Around the League Thread | Pre-Season Approaches

[Peen]

Calgary is a dead city with horrific urban planning that makes it less enjoyable.

It’s only lively during the stampede and man is that a greasy event.

 

[F A N]

Part of it is that Calgary isn't a particularly exciting city if you're younger. Ignoring what man-children with anime avatars have to say, Calgary is a fine city. But guys like Tkachuk (and to a lesser extent Gaudreau) didn't have a lot going on for them as young dudes. More down-to-earth guys or people who have established families (eg, Kipper, Glencross, Iginla) tend to stick around. It's also hard to attract that talent through free agency, as 'family guys' have tended to establish themselves elsewhere.

Part of it is that the Flames are poorly run. Whether it was Sutter trading for Olli Jokinen again and again, their drafting being decidedly meh, or ownership being hardasses with money (there's some bad blood behind the scenes), it's led to a team that's been pretty mediocre for 20 years. There's been no real high points for the Flames since 03-04 and that mythical Cup run. Yeah, they've had a few good seasons, but there's been no sustained success.

Also, Flames fans are pretty wishy-washy and fairweather. I say this as someone who has lived in the city for long stretches pre-and-post 03/04. There is a dedicated core, but I'd argue it lags behind most other Canadian cities when times are tough (aside from maybe the Sens.)

Technically, didn't Sutter trade for Olli Jokinen just once? The other time he signed him. I also don't see the Jokinen acquisition as a problem.

I think the Flames were running a bit barebones over the years. Darryl Sutter was kind of like Calgary's version of Pat Quinn. Success was achieved when Sutter was both GM+coach. When he went to focus on GM and gave Playfair the job it didn't go as well. Then the spend years eitehr having bad goaltending, a bad coach, or both.

For all the criticism Feaster gets, he actually was the one who brought in Snow (and therefore an analytics department).

As for players wanting to stay in Calgary, I think the issue is overblown. Gaudreau (RIP) was reportedly willing to sign an extension the summer prior to becoming a UFA and the Flames reportedly lowballed him. Granted he was coming off two down years so they didn't think he was worth the money and term Gaudreau was asking for. They do need a new stadium though (which they are getting). I recall reading a player (I forgot who) who chose to sign with Edmonton over Calgary partly because Edmonton had a brand new stadium and their dressing room didn't look it it was built in the 1980s (renovated in 1990s). In comparison, the Canucks dressing room was renovated under Gillis and is in the process of being renovated again. Sometimes there's not much you can done with older buildings that have low ceilings.

 

[vancityluongo]

calgary is a great upper middle class collection of suburbs. which, hey, a beautiful 2500 sq ft house with a yard on a lake with great schools nearby for what it costs to get a shit hole condo in east van, and a busy airport with a ton of direct flights to get anywhere as needed... there are many worse places to be.

it's also starting to get better as people can't afford to live anywhere else without inheritances, but it's not a particularly fun city, because the above means that there is endless sprawl and no one in the areas that are supposed to be fun after 6pm. i personally hate it because the corporate culture there in many circles can be very dinosaur driven, but that's true of lots of nhl adjacent circles everywhere.

all that to say - my guess is gaudreau probably would've stayed there - it sounds like that's exactly what he was looking for, not more night life. a great place to raise a family - he just picked a place closer to his.

_________________

with that said idk about you guys, but through this i'm finding it hard to care much about hockey right now. not interested in reading through line combos or trade proposals. something about a dude around my age, accomplishing so much on ice but having so so so much of the rest of his life robbed from him... feels hard to shake.

 

[DFAC]

Calgary is a dead city with horrific urban planning that makes it less enjoyable.

It’s only lively during the stampede and man is that a greasy event.

Worse than Vancouver?

Vancouver's urban planning is beyond terrible. Public transport is sparse and unreliable. The infrastructure here is unable to keep up with the population and traffic congestion is worse than ever.

 

[AwesomeInTheory]

Technically, didn't Sutter trade for Olli Jokinen just once? The other time he signed him. I also don't see the Jokinen acquisition as a problem.

Yeah, I misremembered he re-signed.

