Wow - if true, unfortunate on both counts!

Yeah I remember when the talk was based around Stevie Y and Nicholson. They obviously missed the boat on Yzerman, if they were in the running, but I'm not sure how much of an opportunity there was with Nicholson. Would he really want to leave Hockey Canada? I have no idea.

Interesting view on Lanny though. Never gave much consideration to THAT possibility. I think Lanny is grossly misused in this organization. He definitely has something more to offer, I would think.

I don't mind Conroy stepping in at all in the management scheme. I think he brings a lot to the table here, just look what he did in working with Langks to get him into game shape way ahead of schedule.

In talking to Pat on the radio, I suggested we see more chess like moves from the Flames this offseason. Make moves in succession. If one works out, then it opens the door for another and so on. Does that make sense?

I don't think we have to burn this to the ground, but make smart, outside-the-box decisions. I suggested some position moves in the lineup... For example..

Top line: Tanguay - Moss - Iginla - I know Moss is a winger but he played well on this line before getting hurt. Plus he is developing his presence more in front of the net. I'm telling you this kid could be another Joe Nieuwendyk in front of the net with tips and screening.

2nd Line: Bourque - Langkow - Backlund - Again, I know Backs is a center, but he's not going to replace Langkow and he won't be a 1st line center for us. However I think it's important to get him top line minutes for his development. The kid has a laser for a wrist/snap shot and would work well on the wing. Plus we have to hope Bork gets it together with Langks and with his smart positional play, it could open up the ice for Backlund.

3rd Line: Kosto - Olli - Jackman - We need a center that can drive the play north for these muckers and I think Olli redeemed himself somewhat this year. Drives the play North a lot more frequently and has shown great improvement on his defensive game.. Could be a great shut down line.

4th Line: Bouma - Stajan - Nemisz/Hagman - If Kotalik buggers of to the KHL, the Flames can bury Hagman in the Minors. Stajan doesn't deserve to be even this high, but hey, we're stuck with him. Not much else to say on this..

I'll end with my D Pairings [just thoughts - no commentary] Giordano - Bouwmeester Sarich - Brodie Babchuck - Erixon

Staios - Gone Regehr - Traded

Makes sense but wouldn't the Flames get a roster player for Regehr ? Or trade him for a late first round pick ? What do you do with the tenders ? Trade Kipper if possible, for another tender ? But but but STAIOS IS A STAR

or - as someone brought up last night, use Reggie and a pick to get a higher first rounder. No one around here seems to think Kipper is moveable, who knows - I do believe that Feaster is very reluctant to f*ck with a proven higher end starting goalie though.

If only someone would pick up Boumeesters ridiculous contract..that would be awesome. Even with a wallop like that last night Stajan is flopping and falling all over the place. Honestly - how the hell is he in the NHL?

What would it take to get Setegouchi- he could be a good 2nd line RW that in time could spell Iggy to the 2nd line. What about Statsny? I would give another 1st (2012 or 2013) for a very good young center and apparently the Avs are upset about giving him that big contract (I know we don't have cap space- but if we moved some). How about Boychuk from Bos.? They want to resign Kaberle and will need to clear space. To me he is a $1.8 mil 2nd pairing defender with a big point shot and physical play- wouldn't need Babchuk anymore who I think will want as much or more than $1.8 but is at best a 3r pairing D.

D- pairings: Regher-JBo, Gio-Boychuk, Carson-Brodie/Erixon/Negrin/Pelech.....

They say the talent isn't that great in this seasons draft. Do they wait till the trade deadline ? I really would like the Oilers to face Calgary without him. He has killed the Oiler forward for years

They say the talent isn't that great in this seasons draft. Do they wait till the trade deadline ? I really would like the Oilers to face Calgary without him. He has killed the Oiler forward for years

Perhaps Hemskey could give a letter of recommendation for him. He would kill us without Reg.

I don't think so OilFan.. Kinda like Dawg said a couple of replies below you, I think they would use Reggie as a way to move up in the draft or get additional picks.

As for the Tenders.. If the right deal presented itself, take it. Right? I don't think Kipper's contract is tradeable, and I'm okay with that.. I'm still pretty big on him. As for the backup.. Free Market Baby! Bring up Irving and let him and Karlsson battle for it. Best man wins... If they sign Karlsson that is. No raise for him, if he wants more, let him walk.

If you think Staios is a star, we'll have our 3rd rounder back thank you very much?

