The flames have no heart and little talent. The owners obviously don't care very much about the season ticket holders( 97% sold out....to quote ken king)or any of the other fans. It seemed like the Bruins held back last night and are getting ready for the canuks

When was the last time the Flames took a beating like this? This is a sign the Flames are not only not going to make the playoffs, but their efforts so far this year have been comepletely in vain. In the slimmest of chances they do make the playoffs, I think they'd be in for more games like this one. Ugly. Real Ugly. The effect will either make the Flames rally and be better, or, more likely, fall apart even further.

P.S. I'm an Oiler fan and really enjoyed reading this article. Good writing Pat.

"We will never rebuild"

Signed: The worst GM and President in the leauge for not recognizing that there is a major problem here.

Blow it up already. Once Iggy gets his 500th goal, ship him out. He deserves it. What a waste of a great career.

My prediction is Iginla scores Saturday night. At home and on HNIC will provide the most adulation.

Then the real rebuild can start. One would have to think that Bruins game would have Iginla reconsidering his 'I want to stay' stance, but who knows for sure.

Well, if you call this game a measuring stick against how we compare to the best team in the league the Flames have some work to do.

5

FIRE TAMBO!!! Wait...Where am i? Oh, you guys suck too?

Not sure why you are commenting on Edmonton - the only reason any of the Canadian teams lost or were close to losing there teams was the variance in the Can $ to the US $ - and the insanity of some GM's to pay outrageous $ prior to the salary cap.

Now if you want to comment on Edmonton ; Flame fans, me included, enjoyed it when Edmonton was getting beat down. However they have made excellent use of those high draft picks and are now on there way to the top of the league - the cupboards in Edmonton are stocked with lots of options. They may not be winning games yet, but hell just watch a couple of their games..and tell you wouldn’t trade our team for theirs…

Calgary, has traded poorly, drafted poorly, and signed stupid, stupid contracts. And there is no help coming. WHAT A MESS!

Regardless of the NMCs and NTCs on the roster, I think the players themselves have reduced their value on the market to the point where moving any upcoming UFAs at the deadline will get you only marginal returns (draft picks in round 5 and later) given Feaster's history of losing trades.

When evaluating the potential trades for some of these players (Bourque, Jokinen, Stajan, Sarich, Stempniak) I have to ask "what would you give up to put them on your team?" to determine what another GM might feel is fair value. None of these players, given both their recent performance and history, would demand much in return.

If the team repeats this one or more times down through the rest of the season I have to wonder how the media will approach Feaster and his bombastic comments made eearlier this season about where the Oilers and Flames will finish relative to each other. They may still finish higher than the Oilers, but it hardly seems like something to be proud if the season becomes a dismal failure.

As I have said before, I believe that the Flames will rebuild. However I am also inclined to think that the franchise will need to be brought around to that determination by repeated (and unpleasent) introductions to reality, perhaps against their will. The Boston game was one such occasion. The Edmonton example is going to start coming up more and more in comments here, questions from local media, and analysis on television and radio. However, it should be noted that there had to be a great deal of change within the Oilers organization before that direction was taken, and it came from ownership. It could be that the Flames will come to the realization quickly that they need to spend the next four years rebuilding their franchise from the top (management) to the bottom (farm team and amateur procurement). Or they may spend the next two years trying to patchwork the problems (more so than they have thus far) by talking about rebuilding on the fly and using alternate means of acquiring talent. I believe that this is the path that Feaster and King will choose (and remember that Brian Burke attempted this and that it didn't work). They will parrot examples like Philadelphia until eventually the team will falter to the point that there will be no other direction to take.

I don't mean to be depressing Flames fans (the games are doing a much better job of that than I could manage). I just wanted to try and give an outside perspective. And don't forget, you still get to play the Oilers a few more times this year.

@Rex - if the message didn't get through last night it never will. Hell, I've been using the now common Sundin comparison since the summer of 2008.

My hope (and belief) is that Calgary's best assets are worth more as parts than as their current sum.

What the Flames lack in skill and talent they make up for in stupidity and soft play. Play-offs!!!! Play-offs!!!!!

So many fans seem more concerned that Iggy & Kipper remain Flames out of some misplaced loyalty than managing "assets" for the long-term health of the franchise. While I understand fans can fall in love with players, team managment shouldn't if they are wise.

I'd trade the Flames roster for the Oilers roster straight across any day, any week. If there's a franchise with less talent or depth than the Flames, I haven't seen it.

Too funny. Props +1

If the team repeats this one or more times down through the rest of the season I have to wonder how the media will approach Feaster and his bombastic comments made eearlier this season about where the Oilers and Flames will finish relative to each other. They may still finish higher than the Oilers, but it hardly seems like something to be proud if the season becomes a dismal failure.

To be fair to Feaster; when Jay made those comments to the caller, he was making them i reference to the belief that Calgary should follow the same path as the Oil. He was against that and pointed out that the Oil's methodology has gotten them no further than before. And Rex, to a degree he is still right.

The Oilers are once again near the basement and below the Flames, so Edm fans might want to question their own Pres and GM before jumping on Feaster's back for calling the Oilers out.

Yes this is an abysmal season but you can't tell me the Flames would be better off now blowing the ship out of the water and starting from scratch.

So glad I was at the IIHF Bronze/Silver and then Gold rounds and isolated from this debacle - except I put my radio on again in the evening for a sec in case the Russia v Sweden was being broadcast on 960 and oh oh I heard 5-0 Boston at that point, oh my goodness, just hid from it and enjoyed Sweden's joy and forgot about the Flames for the rest of the night, just too much bad stuff there -- and to see the Sweden guys skate around the Dome with the Trophy while the Flames were in Boston churning into chowder ..

It will be a gleeful moment if Iggy gets 500 Saturday, or at least at home now. Other than that --- what's going to happen, I'm perplexed atm.

Ten Fixes For The Flames:

1 - Get rid of Grandpa Ken King and his "everything is fine" attitude.

2 - Ship Brent back to the Sutterite colony.

3 - Get rid of any Assistant Coach with more than two years within the organization.

4 - Fire EVERYONE currently associated with the scouting team.

5 - Trade anyone and everyone to get some warm bodies, to ride out the season, and some draft picks.

6 - Bring up a bunch of the Kids from the farm and let them get their feet wet.

7 - Whoever is in charge of strength and conditioning needs to be shown the door.

8 - Feaster is a disaster - A GM needs to be a "real" hockey guy with "real" hockey experience.

9 - Rebuild, rebuild, rebuild - even if it takes two or three years.

10 - Most importantly - try to find a way to sell the team to ONE OWNER. Owner by committee is killing this club!!!!!

"Yes this is an abysmal season but you can't tell me the Flames would be better off now blowing the ship out of the water and starting from scratch".

So typical of Flames Fans and their "stand by your man" attitude.

They've tried everything else. How can you say blowing it up would be worse than what they have now. Other than Columbus, this is the worst team in the NHL.