"Flames = Leafs West" - Dobber

[Shift Disturber]

I have to agree. As a long-time Flames fan I am sick to death of the same BS year in and year out. This team needs to be blown to smithereens and rebuilt from the ground up. It was so predictable - as with last year, make a late push, finish just high enough to miss out on the juicy draft picks (Baertschi was a fortunate break), and condemn yourself to perpetual mediocrity. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Never in my years as a Flames fan could I say that I just don't care about this team in its present state. I don't identify with this group of players. I thought that Feaster would come in with a new perspective but obviously the GM has no say in the direction of this team.

The frustrating thing is, as in TO, ownership has no financial incentive to change.

[Dobber]

Flames are Leafs west? Haven't read the ramblings yet. But it makes sense. The Leafs four years ago, still going for 8th with overpaid vets and little hope of doing anything even if they made the playoffs. The one difference is that the Leafs never had a Sven Baertschi in their system. So the Flames have that little bonus over Toronto at least. They won't start COMPLETELY from scratch. They also have Leland Irving, who I think could be a starter...on a better scale than James Reimer was four years ago.

Not quite as grim, but similar philosophy to Leafs circa 2007

But look how long it's taking the Leafs to get out of that hole...

[Puppage]

I have to agree with almost everything you said. I'm lucky enough to be able to go to 20+ games a year, and I don't think I have seen a much worse performance by the team especially in their own end. The play tonight was so bad that a couple of fans threw their jerseys on the ice near the end of the game. Our players just don't have the skill to play a puck possession game nor do they have the speed and grit to play a heavy forechecking and grinder type of game. I know it may sound perverse to some, but I was really hoping we would tank the season and get a solid pick. Of course that didn't happen, and of course we are bad enough to not make the playoffs, but not bad enough to get a good pick. Like you said, it is going to be constant mediocrity.

I wouldn't blame Feaster quite yet, I like some of the moves he made and of course I loved his Baertschi pick. I honestly think his hands were a bit tied and he has to clean up a lot of Darryl's mess. I was hoping he would move Iggy and Bow at the deadline, but if he could not get much for value then it would be pointless. Unfortunately, I don't see things changing much and I don't see us doing much in the offseason. It's a real shame.

[DuklaNation]

Good comparison. Iginla is kind of like Sundin in terms of record.

[hockeyrobot]

Good comparison. Iginla is kind of like Sundin in terms of record.

Sundin minus a Cup Final

[Username]

Iggy and Kipper should've been traded two seasons ago.

[hockeyrobot]

Iggy and Kipper should've been traded two seasons ago.

Agree 100%. It's unfortunate that these Canadians teams won't just bite the bullet and rebuild when they should.

[OnlineIdentity]

Looking optimistically forward to a 2020 leafs-flames final.

[Shift Disturber]

[/QUOTE]I wouldn't blame Feaster quite yet, I like some of the moves he made and of course I loved his Baertschi pick. I honestly think his hands were a bit tied and he has to clean up a lot of Darryl's mess. I was hoping he would move Iggy and Bow at the deadline, but if he could not get much for value then it would be pointless. Unfortunately, I don't see things changing much and I don't see us doing much in the offseason. It's a real shame.[/QUOTE]

I agree - I think that ownership did not give Feaster free reign. It has been proven over and over again that teams who let their GMs do what they were hired to do tend to be more successful. The Flames ownership needs to pick their man, then butt out and let him run the team.

[Shift Disturber]

Flames are Leafs west? Haven't read the ramblings yet. But it makes sense. The Leafs four years ago, still going for 8th with overpaid vets and little hope of doing anything even if they made the playoffs. The one difference is that the Leafs never had a Sven Baertschi in their system. So the Flames have that little bonus over Toronto at least. They won't start COMPLETELY from scratch. They also have Leland Irving, who I think could be a starter...on a better scale than James Reimer was four years ago.

Not quite as grim, but similar philosophy to Leafs circa 2007

But look how long it's taking the Leafs to get out of that hole...

I got it from the Twitter feeds but maybe it was someone else. An apt comparison nonetheless, and painful for a lifelong Leafs hater.

[letnry]

I got it from the Twitter feeds but maybe it was someone else. An apt comparison nonetheless, and painful for a lifelong Leafs hater.

Yeah it was Brian Kom who posted that comparison last night.

[newfcollins]

The Flames are the only team not to have a top five pick since 1990. Hard to rebuild when they don' suck enough to get high picks.

[pianoman]

The way my friend put it:

Somebody needs to drive out to Airdrie, build 500 ft tall hollywood sign that says REBUILD, light it on fire, and call Feaster to come look at it for 5 hours.

[slufoot]

Iggy and Kipper should've been traded two seasons ago.

For who exactly?

The last good goaltender to be dealt was Halak, and he was in his early 20s. That return was Lars Eller.

Nabokov and Vokoun are both comparable to Kiprusoff and they were let go for nothing.

And players of Iginla's ilk just aren't dealt because its impossible to recoup the value they bring in any sort of trade. You'd have to have immense faith in your scouting department to deal him for picks and prospects.

You don't need top-5 picks for a succesful rebuild if you already possess a franchise winger and franchise goaltender. For every team that successfully rebuilt with top-5 picks, there are 2-3 that failed miserably.

There's not much wrong with the Flames as their built right now IMO other than they're D isn't physical enough, and they sorely lack forwards that can take care of the puck - meaning win draws and avoid turnovers in the neutral/offensive zone. Those types of players can be acquired without top-5 picks. (Its just harder to do when you're paying pylons $4M a season)

[letangerang58]

The Flames don't need to do a full blown rebuild as they have a pretty solid core of guys. I think if they take a year to tank and retool like the Sens did last season (not to imply that the sens tanked) they could find themselves in the playoff picture in 2 years again. Keeping veteran players like Iginla and Kipper will only help them when it comes time for them to compete in the playoffs again and they would provide solid role models for incoming rookies to model their game after. Iginla is 34 years old and hasn't had many health issues throughout his career so I think he could still be a dominant forward at 40 like Selanne and Kipper is 35 years old and probably still has a few years left in the tank but none of their young goalies are ready to take over yet so they would probably be better off keeping Kipper around to mentor their goalies.

Trading Iginla and Kipper is not the answer.