Speculation: Armchair GM Thread - 2019/20 Season

[Lunatik]

My heart bleeds for those who get upset at calling a **** move for what it is.

It was crap from day one, and it'll be crap when the grace period is up and the rest of the fanbase realizes how bad this is for our team. He hardly looks like a serviceable player today and has no flexibility on his contract whatsoever.

But it saves ownership money, so I guess its all irrelevant eh

Calling this a shit move., is like saying it's a shit move to have chemotherapy or surgery when you have cancer. You do what you can to get rid of the cancer.

It's only crap to people incapable of understanding how toxic James Neal was.

 

[super6646]

Calling this a **** move., is like saying it's a **** move to have chemotherapy or surgery when you have cancer. You do what you can to get rid of the cancer.

It's only crap to people incapable of understanding how toxic James Neal was.

Cause you were in the room and knew all the details.

I guess a Francis article saying he had to go really was good enough for some. I'll believe he was an absolute cancer as much as Dougie Hamilton was being a total cancer as well. There is a VERY small part of me that can understand the justification that a chance of scenery for both could do good, but using the locker excuse again is bullshit. And considering Lucic all but burned any bridges with the former organization HE chose to sign with straight to the media... yeah, its not as if Calgary got a paragon of leadership on their hands.

 

[Corpus X]

I was in the room. You see, I'm a fly and I love walls. I can tell you everything, but first I have to translate Horse Fly to English. Can you guess why it's a horse fly?

 

[Lunatik]

Cause you were in the room and knew all the details.

I guess a Francis article saying he had to go really was good enough for some. I'll believe he was an absolute cancer as much as Dougie Hamilton was being a total cancer as well. There is a VERY small part of me that can understand the justification that a chance of scenery for both could do good, but using the locker excuse again is bull****. And considering Lucic all but burned any bridges with the former organization HE chose to sign with straight to the media... yeah, its not as if Calgary got a paragon of leadership on their hands.

Considering this team has never given up on a player after just 1 season, the fact that when Lucic was acquired it was his character that all his new teammates and coach spoke on, it's pretty f***ing obvious that Neal's character was a massive problem.

And Lucic didn't go straight to the media, he was f***ing interviewed and answered questions. And how is it any different than Neal's excuses anytime he talks about last season? All he does is pass blame. There is a good reason Neal was always let go by good teams.

Calling the lockroom thing bullshit is just more evidence that you have never played any form of team sport and if you did, you were the problem in the room

 

[Calculon]

I don't think he'll ever sign a 30+ UFA to term ever again (I hope).

Well, Hamonic will turn 30 right before the start of next season so, yeah. Good chance that's the next big anchor on the Flames.

 

[super6646]

Considering this team has never given up on a player after just 1 season, the fact that when Lucic was acquired it was his character that all his new teammates and coach spoke on, it's pretty ****ing obvious that Neal's character was a massive problem.

And Lucic didn't go straight to the media, he was ****ing interviewed and answered questions. And how is it any different than Neal's excuses anytime he talks about last season? All he does is pass blame. There is a good reason Neal was always let go by good teams.

Calling the lockroom thing bull**** is just more evidence that you have never played any form of team sport and if you did, you were the problem in the room

Guess you got me. Tore a lot of rooms apart in my day with my cancerous attitude. Not that I was any good either, so I guess I share something in common with these players we keep getting. Instead of providing evidence when placed with burden of proof, you just make claims and go on wild tangents as usual.

And what are they going to say about lucic, that he’s shit and was only acquired because Neal was so shit there was a part of tre that thought it would make sense?

Too funny man.

 

[Mobiandi]

I'm starting to lean more towards treating Hamonic as a rental and letting him walk

 

[Corpus X]

I'm starting to lean more towards treating Hamonic as a rental and letting him walk

On ice!!!! YOU MONSTER!

