The Calgary Flames continue to be one of the biggest talking points in the league, especially after Don Maloney’s recent interview. In the latest edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast Along with Elliotte Friedman, the NHL insider spent a lot of time analyzing the state of the Flames and what’s next for the troubled organization. Here’s a recap of this week’s Flames heavy 32 Thoughts.
The outrage from fans is being monitored by the organization
To kick off the 32 Thoughts segment, Friedman talked about the viral interview with Don Maloney and the fan outrage that followed.
“One of the things that’s really hard to figure out… is that I think a lot of these teams are trying to differentiate between what social media noise is and what their paying customers and sponsors really want. When something is really trending on social media, how does that impact their business? And what teams tell me the most is what you need to be able to do is understand whether the social media commentary is really an expression of buying tickets and the people who are spending money on your team, because those are the people you ultimately have to listen to.
The people who spend money on your tickets, the people who spend money on your sponsorships, and especially the people who spend a lot of money on those things, or is it just a loud group of people, but at the end of the day it doesn’t impact your bottom line.
Oh boy. Flames fans certainly won’t like hearing this. Friedman said the Flames organization is clearly aware of the fan outrage on social media lately and is actively monitoring it. His full quote makes one thing clear: the organization doesn’t care about fan outrage, as long as it doesn’t lead to lost revenue.
Nothing will change until the property loses money
It’s one thing for fans to get angry online, but if these same fans aren’t the ones buying tickets and merchandise, etc., then the organization clearly doesn’t care. The bottom line has always been the most important factor that defines this organization, and Friedman seems to confirm this here.
“Teams like the Flames will sit there and say, ‘What does this really mean for our business? Like there were people online at the Flames game tonight saying, “You’re going and this is Saturday night, you’re going to see jerseys thrown on the ice, you’re going to see a crowd cheering. We didn’t see any of that.
We saw a crowd that, while the Flames played hard and won the game, was actually quite excited. They got their money’s worth for the night. I was really looking forward to that on Saturday. Was that an angry mob? And I didn’t see it.”
Once again, Friedman emphasizes that the organization will not change anything if actual revenues and ticket sales at games do not change. The outcry from fans online was high Saturday, and yet if you asked anyone in the Saddledome, it just felt like a normal game. That won’t help the owners change their minds about the direction of the team.
The Flames are currently not receiving any offers
Friedman then delved into the idea that ownership doesn’t want to tear things down right now, flatly stating that they couldn’t even do that right now if they wanted to.
“There aren’t a lot of great offers out there right now. As I can tell you right now, even if the Flames wanted to trade Nazem Kadri, as of Saturday there wasn’t an offer that made them say, “Hm, maybe we should trade Nazem Kadri.” And the same case went for Blake Coleman. And the same case went for MacKenzie Weegar. The same case went for Rasmus Andersson. The same case went for anyone else on that team that you might want to put on that list. There was no trade offer.
There was no trade offer. Even if the Flames wanted to tear it down to a tee, there was nothing on their desk last week that would say, “Oh boy, if we turn down this deal, we might really regret it in five years.”
That is at least reassuring. Friedman is the most connected person alive, so everything he says has very real sources. Based on the quote above, the Flames aren’t really getting many serious offers on their veterans right now anyway, so it’s not like they’re turning down big returns to avoid a rebuild. At least not yet.
The Flames don’t trade anyone unless they have to. At this point, none of the veterans want out.
Friedman further confirms what we’ve all assumed: the Flames won’t trade veterans like Kadri unless they have no other choice.
Second, the other thing II said is that the Flames may not want to deal these guys, but what happens when the players say, “You know what? I want to go somewhere else.” Remember, Calgary went through that a few years ago. They dealt Hanifin and Marstrom, and some of these players have long-term contracts, just like Kadri. So ultimately they might decide, hey, this isn’t good for me, or I’m not ready to continue where we are now at 31st in the league.
I would like to emphasize that this is not currently happening. That is not the case. They don’t have any trade requests from their veterans there. Trust me, I checked on Saturday. None of their veterans are currently asking out as of Saturday. So, but if it changes, Calgary could be forced to pivot.
Not surprising, but still disappointing. What we have long expected is virtually confirmed here by Friedman. Until veteran players ask to leave Calgary, the organization will not trade them. As of now, Friedman confirms that no one on the team wants to leave and therefore no one will be traded.
If that changes and players start asking to be traded, the organization will be forced to move them, just like Lindholm and Hanifin, etc.
The Flames don’t believe they can attack Wolf
Friedman then said he had heard from around the league that the Flames don’t believe they can ever truly tank with Dustin Wolf on the roster.
“You know what another team told me about them, Kyle? They said that with Wolf, they don’t think they can be really bad. I know this hasn’t been the ideal season that he would want. He started off bad. He’s starting to come along. Now that Wolf is there, they don’t really think they can be really terrible because they just think the beginning of this year was a blip, as opposed to the real deal.”
A beep. The organization currently thinks that is the worst start in franchise history, according to Friedman. He seems to have it on good authority that the Flames are fully convinced that their rocky start was nothing but a blip, and now that Wolf is bouncing back, they will once again be a playoff contender.
Craig Conroy will almost certainly return
Amid all the drama, it’s easy to forget that Flames General Manager Craig Conroy doesn’t have a contract beyond this season. Friedman sees no reason to worry.
“He’s in the last year of his contract and I’d be surprised if he’s not extended. I think they’re taking care of business in that front office and I think they’ll take care of him as well. I’d be surprised. I’d be surprised if he doesn’t get an extension because I think they think he’s doing a really good job.”
This isn’t too surprising, as Conroy was hand-picked by the owner from the start and has been their loyal follower since he was hired. There’s no reason not to bring him back at this point.
Andersson has changed his mind
Despite most of the hockey world assuming Rasmus Andersson would be traded at some point, Friedman mentions that Andersson has changed his mind and is once again open to remaining a Flame long-term.
“One of the things I’ve heard about Andersson is that he changes his mind and stays or goes like you and I change socks, which is every six weeks. So like last year at the end of the year he thought I shouldn’t come back. And he showed up at training camp and he said I think I might want to stay, but he has to find a deal that both parties are comfortable signing. And right now they’re not, they’re not even close to what I understand.”
I’ll say it again: signing a soon-to-be 30-year-old Rasmus Andersson would be a huge mistake. Trade him now while his value is high and don’t look back. It sounds like both Andersson and the organization want him to stay, but they’re not even close to cash. We hope the two decide to part ways, which would be a good move for both parties.
Related
#thoughts #fan #outrage #lead #real #change #updates #future #Rasmus #Andersson #Craig #Conroy #Win #Column