I think the Flames were running a bit barebones over the years. Darryl Sutter was kind of like Calgary's version of Pat Quinn. Success was achieved when Sutter was both GM+coach. When he went to focus on GM and gave Playfair the job it didn't go as well. Then the spend years eitehr having bad goaltending, a bad coach, or both.

Yes, almost as if the Flames have been mediocre for 20 years with most of that time being spent trying to recapture the magic of 03/04. Thank you for rephrasing everything I said.

For all the criticism Feaster gets, he actually was the one who brought in Snow (and therefore an analytics department).

As for players wanting to stay in Calgary, I think the issue is overblown. Gaudreau (RIP) was reportedly willing to sign an extension the summer prior to becoming a UFA and the Flames reportedly lowballed him.

Didn't someone say something about how ownership were tightfisted? Oh, wait, that was in the post you're responding to. Almost as if the above scenario you're describing might have something to do with what I was saying.

So, thanks for agreeing?

 

[F A N]

Yeah, I misremembered he re-signed.

Yes, almost as if the Flames have been mediocre for 20 years with most of that time being spent trying to recapture the magic of 03/04. Thank you for rephrasing everything I said.

Didn't someone say something about how ownership were tightfisted? Oh, wait, that was in the post you're responding to. Almost as if the above scenario you're describing might have something to do with what I was saying.

So, thanks for agreeing?

Damn you're prickly. I wasn't necessarily disagreeing. I see that I should have said something along the lines of "don't necessarily disagree" since you thought that my mere quote of your post and pointing out a mistake you made means I'm disagreeing with your entire post. My fault.

 

[RobertKron]

Worse than Vancouver?

Vancouver's urban planning is beyond terrible. Public transport is sparse and unreliable. The infrastructure here is unable to keep up with the population and traffic congestion is worse than ever.

How much time have you spent elsewhere in North America?

 

[Peen]

Worse than Vancouver?

Vancouver's urban planning is beyond terrible. Public transport is sparse and unreliable. The infrastructure here is unable to keep up with the population and traffic congestion is worse than ever.

Yes. Also yes to everything you said… but see below

How much time have you spent elsewhere in North America?

This ^

I’m not saying Vancouver is Amsterdam or Tokyo, but god it makes the lower mainland feel like it relative to calgary & a majority of NA.

 

[tantalum]

I lived in Calgary for 9 years (undergrad and graduate work) and in that time and since I left (way back in 2002) it went from a nice sized city to complete urban sprawl that I can no longer stand to be in. It isn't really worse than most North American cities but because I witnessed the change it creates a firm bias for me. Family would love if we moved back but it just isn't ever going to happen.

 

[strattonius]

I'd love to move to Calgary. Cost of living is an enormous upgrade especially if you are from the mainland.

The people in Calgary are nicer. The people in Vancouver and the mainland in general have their nose up. Everyone acts like they are the busiest and most important person on the planet. In South Surrey every 3rd car is a piece of crap Tesla.

I don't know I'm a cynical person at times but the mainland is so over-rated. People think B.C is the greatest gift on Earth but no one can afford anything really nice.. we all just get by.

Then I read comments from our fans that trash cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg and it just cements our pompous tendencies. Like the winters in Alberta are awful but the damp wet cold isn't exactly 'get some fresh air' weather in the mainland. Calgary gets monsoon winds and has unlimited sunlight as well that is overlooked when everyone wants to trash the fact it was -16.

There are things in life that hold more value than the climate of where we are geographically and as I age with my family I'm getting closer to re-prioritizing and re-locating.

 

[Jerry the great]

So the value in CapFriendly was its ability to add and produce a total cap number? WTF can't these pretenders show me Edmonton's 25/26 cap number after Draisaitl's MASSIVE extension?

 

[Coffees]

Congrats Canucks fans, the Rivalry is here to stay

 

[wonton15]

McDavid Draisaitl Bouchard Nurse

 

[Bubbles]

So the value in CapFriendly was its ability to add and produce a total cap number? WTF can't these pretenders show me Edmonton's 25/26 cap number after Draisaitl's MASSIVE extension?

https://puckpedia.com/team/edmonton-oilers

Internet can be hard for some people.

