Friedman on Flames: ‘If this doesn’t sort itself out, they’re going to have some really hard decisions to make’

It’s no secret that things have not gone according to plan for the Calgary Flames this season. Thursday night was a prime example of that: the Flames lost 5-2 to a Detroit Red Wings team playing their third game in four nights and following the game, Jonathan Huberdeau’s agent Allan Walsh effectively called out the hockey club.

On Friday’s edition of the Jeff Marek Show across the Sportsnet radio network, Marek and Elliotte Friedman broke down the situation surrounding the Flames. The whole segment is available on the Sportsnet site, but here are some highlights.

After discussing Walsh’s previous history of controversial tweets supporting his clients, Friedman noted that Walsh has maintained that he’s never sent out such a tweet without the approval of his client. (“As much as Walsh puts his name on it, that’s a shot from Huberdeau.”)

Friedman on Sutter: “He’s been pretty blunt when it comes to some of his answers. And I do think this year, and we’ve talked about it at times, Jeff, that Sutter’s grinding nature, his heavy-handedness sometimes, I think it’s played a role this year. I think it’s been, from very on early in the season, I think it’s been an issue.”

Friedman on the Flames’ trade deadline approach: “I think everything they’re considering is probably got a bit of a longer-term bent to it. And I think there’s a realization that after the season, they might have to make some very hard decisions about where this is all going, including the fact that the general manager doesn’t have a contract for next year yet. Look, we can all see it with our own eyes. It has not been a lot of fun this year to play hockey in Calgary and it is wearing down everybody.”

Marek noted that the Flames and Minnesota are in a two-team race for the last wild-card spot: “It’s not as if this team is the Anaheim Ducks and they’re getting blown out and they’re in the Connor Bedard sweepstakes. I would have to imagine that for the Calgary Flames, you’re in spitting distance here of the playoffs. The idea of, I know you mentioned maybe take a step back, and pause, and see what we have here, I don’t know if you can afford to do that if you’re Calgary considering all the investments that you have made.”

Friedman on the team’s play: “They’re definitely less than the sum of their parts. There’s no question about that.”

Friedman, on the impact of the departures of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk: “I see a team that’s still reeling from it… I’m just wondering, at the end of the year, there’s going to be a lot of conversations about who stays and who goes, up and down. If this doesn’t sort itself out, they’re going to have some really hard decisions to make.”

The full segment is up on Sportsnet’s site from Friday’s edition of the Jeff Marek Show.