Speculation: Armchair GM 2024-25 Season, Craig Conroy's Can Do Calgary Flames

[viper0220]

Seeing what Seth Jones just went for I'm all for Conroy trading Rasmus (and Weegar?).

Rasmus they might trade but not Weegar.

 

[JPeeper]

Anyone else following how Jersey has been doing? They were near the top of the league for a long time, but have recently fallen quite far and are now clinging onto that 3rd spot in the Metro and in danger of being passed by Columbus.

If they continue to slide down, their pick could end up in the teens (currently sitting at 21st overall, we're 16th overall which would go to Montreal).

As for the tank, all the teams around us won and we're a Boston, Blues point away of being overtaken, a Montreal and Utah win and they overtake us. Rangers and Philly a win away from tying us. Caveat being we still have games in hand on everyone. (we also play Philly and Montreal in the next week so those losses would be massive for Team Tank)

Goodbye sweet playoffs, hello sweet re-build!

Wolf gave us hope, now the hockey Gods will reward him with the Flames winning the draft lottery at 23rd place and we can snag the 2nd Misa brother. Everything coming up Flames.

 

[Darth Vladar]

Anyone else following how Jersey has been doing? They were near the top of the league for a long time, but have recently fallen quite far and are now clinging onto that 3rd spot in the Metro and in danger of being passed by Columbus.

If they continue to slide down, their pick could end up in the teens (currently sitting at 21st overall, we're 16th overall which would go to Montreal).

As for the tank, all the teams around us won and we're a Boston, Blues point away of being overtaken, a Montreal and Utah win and they overtake us. Rangers and Philly a win away from tying us. Caveat being we still have games in hand on everyone. (we also play Philly and Montreal in the next week so those losses would be massive for Team Tank)

Goodbye sweet playoffs, hello sweet re-build!

Wolf gave us hope, now the hockey Gods will reward him with the Flames winning the draft lottery at 23rd place and we can snag the 2nd Misa brother. Everything coming up Flames.

You poor bastard, bless your heart lmao

 

[Lunatik]

Anyone else following how Jersey has been doing? They were near the top of the league for a long time, but have recently fallen quite far and are now clinging onto that 3rd spot in the Metro and in danger of being passed by Columbus.

If they continue to slide down, their pick could end up in the teens (currently sitting at 21st overall, we're 16th overall which would go to Montreal).

As for the tank, all the teams around us won and we're a Boston, Blues point away of being overtaken, a Montreal and Utah win and they overtake us. Rangers and Philly a win away from tying us. Caveat being we still have games in hand on everyone. (we also play Philly and Montreal in the next week so those losses would be massive for Team Tank)

Goodbye sweet playoffs, hello sweet re-build!

Wolf gave us hope, now the hockey Gods will reward him with the Flames winning the draft lottery at 23rd place and we can snag the 2nd Misa brother. Everything coming up Flames.

Yea since Markstrom went down, they've been like 1 game over .500 and Allen seems to either get a shutout or give up 3+

 

[JPeeper]

View attachment 985292

You poor bastard, bless your heart lmao

Me looking into the mirror:

 

[crackdown44]

Yeah now that it’s a 4 team race for the one remaining wild card spot I really don’t like our odds of getting in, especially given the remaining schedule

I am officially on team tank

 

[Siignal]

Yeah now that it’s a 4 team race for the one remaining wild card spot I really don’t like our odds of getting in, especially given the remaining schedule

I am officially on team tank

Team tank welcomes you, in your seatback you can find earplugs which filter out the cognitive dissonance from people who think it makes sense to push for the playoffs instead of the long-term future of the franchise.

 

[joescores]

Yeah now that it’s a 4 team race for the one remaining wild card spot I really don’t like our odds of getting in, especially given the remaining schedule

I am officially on team tank

I am 80/20 to completely join your brigade mate...

Let's see how they play tonight...

 

[Darth Vladar]

Food for thought: I read somewhere that since the Flames 5-0-1 start to the season, Rasmus Andersson has 13 points in 53 games and is a -26 which is 4th worst in the NHL.

 

[Anglesmith]

Food for thought: I read somewhere that since the Flames 5-0-1 start to the season, Rasmus Andersson has 13 points in 53 games and is a -26 which is 4th worst in the NHL.

An eye test stud, though. I think there aren't going to be a lot of success stories if you look at individual point totals on this team. They simply do not score very much, so as a result there aren't many points to go around.

He's taking the toughest matchups on a team that has a heavy negative goal differential, so someone is going to eat those minuses.

I think if the Flames moved Andersson, they'd be stuck trying to get a new one. We've developed... three defencemen of his quality since 2004? Not as easy to replace as one might think. I'm still in favour of having him be part of the core going forward.

