Clueless and Pointless

It's really amazing how dumb the Calgary Flames have become.

A lack of strategic thinking has the Flames in a terrible spot with a disappointing record, still trying to deny all the strong evidence that they need to take a giant step back and rebuild, hanging on to veteran players beyond their due date in some faint hope that the club can scrape into the post-season and make magic happen.

It was evident last season in the way they hung on to Jarome Iginla, and with the deal done to give up a second round pick and a prospect in the deal to bring forward Mike Cammalleri, then 29 years old, back to Alberta. It was further evident in the free agent signings of Jiri Hudler and Dennis Wideman last summer to inflated salaries.

What are these guys thinking? Its like the Leafs of the final days of Mats Sundin being played out all over again in western Canada.

Maybe they'll clue in and move Iginla (Miikka Kiprusoff too?) by the trade deadline and get the necessary process started. Or maybe not. If they do, it will take 4-5 years to get back to competitiveness, and they seem to believe the hockey public in Calgary won't go for it.

Still, this plan to try and acquire centre Ryan O'Reilly through the offer sheet process really didn't make a whole lot of sense and smacked of desperation. Even worse, Sportsnet.ca is reporting that if the Flames had successfully landed O'Reilly, they likely never would have got him in uniform because he would have had to go on waivers first after playing in the KHL on Jan. 23rd. 

Oh my.

Look, this was never going to work anyway. Colorado had no choice but to match rather than take the first and third rounders as compensation. The issue of compensation for restricted free agents wasn't a significant one during the lockout, but clearly a system in which compensation was higher for RFAs might provoke a more fruitful offer sheet process. The Avs might have been tempted by two firsts and a prospect.

But right now, matching is almost obligatory. If Nashville had to match Philly's offer for Shea Weber, matching the O'Reilly sheet was even more automatic for Colorado. Moreover, Colorado was and is under no salary cap pressure at all, and so wasn't vulnerable in the same way other teams might be.

Second, the Flames have helped a team mired in the same area of the Western Conference standings by getting a player signed and back to active duty that the Avs weren't otherwise able to sign. So the offer sheet, essentially, bolstered Colorado's lineup.

Third, the Flames have now set the price for a young centre of O'Reilly's calibre at $6.5 million, an arbitration comparable that will send shock waves through the league and could ultimately cost Calgary more as well. Sure, the Avs are now stuck with an awkward contract; O'Reilly will have to be qualified in June of 2014 off that $6.5 million figure, way too much unless he becomes a much bigger scorer than most believe.

But Calgary might have stuck themselves with that contract if the Avs hadn't matched. And now they have to live in the same world in which a sturdy, 50-point pivot can command those kinds of dollars.

Look, maybe the RFA system stinks, and yes, you could argue that the Flames were being aggressive in trying to improve their team.

But strategies for player procurement need to be based in logic and reality. This one wasn't based in either. The best hope for Flames fans is that perhaps Seth Jones or Nathan MacKinnon is one the way. But the fact Calgary was willing to give up its first rounder to get O'Reilly suggests that pick is now in play as the Flames continue to fool themselves that the future is now.

Now, the fact they would have lost their first and third rounders and never got O'Reilly at all is looking like one spectacular embarrassment for a once-proud franchise.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Robert Gainsford]

Right on D!
Couldn't agree more. Re: the Leafs, anyone else think Reims was extremely shaky last night? He's so low in his net that he's almost lying on the ice. Leafs are like a house of cards. Too much pressure (i.e. see Wednesday's game against Montreal) and they'll fold. Prediction: They finish out of the playoff race yet again, but just high enough not to land a quality draft pick.

[Steve]

I live in Calgary and I am a Flames fan and this article is 100% bang on!!!

It is a rudderless ship with too much owner intervention, a puppet president who also happens to be a moron in Ken King and a Georgetown lawyer as GM.

Shocking how the owners of this team , some of Canada's most successful businessmen, are such idiots when running a hockey team

[Chris]

I think another lockout will be helpful. I have no problem with offer sheets, but in this case, when it drives up the cost of an average player who MAY one day be a good player, well that is simply rediculous. Put it in the CBA, you cannot sign a player to 6.5m who has only scored 50 points. come up with some kind of formula, 1m for every 20 points, another m for every 10 minutes of average ice time. something along those lines, make that the maximum salary a player can recieve on his contract while a RFA. that puts O'reilly at a max of about 4.5.

[DV]

Explain why it is ok for Ottawa to keep Daniel Alferdsson and Daniel Alferdsson not to want to be moved, but not ok in the Leafs-Sundin or Calgary-Iginla case?

[Chad]

If I recall, wasn't Murray Edwards one of the most hawkish owners during the last lockout? 4 months of Gary's rants about controlling costs and now 2nd line centers are valued at 6.5 million. There couldn't possibly be a CBA written that could save this league from itself.

[Roz Roulette]

I think anyone who favours a rebuild would look at the acqisition of O'Reilly as a way to excellerate it. It actually made a ton of sense for a team who is desperate for young talent, and desperate for centers.

What RFA offer sheet isn't an overpayment? Overpaying is the strategy used to discourage the other team from matching. That is not a reasonable crticism.

As for the assertion the Flames are setting the bar for that type of player's salary and sending shockwaves throught the league, that is way overstated imo.

Both sides bring multiple comparables into arbitration and O'Reilly would be just one comparable the agent would offer. The team could use multiple comparables to show O'Reilly's contract was an abberation as a result of an offer sheet.