The Calgary Flames lost in the first round of the playoffs for the fourth straight season. The common result is a further sting to a fan base (and media) that look forward every Spring to a long and winding playoff run filled with excitement and newspaper filling stories.
When things don’t work out as planned there is always change. Heck, the team that lifts the Cup in June will also see 20% of their roster rolled out the door, and new players brought in. But what change is needed in Calgary?
Emotion and frustration with unfulfilled expectations can lead a team to change too much, creating havoc both on and off the ice when tinkering was likely the more prudent course.
So with that we take a look at the Flames and what this writer thinks should go down this off season.
Management
I’ll be the first to admit that one unlikely, magical run to the cup final shouldn’t make a career, nor protect Darryl Sutter from scrutiny in his job overseeing the hockey operations of the Calgary Flames.
What have you done for me lately is a very real facet of the business of pro sports – and it should be.
However, there is more than one way to measure job performance in hockey management in a league where only 54% of teams make the playoffs every year. The fact the team has made the playoffs each of the past five played seasons puts the Flames in select company with only San Jose, Detroit and New Jersey. That can’t be denied.
Sutter has turned the Flames development system from a shared AHL team waste land into a team stocked with competent pro players that were able to fill in the gaps and keep the Flames rolling through injuries. Are these all star players? No they are not, but they are dependable, cost effective assets, something so key in the salary cap world of the new NHL.
His recent draft picks are finding the NHL instead of staying on a list at draft web sites never to be heard from again. To fail with number one picks is a huge blow to a franchise, but the best way to build depth and contending teams is through picks after the second round, added assets that can’t be predicted on draft day. The Flames have added the likes of Brandon Prust (traded), Dustin Boyd, Adam Pardy, Brett Sutter, Matt Keetley, John Negrin, T.J. Brodie, and Keith Aulie in recent seasons using mid to late draft picks to supplement an above average job in using the top pick in each of the past few seasons.
In Greg Nemisz, Mitch Wahl, Mikael Backlund, Leland Irving, and Matt Pelech, the Flames have high end picks that are progressing on schedule, and on their way to the NHL level.
Sutter’s job is safe, and should be safe as he continues to build the Flames up to a perennial competitor from the laughing stock he inherited.
Coaching
Does one have to be a top level hockey coach to criticize an existing NHL coach? Probably not. But I will admit that the average critique of said position coming from fans and media has always come with a grain of salt in my mind. Hard to push someone against the wall without actually understanding what goes on behind the scenes.
Having said that I wasn’t a big fan of the Mike Keenan signing, and I’m not a big fan of him coming back again next season.
I will admit that his tenure was much less vitriolic than I expected, and I give him credit for growing with the modern NHL and being a veteran and peaceful presence in Calgary. I actually like the guy more than I expected I would.
But things just didn’t seem to work this season, or at least they didn’t work consistently. The attention to defense was strong for three months, but completely lacking for the other three months. The use of goaltenders (McElhinney getting the second night of back to backs and never the first) set up a huge problem down the stretch and maybe a tired out Kiprusoff (though he denies).
To me the biggest issue was some of the basics of hockey, and why skilled players seemingly went unpunished for some of the most simple aspects of winning hockey not being followed. With the depth he had at his disposal (ten forwards that could conceivably fit in the top six forwards) there should have been a zero acceptance policy for soft turnovers in the neutral zone, just inside the Flames blueline, or on the blueline in the attack zone. Yet how many times did we see Jarome Iginla try and beat two guys instead of shooting it in, or Todd Bertuzzi doing a blind back pass in the hopes it would find a guy in the right colour? Watching the Hawk’s young skill players dump and chase with speed against Calgary showed you that the Flames were playing 1990’s hockey instead of what is required with the changing skill level of today’s league.
Work done in this area in October would have been ingrained for the whole team by April. It wasn’t.
With Keenan having only one year left on his contract it will go one of three ways. He’ll accept lame duck status and run out the string. He’ll ask for a one year extension to his contract, be refused, and walk. Or he’ll just be fired out right.
But who do you hire?
You look around the league and you see some retreads doing great (Boston, Carolina), but also some AHL coaches find the mark (Washington, Florida to some extent, Ottawa late).
Ottawa tried a new face in Hartsburg and failed, before retooling and perhaps getting it right the second time.
Calgary has tried the new face in Playfair, and then the retread in Keenan and the results were pretty similar.
Is it coaching? Or is there something wrong with the core itself that needs changing? And then … can you change it with long term contracts and no move clauses? If you can’t change it by moving a core player, is there a way to change the players around the core to make it work? Haven’t they tried that too?
The Roster
I’m pretty confused with this bunch right now.
On one hand I love the clear cut transition taking place and feel it has to make the team better next season. Aucoin, Warrener, Eriksson, Cammalleri, Bertuzzi, Roy and Leopold all moving out and for once some pretty interesting young players really looking to push up the roster.
On the blueline the Flames have Adam Pardy as a mainstay, using his growth from a playoff series with big minutes to perhaps move into the top four. Matt Pelech showed some decent poise down the stretch with injuries and may be ready to fill the Pardy roll from last season. Plus you can’t reject out of hand that John Negrin could surprise in camp and push for a spot. Either way the returning players of Cory Sarich, Robyn Regehr, Dion Phaneuf, Mark Giordano and Jim Vandermeer is the beginnings of a solid group; one that doesn’t have to be restocked by adding outside expensive UFA help.
Up front the Flames have a solid mix to build three lines in Iginla, Olli Jokinen, Daymond Langkow, Rene Bourque, Curtis Glencross, Dustin Boyd and David Moss. Craig Conroy will anchor that third line for another season, moving up when need be much like the 2009-09 season. Mikael Backlund’s torrid playoff pace in Kelowna suggests he may be able to make the jump in a skill spot for the Flames. Judging by the opportunities they afforded him last September you know he’ll get every look a young player could hope for. The Flames other skill forwards are likely a few years away as John Armstrong, Nemisz and Wahl adjust to the pro game and then move up to the bigs.
Where there should be some roll over is on the bottom line where perhaps Eric Nystrom is permanently promoted to the third line along with perhaps a Dustin Boyd, leaving many of the call ups this season that fared well to battle it out for the final few spots.
With the economy, and the expected roll back in salary cap, I don’t imagine the Flames will step too hard into free agency this summer. The forward group, like the defensemen have enough young players to challenge to avoid that shmozzle in July.
In goal you may see some change as Curtis McElhinney is an unrestricted free agent. He didn’t get it done as a backup in Calgary, due party to his own play, but also to some questionable handling by the coaching staff. Is Leland Irving ready to step up? That will be the question this summer. The Flames can’t possibly go through another season (would be three in a row) with their fingers crossed on a youngster. Look for an affordable veteran backup to fill the role in 2009-10. Would Manny Legace be looking at a backup role and much less than the 2.5 million he took in last season? I’m guessing he would.
So there you have it.
Get a new coach (don’t know who), keep the GM (you know who), and don’t do anything flashy on the roster but promote youngsters (I know … boo hoo). Your changes in the off season of 2009.
The line between winning and losing is fine. A team that makes it’s way to the playoffs in five straight seasons is on the right side of said line. Tinker. Don’t blow it up.
But get it right this time dammit!
