Speculation: Armchair GM 2023-24 Season. If we can't say "Rebuild" what do we call it?

[Kranix]

Why is there still willful ignorance that the Flames franchise was bottom 5-bad in the Matthews and MacKinnon draft years, didn't get the lottery luck overall, but got their true superstar in Tkachuk, and haven't been that bad since?

 

[crazyfisherman]

Vegas model is also hard to replicate because whens the last time a norris D was available in ufa? Franchise C and selky winger was available in trades, and 1 team got all 3 of em....

 

[JPeeper]

Vegas also had/has the stones to trade their prospects for star players.

Both of their offensive studs they got (Stone and Eichel) were against the Flames who were unwilling to move a prospect. Stone is different because who knows if he'd have signed here since he was UFA, but we were unwilling to add Valimaki then we get rid of him for nothing like 2 years later.

I'm sure if we wanted Eichel we could have had Eichel (meaning we up our offer, who knows if that means Tkachuk is gone or not).

Lose Gaudreau for nothing, wait until we have to throw in a 1st to get rid of Monahan because of incompetence.

So many examples of wasted assets, no willingness to part with non bluechip prospects, then trading picks for bullshit.

Markstrom still being on the team I'd also argue is a sign of complacency and still being in a shitty mindset that won't push the team forward. Now if they re-evaluate him in the offseason we can still come out of this positively, but if we start the season with him I think that's a huge step backwards if the goal is to win a Stanley Cup in the future.

 

[Lunatik]

Vegas also had/has the stones to trade their prospects for star players.

Both of their offensive studs they got (Stone and Eichel) were against the Flames who were unwilling to move a prospect. Stone is different because who knows if he'd have signed here since he was UFA, but we were unwilling to add Valimaki then we get rid of him for nothing like 2 years later.

I'm sure if we wanted Eichel we could have had Eichel (meaning we up our offer, who knows if that means Tkachuk is gone or not).

Lose Gaudreau for nothing, wait until we have to throw in a 1st to get rid of Monahan because of incompetence.

So many examples of wasted assets, no willingness to part with non bluechip prospects, then trading picks for bullshit.

Markstrom still being on the team I'd also argue is a sign of complacency and still being in a shitty mindset that won't push the team forward. Now if they re-evaluate him in the offseason we can still come out of this positively, but if we start the season with him I think that's a huge step backwards if the goal is to win a Stanley Cup in the future.

Buffalo rejected an offer with Tkachuk because they didn't think they'd be able to re-sign him.

 

[Volica]

Vegas also had/has the stones to trade their prospects for star players.

Both of their offensive studs they got (Stone and Eichel) were against the Flames who were unwilling to move a prospect. Stone is different because who knows if he'd have signed here since he was UFA, but we were unwilling to add Valimaki then we get rid of him for nothing like 2 years later.

I'm sure if we wanted Eichel we could have had Eichel (meaning we up our offer, who knows if that means Tkachuk is gone or not).

Lose Gaudreau for nothing, wait until we have to throw in a 1st to get rid of Monahan because of incompetence.

So many examples of wasted assets, no willingness to part with non bluechip prospects, then trading picks for bullshit.

Markstrom still being on the team I'd also argue is a sign of complacency and still being in a shitty mindset that won't push the team forward. Now if they re-evaluate him in the offseason we can still come out of this positively, but if we start the season with him I think that's a huge step backwards if the goal is to win a Stanley Cup in the future.

After last night, Marky is just riding the rest of this season out.
Not sure why Calgary would even be looking to start him for more than 2-3 more games this year. They'll need a team like Toronto to really shit the bed in terms of goaltending in the playoffs. We know Brad will give up bad assets to get goalies.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Buffalo rejected an offer with Tkachuk because they didn't think they'd be able to re-sign him.

Their GM publicly stated that Tkachuk was never part of any offer made for Eichel.

 

[Kranix]

Buffalo rejected an offer with Tkachuk because they didn't think they'd be able to re-sign him.