 

[Lunatik]

Food for thought: I read somewhere that since the Flames 5-0-1 start to the season, Rasmus Andersson has 13 points in 53 games and is a -26 which is 4th worst in the NHL.

This is a good example of why +/- is a poor stat and needs to be taken with a massive grain of salt. When a defenseman plays against top lines on a team that is one of the lowest scoring teams in teh NHL, their +/- is going to suck.

 

[Darth Vladar]

This is a good example of why +/- is a poor stat and needs to be taken with a massive grain of salt. When a defenseman plays against top lines on a team that is one of the lowest scoring teams in teh NHL, their +/- is going to suck.

I mean, even Seth Jones had 27 points in five fewer games and was only a -18 for the lowly Hawks who are second last in the entire league, have only scored ten more goals and have allowed almost forty more than we have. How much is that Raz extension really worth and for how long?

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

An eye test stud, though. I think there aren't going to be a lot of success stories if you look at individual point totals on this team. They simply do not score very much, so as a result there aren't many points to go around.

He's taking the toughest matchups on a team that has a heavy negative goal differential, so someone is going to eat those minuses.

I think if the Flames moved Andersson, they'd be stuck trying to get a new one. We've developed... three defencemen of his quality since 2004? Not as easy to replace as one might think. I'm still in favour of having him be part of the core going forward.

Weird take considering our current RD prospect pool. I'm not saying we should rush our prospects but it's pretty much a guarantee at this point that Parekh makes the team next year since he should absolutely not be playing in the OHL anymore. Mews and Bruz will probably need more time but I think at least 1 of them will be NHL ready by the 26/27 season (probably Brzustewics).

If we do end up moving him we could also target Ekblad in the summer. Him and Weegar were fantastic together before and we certainly have the cap space.

 

[Siignal]

There are now 2 clear camps of Flames fans.

Ones who would fail the marshmallow test, and ones who would pass it.

 

[Lunatik]

There are now 2 clear camps of Flames fans.

Ones who would fail the marshmallow test, and ones who would pass it.

The problem with this analogy is there is no guarantee of gratification. The reality is that higher picks only guarantee losing now.

It's more like giving a starving person the option of a meal now, or a 20% chance at winning 2 meals later. In the last 15 years, only 3 teams (COL, FLA, TBL) to finish bottom 5 have won a cup.

 

[DomBarr]

The problem with this analogy is there is no guarantee of gratification. The reality is that higher picks only guarantee losing now.

It's more like giving a starving person the option of a meal now, or a 20% chance at winning 2 meals later. In the last 15 years, only 3 teams (COL, FLA, TBL) to finish bottom 5 have won a cup.

to be fair for like 10 of those years Edmonton, Buffalo, Ottawa, New Jersey and Utah hogged all the bottom 5 spots


I actually see the opposite of your analogy with this team. There is minimal gratification currently but the higher picks give a chance at greater gratification. Sort of like regardless of what happens you will always have KD but the higher picks give you a chance at adding a hot dog to it.

 

[Lunatik]

to be fair for like 10 of those years Edmonton, Buffalo, Ottawa, New Jersey and Utah hogged all the bottom 5 spots


I actually see the opposite of your analogy with this team. There is minimal gratification currently but the higher picks give a chance at greater gratification. Sort of like regardless of what happens you will always have KD but the higher picks give you a chance at adding a hot dog to it.

A playoff race is great for development of Wolf, Coronato, Zary, Bahl, Pospisil and Pachal (I think there is more to him since it's his first opportunity to play every night at this level and teh defensive game can always grow)... learning to play important games is good, even if you aren't immediately successful.

If the team loses, they lose, I never expected the team to do this well this year. But this whole "team tank" is utter f***ing garbage and reeks of people that hate watch things just to complain and tell the internet how they'd do a better job.

Us cheering for the players on our team doesn't affect the outcome of the game. Whining on the internet about teh team winning more games than expected doesn't change the Flames plan. So why be miserable instead of trying to enjoy what's in front of us? This is supposed to be entertainment for us.

The current management group has a plan, they are going to stick to it. That plan is maximum effort, add pieces that will help for years to come, move out out players that will be leaving and add prospects and draft capital.

 

[Kielbasa]

The problem with this analogy is there is no guarantee of gratification. The reality is that higher picks only guarantee losing now.

It's more like giving a starving person the option of a meal now, or a 20% chance at winning 2 meals later. In the last 15 years, only 3 teams (COL, FLA, TBL) to finish bottom 5 have won a cup.