"the-wolf" makes 2 very good points in that the discourse at Flames Nation has indeed suffered with all the trolling, but more importantly that success for the Flames going forward starts at the Top. Flames ownership, like one US President Obama, strike me as an unserious bunch. I think they like the "idea" of owning a Sports Franchise or being Commander-in-Chief, respectively; but aren't actually all that interested in the mundane day-to-day or tough decision making responsibilities required by these roles.

That said, the Owners are Smart Guys (hell some are Billionaires), so here is some simple Newtonian Algebrae to ensure future success:

Move Ken King to Manage The FanAttic = Opening to Hire Sound Hockey Mind (Lanny/Gainey etc.) = New Calgary Flames President = Competent General Manager = Coach Who Doesn't Ice Kotaleech on PP during Anaheim Game in a Must Win to Essentially Avoid Playoff Elimination = More Hockey Wins = 2nd/3rd Round of Playoffs = Stanley Cup Runs based on Consistent Talent...Not Lightning in a Bottle = A Monkey Being able to sell Flames Jerseys = A Monkey replacing Ken King as FanAttic Manager

Legal Disclaimer: The above Mathemetical Formulae in no way states, or implies, that Ken King is a Monkey...

I have no interest in Setegouchi.. never have, but that's just me I think. I don't see a fit for him here unless he is replacing Hagman.

Stastny carries to high a contract and is injury prone... Pass

Boychuck is interesting.. Sort of a younger more mobile Regehr really. I still think you keep Babchuck thoughin that case.. he is a good 5/6 D-man. Keep him over Carson. In your d-pairings.. What are you doing with Sarich??

Here's what they do - check with the owners to make sure that 10 more million is ok in the AHL, and then send Hagman, Stajan, Sarich down. Problem solved.

I'm looking at Carson as a 3rd pairing because I don't believe we could afford Babchuk and Boychuk (as I said I think Boychuk is the better D-man especially at that cost). As for Sarich, he finished pretty strong I think and some team looking for veteran leadership on their D may be interested. According to Capgeek.com he has a cap hit of $3.6 but his actual salary is $3.3 mil. Someone looking to get over the cap floor could be interested.

Honestly I say let all the UFA defensemen walk, and bring up Brodie, Carson and Pelech (D-OH!!) er... Erixon, or Mikkleson

I'd like to get get Cody Eakins for Regehr out of the Caps if I could.

Good points, but I disagree on a couple of things:

1) Backlund needs to stay at centre. The organiztion is so desparately short of talented centers.

2) Nemisz needs more seasonong in the AHL.

@the forgotten man - HAR! Love it!

I'd do that in a heartbeat for Cody Eakins.. Good luck though.

I really think Backlund would flourish on the wing. It gets him top 6 playing time and his shot would be better utilized. Ask Ice Dawg, this kid has a quick release and it's a laser when he was in the WHL. I think having Langks as his center opens the ice for him and he can use the shot more than he could up the middle.

I agree about Greg.. More time in the AHL to bring him along.. Undoubtedly there will be call ups through out the season

If you're dealing Regehr and Sarich.. You can afford Babchuck and Boychuck.. IMO [Still sending Hagman to the AHL and Kots to the KHL.]

Thanks...

As per my therapist's recommendation, I try to tranfer my frustrations into wit...

As a quick aside, listening to Fan 960 for the last 1/2 hour and Holy Homerism Batman - is there a Secret Ken King Booster Club in Calgary and are they stuffing the 960 phone lines???

People:

1. This is a 9th/10th place team. 2. No playoffs in arguably the easiest Pro Sports League to make the post season. 3. They are riding the Cap Ceiling.

Homerism at this point only reinforces the plausibility of keeping the status quo & telling the Franchise that showing up for only 2 months this year is acceptable behaviour...the mind spins & reels.

Some turd polishing this afternoon? Any details?

Wow Pat, you went into defensive mode real quick!! haha,

It is nice to not dwell on the negatives all the time, when everyone knows the negatives. Thats actually why I listen to you guys. Its not all doom and gloom!

My thoughts exactly. We have 5-6 months until the next season, plenty of time to take about the good, the bad and everything in between!

haha, nice to see that all blog sites have weirdos on them.

I guess no more canuck fans to troll on here anymore for a few months.

As for the offseason - I just hope the brass don't stand pat.

Going forward, the Flames that NEED to stay are:

Iginla Bourque Tanguay Jackman Giordano regher Kipper Glencross

the rest are expendible. Someone will take on bowmeester... it just has to happen. Maybe the Isles or the Thrashers since they both have 10M in cap space...

