Heartbreaker

"Good strong wrist..." Phrasing, Bro. He's a teenager. Love.

What's rhymin' with Hyman? Love.

No doubt. I would hope that, too. I would be pretty surprised after last season, though. My initial thought was Tanev, and Lucic seems like a good choice, too - but I'm not sure that they'd go either way there. Then I thought about Lindholm, and eventually landed on Backlund because of Sutter. All I can do is guess, though, and roster changes are also a variable. Love.

So who will be the next captain of the Flames? I realize it's pretty early to project, but barring significant roster changes, my money is on Mikael Backlund. Love.

Yeah, there have been a lot of posts these past few days that have been pretty unfair in my opinion. It is a drag losing players for nothing, but I don't think that it is at the sole discretion of the GM. I don't think that Darryl Sutter was a Treliving hire, and I suspect that it was a mandate that came higher up the chain. I would suspect that they also would not have permitted him to trade the captain for futures when they believed that they were in the playoff race - despite what fans may think. They were never going to go out quietly, and they played right up until the end of the season. They missed, and it cost them. They'll probably lose Giordano, and their draft position is not optimal. We've seen this movie before, but the ownership group has the same mandate every year. They didn't hire Darryl Sutter to rebuild, and they're probably going to pay the price for that. The other thing that I have a hard time with when it comes to the asset management debate is that sometimes a player retires. I suspect that Mark Giordano would have happily played out his entire career in Calgary, and while I'm sure that he isn't totally stoked to (probably) be going to Seattle, he might have been even less excited about having been moved at the deadline for a second and third round pick. The guy doesn't owe us picks from Florida or Carolina, he gave us his entire career. I don't have any problem with these guys riding off into the sunset with some grace. Losing Gaudreau for nothing during his prime would be terrible asset management, but allowing a guy to play out his career in the colours that he loves is good for business, good for fans, and good for the organization. Love.

And it was the coolest! That was the game where James Neil lost eight teeth! Love.

My fear here is that the Flames ownership group is looking closely at the Habs success, and are feeling validated in their assertion that, "All you need to do is get in!" Love.

You know, I really can't figure out what's wrong with him. His career has been an absolute roller coaster. It has to be in his head, and that's a real drag because I think that he could have had a great career. At 27, I can't imagine that he'll ever really put it together and light it up... but if you could get some consistency out of him, and not be so frustrated that you'd trade him for financial considerations, as has happened twice in the last 15 months, I wouldn't mind that target at all. Sadly, I don't think he'll ever find that consistency. Love.

Ahh... that article is five years old. Love.

Swept! Glorious! Love.

Yeah, and don't even get me started on Bennett... their highest draft pick ever. Brouwer and Bouma?! Left wing with Jankowski? Gawd... Love.

I agree about Burke. I think that the Flames are all about the win now... and that scares the chit outta me. See the recent hiring of Darryl Sutter. Love.

This is a pretty good post, Man, and as always, I appreciate your insight. I have always been a Treliving supporter, and continue to be because I think he has exactly the right personality type to do the job. I like that he is measured, analytical, and not afraid to speak the truth as he sees it. I think that he is accountable, and I get the impression that he is well respected by his peers. I don't think he's ever been fleeced, although I haven't always liked the moves that he's made (didn't love the Lazar trade, for example). Outside of a few of the free agent signings, the only trade I've ever really had an issue with was the Hamonic trade (not the player, but the cost of acquisition), but I think that he was under a lot of pressure to win now, and the same can be said when he needed to shore up the goaltending situation and made the Elliott trade (remember how good he looked in St. Louis during their playoffs the season before). I think that we're having a different conversation if the Kadri, Zucker, Bishop/Fleury, or Stone trades had worked out. I hate that he could be fired for the Bennett situation. As far as I'm concerned, he did right by the player, and maximized the value for a player that wasn't going to be here next season. I am very angry about the way that the Flames handled Sam Bennett, but I think that there are a lot of reasons why it didn't work out in Calgary, and it's a much bigger issue than Treliving. The fact that he's doing as well as he is in Florida shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody, and it should say a lot about player development and utilization in the Flames system. That goes far beyond the GM, and I think that a POHO model might be the best way out of this mess. If he does go, though, I think that your suggestions are good ones. I'll take your word for it. I like the idea of bringing in somebody hungry that has a fresh perspective. Love.

This post is hilarious. I'm not sure that there was/is an attitude problem with a lot of the players that you mentioned. Nary an ill word has been spoken of Milan Lucic, or Travis Hamonic as pertained to their attitude or dedication. Arguably, Lucic has been the leader of the team this season, and if you wanted to take that further - is one of very few players that deserve to be protected from the expansion draft. I know that he shouldn't be, and that he won't be - but if he wasn't being paid so handsomely, I don't think that any of us would have much to complain about. It can be safely argued that most of those players were not worth the cost of acquisition, but that's a different problem. As for Dougie, well, to be honest with you, I'd rather go to a museum than get Satoshi Nakamoto canned with the boys, too. That probably gets old pretty quickly, and he seems to be fitting in pretty well on a very good team these days. Maybe he wasn't the problem after all. Love.