Of the last 15 cup winners eight
out of nine teams (LA, CHI, PIT, WSH, STL, COL, FLA, and TBL) have had at least one core player drafted by them in the top 4 of the draft.

So actually the analogy works better than you suggest, because even after drafting top 5, it still takes time and discipline to win a cup. However, drafting top end talent into the team core seems to be a requirement for winning a cup.

 

[Lunatik]

Of the last 15 cup winners eight
out of nine teams (LA, CHI, PIT, WSH, STL, COL, FLA, and TBL) have had at least one core player drafted by them in the top 4 of the draft.

So actually the analogy works better than you suggest, because even after drafting top 5, it still takes time and discipline to win a cup. However, drafting top end talent into the team core seems to be a requirement for winning a cup.

St. Louis traded for both guys on that roster that were drafted top 5. Washington has Voie and Backstrom who were already in their 30s... Tampa both Stamkos (only played 1 game in the 1st cup run) and Hedman were 29/30, Kucherov, Point and Vasi were the reasons they won more than anything.

Citing teams that traded for and/or waited over a decade to finally win are hardly good examples of a reason to tank. Using that logic, we are already good since we have Huberdeau.

 

[viper0220]

What do you guys think about this?

 

[Kielbasa]

St. Louis traded for both guys on that roster that were drafted top 5. Washington has Voie and Backstrom who were already in their 30s... Tampa both Stamkos (only played 1 game in the 1st cup run) and Hedman were 29/30, Kucherov, Point and Vasi were the reasons they won more than anything.

Citing teams that traded for and/or waited over a decade to finally win are hardly good examples of a reason to tank. Using that logic, we are already good since we have Huberdeau.

First of all, St Louis drafted Pietrangelo 4th overall themselves, so that's just outright wrong.

And yeah, you need to fill out your roster with more than top five picks, and sometimes it takes time to win a cup because there are other teams who have also tanked and become competitive. Most of those teams listed had/have long and overlapping contention windows.

Point, Kuncherov, and Vasi need Hedman and Stamkos and visa versa.

Your sense of logic seems to be significantly flawed

 

[Kielbasa]

What do you guys think about this?

No bueno, a move towards the mushy middle most likely at the cost of futures

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

St. Louis traded for both guys on that roster that were drafted top 5. Washington has Voie and Backstrom who were already in their 30s... Tampa both Stamkos (only played 1 game in the 1st cup run) and Hedman were 29/30, Kucherov, Point and Vasi were the reasons they won more than anything.

Citing teams that traded for and/or waited over a decade to finally win are hardly good examples of a reason to tank. Using that logic, we are already good since we have Huberdeau.

Your argument is very flawed. Not only are you completely wrong about St. Louis, but you are ignoring that only 4 teams won the cup for 9 straight years. Then that era was soon followed up by Tampa going to the finals 3 years in a row. There are 32 teams and only 1 team wins the cup each year. Either expand your view on success (ie. conference finals) or use a bigger time frame than the last 15 years. Can we really ignore how good San Jose was during that era, or Nashville when they lose to Pittsburgh due to the RyJo injury?

 

[Lunatik]

Your sense of logic seems to be significantly flawed

No. The reality is there isn't 1 way to build a team. Full stop. That does not make the opposing view to yours "flawed"

Your argument is very flawed. Not only are you completely wrong about St. Louis, but you are ignoring that only 4 teams won the cup for 9 straight years. Then that era was soon followed up by Tampa going to the finals 3 years in a row. There are 32 teams and only 1 team wins the cup each year. Either expand your view on success (ie. conference finals) or use a bigger time frame than the last 15 years. Can we really ignore how good San Jose was during that era, or Nashville when they lose to Pittsburgh due to the RyJo injury?

No, it's a conflicting opinion to that of people who cheer for losses... which we've been told by mods is acceptable... despite how f***ing stupid it is

 

[Kielbasa]

No. The reality is there isn't 1 way to build a team. Full stop. That does not make the opposing view to yours "flawed"


No, it's a conflicting opinion to that of people who cheer for losses... which we've been told by mods is acceptable... despite how f***ing stupid it is

You know it's a great position when you have to resort to calling people "f***ing stupid" instead of making counter points.

I don't like to watch the Flames lose as much as the next guy. The inconvenient truth is that this league is designed for teams to go through boom/bust cycles bc of the zero sum draft system that rewards the worst with the best talents. If you want to go fight the tide, go right ahead, but it seems ill advised to me.

The are infinite ways to build a team, what I pointing out is most of the teams that have won cups were built around teams core talents taken high in the draft. What I'm pointing out is maybe the Flames not having a top 15 centre in the league for the past three decades and the Flames almost never drafting high is connected.