on the open market?

I don't think it's forgotten at all! I think we could be scarred by it lol, as some of us worry they'd fall into that again. I also wonder about the improvement of scouting. Conroy definitely has a philosophy, a slight shift in His approach. But I think there's improvement. Back then, it was by necessity and Sutter trades that got them there. I don't know how many of us expected it to go the same as it did at that time period. but you're definitely right, there is a place a team gets to before improvement. Sometimes it's signing a glimmer of hope in 2nd chance players with previous upside. Chances at college kids, or best goalies out of the NHL. Or guys with good KHL numbers yet to translate. That was a rough time.

There is no way the NHL will ever go to an unweighted lotto. While we think tanking is a horrible way to go, there are going to be some poorly run clubs and teams that need to benefit the system. Calgary will never be a team that does that. Are they penalized for it? No. Because that is their choice. They choose to operate that way in hopes to gain extra revenue for a round of hockey or catch lightening in a bottle and then lose to them due to poor video on the goal that was in. That's just the way the Flames operate. we complain because the system doesn't work for us. Fact is, teams that are horrible need to get more draft picks to possibly draft better nhl players. It's how to build. More picks equate to younger players. i like what Conundrum said, what do you do when players decide not to play for your club? Calgary has never had that problem. Not a problem of them signing players at market value in UFA. Calgary needs to do a full gut of the team and start from scratch. With your proposed system you assume teams need to keep the studs and rebuild. Our studs left. There aren't any anymore.

you are being hypocritical. Staying the course with Iginla, Kipper and Bouw, you'd even said it yourself changes needed to happen earlier.

I don't think people see him as average. Sure his numbers are dropping, but that's also after only having 2 top4 D on the roster and one that is only in his second year or possibly being a top4 in Kylington. I wonder if Kylington is a top4 or a #5? I think he's lost the will to play in Calgary. But I don't know, just know the play has dropped after the team got further out of contention... could be other factors, but I think he's better than average... he's even better than good. that also depends on philosophy, as I think he's a product of a crap team in front of him, and its relative.

ok. So trading Iginla when they should have traded him 3 years earlier is inorganic? Maybe teams shouldn't be allowed to trade anyone and only draft players organically? I don't see the difference. A team's player ages out, that's organic. A player starts to age but has value and your team is getting worse year by year, trade them and that's organic. Trade players away when there's no hope for a cup, that is organic... staying the course is horrible, and you know it. That is what the flames would have to do in order to be your version of organic.

no, I don't assume anything like that at all. I'm all for the Flames getting a top pick. I'd hate if they were in last place and not get it because some team in 8th overall spot got it because their star is injured. Everyone does get to the bottom organically, there's a reason and it's because they are trading off all players to get as many picks as possible. Getting more picks helps to get more young players and hope they develop. Not dissimilar to the way the flames traded Lindholm, Tanev, Zadorov, Toffoli, and so on, and how they might do so next year as well. Some call it a retool, some a rebuild. We would love to trade more and get more picks.