The Flames draft and developmental history is complicated. There's a lot more to it than just Button and his scouting ability. Money played a huge role but so too did the GM of day.
In the eighties, the Flames scouting staff was one of the best not just because they had excellent people in place, but also because they actually had the resources to to go out and find talent. There's a story out there that I can't be bothered to find about Flames scouts flying first class around the world. But that all changed in the 90's when the dollar fell and ownership made significant cuts everywhere.
Is it really a surprise that the Flames drafting and development fell off a cliff the moment ownership stopped spending?
When you move into the cap era, the purses slowly opened up but now the problem was different. It was a glacially slow GM who didn't understand that the rules changes as the result of the lockout necessitated speed and skill, not just intangibles, grit and leadership. It's utterly disingenuous to fault Button for a GM who liked to make the first round selection each year based on his own scouting abilities. Or for a GM who prioritized outdated abilities. Or for an ownership's reluctance to spend limiting scouts to Canada or major tournaments. And so on and so forth.
And while Sutter was a relic, it's not like ownership opened the flood gates to spend immediately post full season lockout. Sutter had to convince them to invest in a farm team again, to hire more scouts, to bring in more support staff, etc,. All of that took time (and continued with Feaster and Burke and Treliving) and it's something he deserves credit for, albeit slightly mitigated by the fact he went full on nepotism with his hires (which in itself can be countered with he was only hiring people he trusted - see, it's complicated).
So, it's definitely fair to say the scouting system is still flawed. There are organizations that do a lot more with a lot less (e.g. Ducks, Sabres, Senators) in that regard. And the developmental system is still a work in progress. But it's really not as simple as saying the last 20 years of by and large, gross ineptitude at almost every level, is entirely the fault of one single individual. Can't even fully blame ownership for not spending when the fan base disappeared and the undeniable competitive imbalance of the league at the time. At the end of the day, it's simply not a coincidence that the opening of the purse strings resulted in a marked improvement in the organizations drafting ability.
In the eighties, the Flames scouting staff was one of the best not just because they had excellent people in place, but also because they actually had the resources to to go out and find talent. There's a story out there that I can't be bothered to find about Flames scouts flying first class around the world. But that all changed in the 90's when the dollar fell and ownership made significant cuts everywhere.
When I first started in Calgary in ’97, in my first year they were having a season-ticket drive to keep the Flames in Calgary,” says Tod Button, the Flames’ director of amateur scouting. “A few years later when I was doing budgets for the Flames, we were budgeting for the U.S. (exchange) at $1.55, so we made a conscious effort to try and keep our scouts in Canada just because of the dollar.”
With a lopsided exchange rate leaving the prospect of hiring a full-time U.S. scout impractical, the Flames stuck to limited coverage of the American leagues. When the exchange rate shifted in their favour in the late-2000’s, the door opened for change.
“It’s hard to cover the world without the proper resources,” Button says. “So the biggest thing for me that changed is the dollar evened out and our ownership saw the need for a full-time scout in the United States.
“The first scout we added full-time was Rob Pulford — Rob was instrumental in (drafting) Johnny Gaudreau.”
Is it really a surprise that the Flames drafting and development fell off a cliff the moment ownership stopped spending?
When you move into the cap era, the purses slowly opened up but now the problem was different. It was a glacially slow GM who didn't understand that the rules changes as the result of the lockout necessitated speed and skill, not just intangibles, grit and leadership. It's utterly disingenuous to fault Button for a GM who liked to make the first round selection each year based on his own scouting abilities. Or for a GM who prioritized outdated abilities. Or for an ownership's reluctance to spend limiting scouts to Canada or major tournaments. And so on and so forth.
And while Sutter was a relic, it's not like ownership opened the flood gates to spend immediately post full season lockout. Sutter had to convince them to invest in a farm team again, to hire more scouts, to bring in more support staff, etc,. All of that took time (and continued with Feaster and Burke and Treliving) and it's something he deserves credit for, albeit slightly mitigated by the fact he went full on nepotism with his hires (which in itself can be countered with he was only hiring people he trusted - see, it's complicated).
So, it's definitely fair to say the scouting system is still flawed. There are organizations that do a lot more with a lot less (e.g. Ducks, Sabres, Senators) in that regard. And the developmental system is still a work in progress. But it's really not as simple as saying the last 20 years of by and large, gross ineptitude at almost every level, is entirely the fault of one single individual. Can't even fully blame ownership for not spending when the fan base disappeared and the undeniable competitive imbalance of the league at the time. At the end of the day, it's simply not a coincidence that the opening of the purse strings resulted in a marked improvement in the organizations drafting ability.