First off, Sorry Kent if I got you in any trouble...not my intent.

Second, Pat, I know what your topic was when the callers were chiming in. If you read my comments the last couple of days they pertain specifically to Team Management and the Owners - quite frankly the Players overall played up to their inherent potential (excepting 2-3 players) and I was not the least surprised of where the Flames finished this year based on their lineup beginning the Year - good on the Players.

Calling in to offer specific positives like "Glencross outperformed his Contract", "Backlund showed a lot of promise going forward" or "Hextall should be considered for GM" are great to hear and needed, but when "Homers" call in "turd-polishing"(h-tip:Kent) today with stuff like "thanking the Flames for such a wonderfully played season" or inane stuff like "we are just 1 move away from Glory..." is not positivity but naive, boot-licking delusion which in the big picture is counter productive and distracting from the task at hand.

On the flipside, just calling to say the Flames Suck or seeking to run Iginla/Regehr out of town accomplish little either...

The fat lady! Finally you decided to open your mouth!

why would anybody take bouwmeester at that number? you also need to remember that you are only allowed to go 10% above the cap in the summer, including the contracts you plan on burying. i think you need to face the fact that you will not be resigning both glencross and tanguay.

I think at this point everyone could be considered expendable. It starts with Iggy. If he wants to stay then you continue to TRY to surround him with skill and talent. However, if there is a great deal out there that makes you better for the now and later, it's got to be done.

Let's just say for example that NJ needs to move Parise but we have to include Bourque in a package of picks/prospects you do it.

As per my comment at #46, Florida has $42M in cap space next year, and only 3 d-men. They need big dollar contracts and defencemen...

Bouwmeester!

at the time florida probably felt they didn't get enough for bouwmeester. although hindsight says otherwise, i doubt they would be willing to give up anything to bring him back. further, whats the floor going to be next year? 46-47 million, maybe. i think dale tallon can think of better ways to spend 4 million. just because a team needs to hit the floor doesn't mean they will take a bullet. too many years of bouwmeester at that number.

The other problem with FLA - what could we possibly get in return?

Weiss would be a good starting point.

I am sure they have a bucket of warm-up pucks that they can spare. Anything to get rid of that cap-hit!!

No worries. I didn't hear any of the afternoon show today, so I was wondering about specifics.

And I hassle Pat with mean text messages all the time even though he's pretty even keel. I figured if there was any turd polishing, it wasn't by him.

Given how much Tallon loves underperforming dmen with bloated contracts, maybe JBo can be swapped for Kulikov 1-for-1. Not going to get picks out of a guy who prides himself on building from the draft, though.

Weiss + Kulikov ($4.425M cap hit) for Bouwmeester + Bourque ($10M cap hit)

Clears about $5.5M from our cap, gives the Panthers a decent winger and defenceman, gives the Flames a good center and a younger upcoming defenceman.

Move Morrison to wing then have Langkow/Weiss as #1/2 and Olli/Backlund as #3/4 down the middle.

Kent are you still running a live chat on Saturday?

In all fairness to Pat, he wasn't polishing anything...just a string of callers. Maybe the wound of not making the playoffs again is too fresh compromising my level of patience. Anyways, onward and upward.

Go Flames Go.

Terribly disappointing the Flames missing the playoffs for a second year in a row. The Flames definitely made it interesting by playing really strong hockey and going from 14th in the West and climbing to 4th at one point. However, the season doesn't start on Dec. 23rd, it started on Oct. 8th. Winning 2/3 should have happened in October, not until Christmas when Darryl Sutter left. All the other teams who also played poorly at the start of the the season really paid a price. Just go ask New Jersey and Toronto. The mountain was too high to climb and the injury bug hit the Flames at the wrong time. They still cannot get it right, strong offensively, weak defensively and vice versa. They need to balance it out. I want to see more foot speed from the defence. Next year we could look at Gio, J-Bo, Pardy/Carson, Brodie, one of Pelech or Negrin. Play Kipper a lesser number of games and play Karlsson or Irving more. A bona fide top two forwards like a Parise or Zajac. Just look at Anaheim, Selanne is 40 but surrounded by really strong linemates in Perry and Getzlaf.

Yup.

Yeah, there is no way that Tanguay and Glencross can stay on the team. If i had to pick... i'd beek Tanguay though because Jackman could EASILY fit into Glencroses shoes.

I can tell you, from long-standing personal experience, that if you're going to Beek someone you'd better ask them first.