Treliving blamed Adams publicly for floating the idea that Tkachuk was ever involved to create a bidding war with Vegas, though.

 

[RasmusAndersson]

Why is there still willful ignorance that the Flames franchise was bottom 5-bad in the Matthews and MacKinnon draft years, didn't get the lottery luck overall, but got their true superstar in Tkachuk, and haven't been that bad since?

Because cup winning teams and cup contenders have 4/5 elite guys and not just 1-2? We weren’t consistently bottom-5 bad, but we weren’t that good either lol. No clue why people are suddenly acting like we had all the pieces in to contend when we won 2 playoff series’ over a 10 year span AFTER a rebuild that we cut short too early

 

[Iggys Dome]

Because cup winning teams and cup contenders have 4/5 elite guys and not just 1-2? We weren’t consistently bottom-5 bad, but we weren’t that good either lol. No clue why people are suddenly acting like we had all the pieces in to contend when we won 2 playoff series’ over a 10 year span AFTER a rebuild that we cut short too early

Yeah I remember the worry with the Gaudreau/Tkachuk core was your teams best two players being LWers, even with Tkachuk playing RW.

Championships are won down the middle. A game breaking Centre is pretty much a necessity if you want to maximize your chances of winning the cup.

 

[Backlund]

Because cup winning teams and cup contenders have 4/5 elite guys and not just 1-2? We weren’t consistently bottom-5 bad, but we weren’t that good either lol. No clue why people are suddenly acting like we had all the pieces in to contend when we won 2 playoff series’ over a 10 year span AFTER a rebuild that we cut short too early

Honestly it's easy to see why Tkachuk and Gaudreau left. This team wasn't going to accomplish anything with them besides more early round playoff losses.

 

[JPeeper]

After last night, Marky is just riding the rest of this season out.
Not sure why Calgary would even be looking to start him for more than 2-3 more games this year. They'll need a team like Toronto to really shit the bed in terms of goaltending in the playoffs. We know Brad will give up bad assets to get goalies.

I still think he ends up in Jersey in the offseason. I was listening to Pinder after the game last night and I agree with him where he says the Flames won't admit to it, but next year they are going to go for another high pick. They're obviously aware of the conditions and that they only keep it if it is top 10. Not sure what the plan after is whether that is to go for McKenna in '26 or what, but I think they should keep selling UFA's and continue to bottom out for a couple more years to actually build a core. The Flames right now have no core players to build around, just a bunch of old guys on somewhat bad contracts (Kadri because of length, Huberdeau because everything).

 

[Turning Mangiapanese]

Because cup winning teams and cup contenders have 4/5 elite guys and not just 1-2? We weren’t consistently bottom-5 bad, but we weren’t that good either lol. No clue why people are suddenly acting like we had all the pieces in to contend when we won 2 playoff series’ over a 10 year span AFTER a rebuild that we cut short too early

The main problem isn't that we only had two elites piece two years ago, it's that we now have zero. And that's because of shit, short sighted asset management which is what needs to change. We've been consistently able to find very good players in the draft since 2011-ish even without a scorched earth policy.
So I trust our scouts to find the necessary talent even with >5OA picks, we just need to be able to keep and develop them, or trade them for similar value if necessary. Not let them walk to FA, trade them for post apex guys or give them away with 1st rounders attached.
So far Conroy's handling of the FAs has given me reason to be cautiously optimistic.

 

[Body Checker]

I still think he ends up in Jersey in the offseason. I was listening to Pinder after the game last night and I agree with him where he says the Flames won't admit to it, but next year they are going to go for another high pick. They're obviously aware of the conditions and that they only keep it if it is top 10. Not sure what the plan after is whether that is to go for McKenna in '26 or what, but I think they should keep selling UFA's and continue to bottom out for a couple more years to actually build a core. The Flames right now have no core players to build around, just a bunch of old guys on somewhat bad contracts (Kadri because of length, Huberdeau because everything).

I don’t believe this. I think we add a few vets in UFA and go for a wild card; we try to be next years Nashville. Not saying I agree but there’s still alot of solid veterans on this team. I don’t think ownership is up for moving more of them. My feeling anyways on how the executive approaches the next five months.