 

[Baxterman]

I'm starting to lean more towards treating Hamonic as a rental and letting him walk

I love Hamonic and think he often takes more crap than he deserves but he is the exact kind of player (age/style) that you need to be careful when handing out a deal to.

I do think that he may be willing to take a little less money to stay out West and get a little more term but if he is asking for top dollar I think we need to walk away.

With Valimaki, Kylington and even Hanafin Hamonic would be a good guy to have to pair with them to provide some stability.

 

[crackdown44]

Does Hanifin-Andersson work? I know I’ve seen it sparingly. Wouldn’t mind giving that an extended look

Ideally they could slowly take over first pairing duties as Gio sails gracefully off into the sunlight. Or maybe he’s riding a horse and it’s night time, use your imagination

 

[Volica]

Does Hanifin-Andersson work? I know I’ve seen it sparingly. Wouldn’t mind giving that an extended look

Ideally they could slowly take over first pairing duties as Gio sails gracefully off into the sunlight. Or maybe he’s riding a horse and it’s night time, use your imagination

Last year it was a tire-fire while Hammer was out. But again, both guys look to have taken massive steps this year in their development. Both look like rockstars.

I'm hoping we bring Travis back on the cheap for the short term. Nothing more than 3 years, nothing more than 4M. If he wants more than that, he'll have to find another team. At worst, by the time he's 33, he'll be a high end #5 kind of thing. He's a good stabilizing force, and big team guy.

I'm all for letting TJ walk, or using him to find our missing forward piece.

 

[Baxterman]

Does Hanifin-Andersson work? I know I’ve seen it sparingly. Wouldn’t mind giving that an extended look

Ideally they could slowly take over first pairing duties as Gio sails gracefully off into the sunlight. Or maybe he’s riding a horse and it’s night time, use your imagination

I am not sure I want to have Hanifin have to take on such a defensive role to make up for Andersson's lack of defense. He seems to be doing well so far with Hamonic being the steady guy and him having more freedom to go up the ice. If he has to hang back to constantly cover for Andersson's mistakes I think that takes away a key part of his game.

If we are pairing two young guys I would put Valimaki with Andersson because I think he has the defensive game to cover for him. I would prefer Valimaki to play higher up the line-up though so it isn't an ideal pairing but perhaps early on in his career while he is learning and Gio is still at the top of his game.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

Calling this a **** move., is like saying it's a **** move to have chemotherapy or surgery when you have cancer. You do what you can to get rid of the cancer.

It's only crap to people incapable of understanding how toxic James Neal was.

If you want to go the "this was chemotherapy" route, then I'd say you can take your pick between "this was the wrong chemo regimen" and "chemo wasn't the appropriate course of action."

Better actions than trading for Lucic: Buying out James Neal, giving up a future asset in order to get a team like the Sens to take James Neal, trading James Neal for literally any other player in the league.

Buy out James Neal: Save almost 4 million in cap, sign Tkachuk long term, and don't have to fight with Mangiapane over like 50k in salary.

 

[InfinityIggy]

If we want to keep Hamonic, short term deal or extremely cap friendly deal is required. Otherwise, you move him.

He is exactly the type of player that can fall off really rapidly.

 

[Lunatik]

If you want to go the "this was chemotherapy" route, then I'd say you can take your pick between "this was the wrong chemo regimen" and "chemo wasn't the appropriate course of action."

Better actions than trading for Lucic: Buying out James Neal, giving up a future asset in order to get a team like the Sens to take James Neal, trading James Neal for literally any other player in the league.

Buy out James Neal: Save almost 4 million in cap, sign Tkachuk long term, and don't have to fight with Mangiapane over like 50k in salary.

Giving up a future asset? Toronto had to give up a 1st round pick to dump 1 year of Marleau. For Neal we ware looking at a minimum 2-3 first round picks. As for the buyout, ownership would never approve one that large or that would be on the cap for 8 years. Trade was the only possible option for dumping him.

Tre shopped Neal for months and yet still settled on this deal, that should tell you something.