I am glad you posted this. I have been thinking about this for a little while, and I have noticed that there is a lot of talk on the board about the '18/'19 season being an aberration. Maybe that's true, but it's also possible that this season is an aberration. The reality is that they should fall somewhere in between this year, and that year. You can't expect players to have career years every year, but some of our best and most important players are having a well below average season. There could be a number of factors that contribute to this. I don't think that the Flames should, but they could come back next year with the same team, and I would anticipate a better result. Love.

I don't think that those are great examples because I don't think that Poirier or Jankowski were BPA at the time that they were selected. Love.

Sure, and you should! For me, I'm a hockey fan that happens to love the Flames. I don't mind watching them lose if I got to watch a great game, or a great series. This year it has been very frustrating because it has been no fun at all to watch them lose. It has only been marginally better watching them win. That said, they're my boys, and my team! I'll always pull for them, but it's good to be an honest fan. Love.

In my opinion, it was never the right move. It also doesn't feel like a Treliving decision. I'm afraid that we're probably in for a very frustrating few years. I really hope that I'm wrong about that. Love.

Yeah, I think that this is the part that you have to keep in mind. If you look at round 1 of the 2014 draft, the Oilers selected Leon Draisaitl third overall. Reinhart and Bennett were both ranked higher, but they were thought to be "more of the same" in the mold of Ryan Nugent Hopkins. I think that he's absolutely the best player to come out of that round, and there are some good ones - Pastrnak, Larkin, Ekblad. Speaking of Nugent-Hopkins, do you think that he was the best player to come out of the 2011 draft? I don't. There were lots of misses in 2012, too - starting with first overall. The Flames would have selected the same players, and probably would have missed out on Draisaitl. I think it really helps to have a few very high pedigree draft picks - but remember, Sam Bennett was projected to go first, and fell to the Flames at fourth. It's a crapshoot, Robbo. I think that you're absolutely right about development, and that the Flames haven't been very good in that department, but they are still dealing with 18-year-old hormonal teenage boys on the cusp of a huge payday. There are no guarantees at the top... with that all said, I'd really rather see the Flames pick third than fifteenth, but if tanking was the silver bullet, no one would ever win. Love.

Yeah, I tend to agree with you. The Oilers are a pretty good example. In Edmonton they always talk about "five in seven!", and they almost matched it with draft picks. It wasn't really until this year that they've surpassed the Flames - and the only player that the Flames have that wasn't available to the Oilers is Sean Monohan. As for Matthews, well, I was living in Toronto at the time, and the whole thing felt really gross. The other thing that the Leafs have going for them is an influx of players that have always wanted to play there. The population in the region is huge compared to other Canadian centres, and unless you live in Quebec, you have had the option to watch the Leafs every Saturday night for your entire life. Whether we like it or not, the Leafs have by far the biggest fan base among Canadian hockey fans. Tavares was always going to land there, and I think that Brodie was always going to land there, too. There's a draw to playing for the Leafs that other teams really can't compete with. Jason Spezza and Joe Thornton play there for the league minimum for chrissakes - and I realize that's because they're competitive now, but those guys play in their bottom six. I would take those two at league minimum over anyone on our fourth line, up to two thirds of our third line, and anyone on our taxi squad. The Leafs are a Victor Hedman away from the cup... thankfully he's not from Southern Ontario. I do think that the Flames could have an inside track on Taylor Hall at some point, and if the Leafs fall out of contention, I could see Auston Matthews having an interest in playing in Arizona. I'm not trying to exaggerate the desire to play where you're from, but it can be a factor for some players, and a disproportionately large number of those players grew up cheering for the Leafs. Love.

I don't know, Man... The Leafs set out to tank the year that Auston Matthews went first overall. Lupul has a scraped knee? Better take him out of the lineup... JVR has hurt feelings? Better take him out, too, etc... The Leafs finished exactly where they wanted to, and they got their man. Of course, I would argue, that the Jets won the draft lottery that year because they jumped from something like 7th to 2nd. I realize that they've since traded the player, but I felt like they picked him with some integrity. They played to the end. Love.

I think that this nails it. I had thought that Ken King was the problem, but the mentality hasn't changed at all. I like our GM a lot - he's very measured, and I think that that's exactly what you need, but I also think that his hands are tied. I don't think he'd be allowed to trade Joe Nieuwendyk for 19-year-old Jarome Iginla. In some ways, I think that the '04 playoffs was a curse on this team. An aside, I couldn't remember who was the GM when that trade happened, so I looked it to be sure. Found this pretty cool article that reflects on it: https://flamesnation.ca/2020/12/19/25-years-ago-jarome-iginla-became-a-flame/ Love.

Yeah, I can't see the Canucks being in the race. They could definitely play spoiler, though. The Sens can do that, too. Love.

Totally agree. One of my favourite things about him was his professionalism. Guy's a gem! I wish the Flames had done a little bit better on the development front, that's all I mean by "it went down this way." Love.

I was really pulling for Sammy. I'm a big fan, and I'm very sad that his days as a Flame are over, and that it went down this way. Hopefully he does well in Florida. Love.