 

[Jerry the great]

https://puckpedia.com/team/edmonton-oilers

Internet can be hard for some people.

like coach said .....embrace hard

 

[arttk]

Was expecting Drai to hit UFA, wrong on that obviously. Surprised he didn’t get like 15M.

 

[AlainVigneaultsGum]

I'd love to move to Calgary. Cost of living is an enormous upgrade especially if you are from the mainland.

The people in Calgary are nicer. The people in Vancouver and the mainland in general have their nose up. Everyone acts like they are the busiest and most important person on the planet. In South Surrey every 3rd car is a piece of crap Tesla.

I don't know I'm a cynical person at times but the mainland is so over-rated. People think B.C is the greatest gift on Earth but no one can afford anything really nice.. we all just get by.

Then I read comments from our fans that trash cities like Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg and it just cements our pompous tendencies. Like the winters in Alberta are awful but the damp wet cold isn't exactly 'get some fresh air' weather in the mainland. Calgary gets monsoon winds and has unlimited sunlight as well that is overlooked when everyone wants to trash the fact it was -16.

There are things in life that hold more value than the climate of where we are geographically and as I age with my family I'm getting closer to re-prioritizing and re-locating.

Calgary's a great city. Horrifically sprawled but still great. Very clean, relatively quiet for a city of 1.5 million, relatively affordable compared to other major Canadian cities, lots of shit to do, etc etc. I'm from the east coast but don't even consider it home anymore. Calgary is. I love it here lolol.

 

[dbaz]

good for edm on keeping him, but the future cap for the 4 of mcdavid, dari, bouchard and nurse is gonna be around 48mil

 

[God]

Being forced to pay (as Edmonton) for someone like Nurse is awful, but being forced to pay for Draisaitl is a good problem to have. Good for them.

 

[bandwagonesque]

Worse than Vancouver?

Vancouver's urban planning is beyond terrible. Public transport is sparse and unreliable. The infrastructure here is unable to keep up with the population and traffic congestion is worse than ever.

If you picked a point at random in the lower mainland you could probably get there by car, bike, or transit fairly easily. If you picked a point at random in Calgary you could probably only drive there unless you had half the day to spend at it.

 

[wonton15]

good for edm on keeping him, but the future cap for the 4 of mcdavid, dari, bouchard and nurse is gonna be around 48mil

It’s completely acceptable because they’re literally 2 of the top 5 players in the world and Bouchard. But man I never fail to get a kick out of Darnell Nurse. Fake tough guy and professional pylon cosplayer.

 

[dbaz]

It’s completely acceptable because they’re literally 2 of the top 5 players in the world and Bouchard. But man I never fail to get a kick out of Darnell Nurse. Fake tough guy and professional pylon cosplayer.

it is, its just very rough. especially with hyman and hopkins up in age over 5mil each when those kick in. lack of prospects, picks being gone for tld, or to dump the contracts.

 

[Tables of Stats]

It's beyond belief how defensive Oiler's fans are. I posted the rather flattering predictions I made for their roster there and have had nothing but flack from idiots who haven't even looked at what I posted.

 

[bossram]

Worse than Vancouver?

Vancouver's urban planning is beyond terrible. Public transport is sparse and unreliable. The infrastructure here is unable to keep up with the population and traffic congestion is worse than ever.

This is pretty wrong. Compared to pretty much any other city in North America (other than New York), Vancouver has great public transit. Skytrain is 10x better than rapid transit in any other non-NY North American city. People who've come to the Lower Mainland from elsewhere have told me the same thing.

Plus with bike infrastructure + ride share stuff, it is becoming relatively feasible to not have a car. I've been in Calgary, Edmonton, and lived in Ottawa and it's simply impossible to say the same for those places.

Yes. Also yes to everything you said… but see below


This ^

I’m not saying Vancouver is Amsterdam or Tokyo, but god it makes the lower mainland feel like it relative to calgary & a majority of NA.

Yep. 100%.

Vancouver doesn't hold a candle to the transportation in East Asia or Europe. but nowhere really does. By NA standards, it's about as good as it gets.

 

[EpochLink]

It's beyond belief how defensive Oiler's fans are. I posted the rather flattering predictions I made for their roster there and have had nothing but flack from idiots who haven't even looked at what I posted.

The ignore button sure helps