senor_incendiarse

I think you could separate the projects, but I think the need for a replacement of McMahon is also there. It's a dump, attendance is down and I don't believe its due to lack of interests, and with newer stadiums in Winnipeg, Regina, Hamilton, and Ottawa, I don't see us hosting a Grey Cup in the near future. Hosting the Grey Cup might not mean anything to the non-football fans, but it does provide a great economic benefit to the city. That said the fact that this has become a dual project is solely the fault of the Flames for not acting soon enough on the arena, instead they purchased the entire cities sports teams and inherited another outdated facility. As supportive as I am for the need of new facilities, I am just too underwhelmed with what has been presented to be fully supportive of a lot of public money going in. For starters, I'd prefer an outdoor football field. I can tolerate freezing in November as long as I can sit outside on a July afternoon. I like the weather elements of watching the game. Secondly, the pictures of the arena are just plain bland compared to renderings of other arenas. What does the concourse look like? What type of amenities will be there? It's just too meh for what will likely be a billion dollar project.

The main problem I have with this as a compliment is that I think a good chunk of his shootout wins he had a 2 goal lead going into the 3rd. So in ways he was generous in giving away points, something you can't do if you're actually in a playoff race. Berra was like a bottom of the rotation starting pitcher, could be outstanding for the first half of the game, but if you leave him in too long there is a good chance he'll get hit hard. 3rd periods were dreadful for him and they seemed like they needed a closer. The fact I just used a baseball comparison for an NHL goalie is all that needs to be said about Berra.

If we did so be it then good for the Avs and good for Berra, but the bottom line is if Allaire can do something with him then its a luxury we never had to begin with. Even Giguere when everyone was crying in 2003 because we gave up on him, people didn't realize he wouldn't have become that here, he was a completely different goalie, and yet such an up and down goalie that I didn't care that we gave up on him because we wound up with something better. Now all we gotta do is try to do what San Jose did with the Kipper pick.

So with all your gloating, are you 100% sure Berra being pulled was a sole indication of his play and not a move to spark the team, as it is common a goalie will get the yank in hopes of igniting the team. That said, I'm not trying to sound like the biggest supporter of Ramo and Berra, but at least I'm getting behind them and hoping for improvements. I'm not rooting for anyones failure just because I like someone else more.

Sure nothing wrong with that, but 2 goalies played 2 different teams one played a team with the reigning MVP and an elite PP and the other played Columbus. I think we give this some time before we call one goalie Jesus and the other terrible.

The last round of cuts was Knight, Reinhart, Ferland and Kanzig. They are at best what you say the others are, no future superstars there and hardly guys that anyone is overly excited about. I'm not disappointed in either, Kanzig is only 18 he needs more time, Knight is straight outta college and he could use some seasoning, Ferland improved drastically in the prospect camp and tourney but was injured in main camp so had nothing to show, and Reinhart also missed too much of camp to really show he deserved to stick. Did you honestly expect them to make it over Stempniak, Stajan, Glencross, Hudler, Cammy?

There is no doubts the attitude around the city towards the team is similar to what it was from '97-'03, Calgary is a bandwagon city and it can't be denied, but we are that way because we have a great number of transplants, a lot of these people came with allegiances to teams they grew up cheering for, but would jump on the Flames bandwagon at the high times and ditch later. Where the situation is a lot better now is that, in the past they had to fight to get season ticket holders, not a problem these days, and corporate sponsorship is a lot better now as the team did a good job at getting long term deals when the on-ice product was better (god forbid KK get any credit). The Flames aren't in the same position as the Oilers who were able to sell the fans on hype. They had a #1 pick, we didn't, they had a World Junior hero, we don't. I think if we had the similar spot the Oilers had where we had individuals to hype there would be more buzz around the city, but I don't want that. The team needs to take their bumps, stockpile assets, and properly allow the youth to develop. Great individuals can put bums in seats, but great teams keep em there.

Chief I do see a few difference between Bo and Campbell, mainly minutes Bo plays top minutes against top players, Campbell is a 2nd pairing guy. I do agree that for him to earn his pay he needs to get the Lidstrom, Chara, Pronger balance of being elite at both ends. I could also see him not wanting to be part of a rebuild, he signed when he believed the Flames were a legit contender going on 600 games without a playoff game has got to be wearing on him. Who knows the guy may curse every team he is on, no playoffs in 4 years in the dub, none in the Nhl, he did in the A but that was after transferring to another team.