 

[Volica]

I don’t believe this. I think we add a few vets in UFA and go for a wild card; we try to be next years Nashville. Not saying I agree but there’s still alot of solid veterans on this team. I don’t think ownership is up for moving more of them. My feeling anyways on how the executive approaches the next five months.

I don't think Conroy will ever say the quiet part out loud, but I just can't see a situation where Calgary does anything more than middling/bottom feeding.

We had 5 Free Agents ending last season, all who were playing top 4D minutes or top 6F minutes.
We traded ALL 5. Like, we didn't overpay anyone to keep them, we didn't bend the knee to disgruntled players to make them happy... we shot them out of a canon. The fact that Conroy was willing to do that, is telling me that he won't be going hard on vet FA's to fill the void.

Partly, I believe, because there's no one that could actually fill that void.
Like, does signing Jason Zucker, Nakita Zaitzev and Matt Grzelcyk make this team any better?
There's no impact UFA's that'll come here outside of if Conroy loses his God damn mind and spends 11 million on Sam Reinhart; which hurts us more than helps us.

This should be simple:
- Trade Markstrom in the summer, he's clearly done playing here.
- See what Kadri's pulse is, if he doesn't want to be part of a rebuild there will be a few times willing to take on a ~70 point second line centre who can play both special teams. Especially at 7M, which is the same guys like Alex Killorn and Troy Terry are earning.
- See if any of your kids can take the next step.
- Be a middling/bad team for 2024-2025 and go get another centre.

I think it'd be funny if Calgary drafted Lindstrom in 2024, and then followed it up with McQueen in 2025.

 

[User1996]

At the end of the day, we’re 4-10 since trading the first half of our most impactful defence pairing. It will be almost impossible to overcome that by slapping on a couple bandaids in FA. Realistically, one more year of stocking up on assets, starting with a Markstrom trade could set this team up nicely - I could easily see one of Sharangovich, Kuzmenko, or Mangiapane dealt this summer as well (most likely the latter).

Which leaves a bunch of cap space, but I’d prefer to take on some bad contracts for assets than throw term and money at middling FA’s anyways, unless you can pry a Necas type away.

 

[joescores]

Honestly it's easy to see why Tkachuk and Gaudreau left. This team wasn't going to accomplish anything with them besides more early round playoff losses.

Columbus have been accomplishing greatly

 

[Backlund]

Columbus have been accomplishing greatly

Him going to Columbus was clearly about where his wife wanted to be when Philadelphia decided they didn't want him. The bridge back to Calgary was pretty much completely burnt at that point. If he actually thought the Blue Jackets would be competitive soon then he overestimated how far along they were in their rebuild.

 

[JPeeper]

If and when the Flames suck next year I wonder how Kadri plays out his contract. Does he try like he did for most of this year, does he go back to sulking like the end of Sutter's last season?

The only lost cause the Flames have is Huberdeau. Year 1 of his deal and it's already aged like curdled sour milk.

I think next year's d-core is going to be like it has been the past month, a carousel of guys outside of Weegar, Ras and Kylington.

 

[Bounces R Way]

@Iggys Dome BoA GDT duty calls bud
we need ya

 

[Iggys Dome]

@Iggys Dome BoA GDT duty calls bud
we need ya

On it

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

Don’t love Sharon as a C

Huberdeau-Zary-Sharon please

 

[Flames Fanatic]

Any Dach/Newhook/Sharnogovich style reclamation projects you guys wouldn't mind the Flames looking at this offseason?

I saw Frost mentioned as he and Torts seem to butt heads, but I'm not sure he's truly available.

 

[User1996]

Kent Johnson? Columbus has no reason to move him given where they’re at, but that Nylander trade (even though it may have worked out) was weird, so who knows.

 

[Flames Fanatic]

If Kent Johnson is available I hope Conroy is sprinting for the phone. I doubt he is though.

 

[IharRB]

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