Might I suggest using rational and logic thought next time.

 

[DFF]

If we want to keep Hamonic, short term deal or extremely cap friendly deal is required. Otherwise, you move him.

He is exactly the type of player that can fall off really rapidly.

BT would be stupid not to deal him...problem is lack of depth on the team right now. He is not the worst, Stone is but Hamonic is getting there quickly if not already there.

 

[DFF]

Giving up a future asset? Toronto had to give up a 1st round pick to dump 1 year of Marleau. For Neal we ware looking at a minimum 2-3 first round picks. As for the buyout, ownership would never approve one that large or that would be on the cap for 8 years. Trade was the only possible option for dumping him.

Tre shopped Neal for months and yet still settled on this deal, that should tell you something.

Might I suggest using rational and logic thought next time.

Dealing Neal was the right move. He gave up on the team

Problem was dealing him to Edmonton AND getting Lucic in return. That's worse than not dealing him.

BT has done some good stuff but a lot of stupid things also. Overall that makes him an average GM, and the way the team is going, he is part of the blame

 

[Dack]

Dealing Neal without giving him even a shot at bouncing back was dumb, he shot a very low shooting % last year and was a good target to bounce back to at least 15ish goals. Don't get me wrong I don't think he's good all of the sudden and wish he were here but trading him for one of the worst contracts in the league was a massive mistake. Had he been given the chance to bounce back there's a possibility he could have been moved for something that's not Lucic, and if not I don't see how a buyout of 4-6 years (depending on when you do it is a worse option). The buyout would be long but it also only had a caphit of 1.9 million which is pretty much just change.

 

[Mobiandi]

Seems like we're perpetually counting down the days that an awful contract expires. And they're ones that are obvious mistakes from the moment the ink dries

 

[super6646]

Seems like we're perpetually counting down the days that an awful contract expires. And they're ones that are obvious mistakes from the moment the ink dries

Tre must’ve been on something the day he made that trade. Whatever pro scout recommended that trade to be a good idea should be fired.

 

[Baxterman]

Tre must’ve been on something the day he made that trade. Whatever pro scout recommended that trade to be a good idea should be fired.

I think it is pretty clear what happened. Neal needed to go, nobody in the league wanted him and Treliving who already has shown he overvalued toughness and intangibles felt he could get something out of Lucic in a reduced and (rightfully) thought there was nothing Neal could provide.

Treliving wasn’t on anything it was just his normal overvaluing of intangibles and toughness. His worst moves- Brouwer, Stone, M. Smith, H. Smith- all are based around that same mistake.

 

[Fig]

I was in the room. You see, I'm a fly and I love walls. I can tell you everything, but first I have to translate Horse Fly to English. Can you guess why it's a horse fly?

Horse's mouth/Horse fly?

 

[GAMO1992]

Horse's mouth/Horse fly?

horse....head JERSEY RETURNS?!?!?!?!

please?

 

[Mazatt]

Sometimes you gotta wonder what the Flames would be doing right around now if they didn't pick Gaudreau back then/if he was taken earlier. Like, he is the team and it's scary to think where we'd be without that fourth round pick. Would we be .500 look to offload Giordano to get a top line winger with Hamilton/whoever being the eventual top pairing?

 

[Iggys Dome]

Sometimes you gotta wonder what the Flames would be doing right around now if they didn't pick Gaudreau back then/if he was taken earlier. Like, he is the team and it's scary to think where we'd be without that fourth round pick. Would we be .500 look to offload Giordano to get a top line winger with Hamilton/whoever being the eventual top pairing?

As much as people shit on Jay Feaster the Gaudreau pick was incredible. Although I'm not sure if Todd Button was the one behind it or not.

As for if we never picked Gaudreau, I think we miss the playoffs in 2015 quite easily and we possibly draft really high. We could honestly have ended up with one of McDavid, Eichel, Marner etc. Kinda crazy to think about.