Are There Mixed Messages Coming From the Calgary Flames?
The Message and Plan is Being Lost in Translation
The Calgary Flames believed entering the season that they could compete for a playoff spot after falling short the previous season. Calgary was a team that outworked everyone and rode the play of Dustin Wolf to 96 points, the most you could get without making the playoffs.
The Flames fell short in the tiebreaker and missed the playoffs, while the St. Louis Blues qualified. St. Louis is another team that is struggling. There has been a lot of chatter surrounding the Flames this season, as well as last season, but the team doesn’t appear to want to throw in the towel on the season, not yet, anyway.
Flames President of Hockey Operations Don Maloney double-downed on his stance this week, stating the team would not rebuild and throw away the season.
“We’re not throwing in the towel. We know we’ve got a lot of work to do. There’s three-quarters of the season left, and we just have to keep working, and we know we’ve got good players here,” Maloney said to Brendan Parker of Sportsnet on Wednesday night during Flames and Buffalo Sabres.
“No one has an appetite to burn it to the studs, take it all down,” Maloney said to Eric Francis of Sportsnet on Friday. “To me, it’s just too early for us to be throwing in the towel. There’s never going to be a point where we’re going to say, ‘let’s just get rid of every player that other teams want.”
Usually, around the 20-game mark is when teams like to re-evaluate things. But everything is guided by a long-term vision for GM Craig Conroy, Maloney, and the rest of the Flames management. Not to mention ownership. And ownership has a new building opening in a couple of seasons and wants a competitive team on the ice.
And there lies the problem between the two visions. Similar to what was going on in Pittsburgh with the Penguins. GM Kyle Dubas wanted to retool/rebuild, but orders were to win a Stanley Cup because you can’t rebuild when you have Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang on the team.
The Flames don’t have those franchise-altering players. Pittsburgh also found those players by drafting and developing them. And that is something Maloney has no appetitite for. As a matter of fact, he calls it fantasy hockey because he doesn’t believe that you can find those players there.
“The draft is such an inexact thing. If you could be guaranteed that you could get a superstar or franchise-level player every year, I’m sure ownership of any team would say, ‘okay, yeah, we’ll suffer for two or three years.’ But we just don’t think that’s the way for us,” Maloney continued.
He would rather follow the Dallas Stars method, where they landed Miro Heiskanen with a high first-rounder and also nail other picks late in the draft. That comes down to good scouting, not only at the pro level but also at the amateur level. Not to mention having the right developmental coaches in place at all levels.
However, the Flames have never had a top pick like Gavin McKenna before. Calgary has drafted in the top 10 before, like Matthew Tkachuk (6th overall in 2014) and Sam Bennet (4th overall in 2014), both of whom are in Florida and won Stanley Cups with the Panthers. Not to mention Sean Monahan, 4th overall in 2013. He is now in Columbus.
But when the Flames were successful and made the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, they had a complete team, drafting, developing, and bringing in the right mix to succeed. But then everyone left or was traded, and the Flames only got prospects and picks in return.
So, to get back to that spot, they need to accelerate things; they don’t have that explosive weapon, like the New York Islanders have with Matthew Schaefer, or the San Jose Sharks have with Macklin Celebrini, or the Chicago Blackhawks have with Connor Bedard.
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While there is no guarantee they get McKenna number one overall, because again, who scouts say is number one and who teams think is number one is different. But nailing that number one pick can make or break a team.
Especially for a team that has a good foundation with MacKenzie Weegar, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Matt Coronato, Yegor Sharangovich, Dustin Wolf, Kevin Bahl, and Connor Zary, to name a few.
But nobody knows exactly what the Calgary Flames vision is. They might not even know. When GM Craig Conroy spoke with Full Press Hockey and RG Media, it sounded like now was the time to build and be ready to compete when the new building opens in 2027.
“The thing for us is the building’s a huge thing. We want to be, it’s going to take a little time to get the draft picks where they’re comfortable and really ready to play in the NHL,” Conroy said. “So we want to continue to build on what we’re doing right now, but the key is really to be when that new building is ready to go, you want to have a team that’s going to be competitive, make the playoffs every year, and push and try to win a Stanley Cup, which is always the goal?”
However, the Flames are stuck between playing young players and trying to win, and that is never a good thing. While the new building is factoring into a lot of what is going on in Calgary, there are definitely mixed signals.
While it appears Conroy would like to see the young players in the lineup, both agree they have to be ready. But what the Flames have are players stuck in the middle, too suitable for junior hockey but not ready for the NHL. So they are hoping more 19-year-olds can play in the AHL.
Maloney doesn’t want to create a losing culture in which these kids fail and want out. That is fair because we have seen what has gone wrong around the NHL when young players are in the lineup every night without the right mix of veterans to support them.
Maloney has a point about rebuilds. Teams have seen what has gone on with the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings. Buffalo has missed the playoffs for 14 straight years and could miss 15 in a row. If the Red Wings miss this season, it will be 10 consecutive seasons and no playoffs.
However, Detroit is further along because of the players they drafted and acquired, namely Dylan Larkin, Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond, and others. The Montreal Canadiens have gone through a rebuild and are entering the next phase.
But there are more examples of good rebuilds like the Anaheim Ducks, Sharks, Ottawa Senators, Canadiens, and Blackhawks than bad ones. But the Calgary Flames can’t remain in the murky middle because it is more complicated to nail picks later on in the draft than at the top of the draft.
McKenna would be perfect, considering he played for the Medicine Hat Tigers, which is the Calgary Flames backyard. Plus, he would bring that youthful energy that is missing from the team. Not to mention, fans would want to see him when the new building opens.
However, until the Calgary Flames commit to the retool, rebuild, reshape, tone, or build the roster, they will be stuck in the murky middle. If that is the plan, they may find themselves with the number one overall pick anyway at the end of the season.
But there is something aloof about the different messages being sent by management in Calgary.
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