The More Things Change…
By Dave Church
The trade deadline has come and gone, and the Flames stood pat, save for a low-key re-signing of forward Tim Jackman, which amounts to little more than a blip on the radar, and not worth griping about with the money he got.
Over the past several years, the Flames have had a reputation as a defensive team in need of scoring, so there have been signings and trades made with that in mind. Save for good ol’ Kipper, the majority of good trades that have been made in recent years have been with a specific kind of player: a third line/grinder type who needed more playing time and space to develop their offensive skills. There have been successes (Miikka Kiprusoff, Curtis Glencross, and Rene Bourque come immediately to mind), but some players who were successful in previous environments (Olli Jokinen, Jay Bouwmeester) haven’t done as well.
With that in mind, the Flames standing pat at the trade deadline is just fine, as our fearless leader pointed out. This year, they weren’t in much of a position to made any changes, between the no-movement clauses and the onerous contracts they had. Historically, that’s how they’ve acted anyway, preferring to work around the edges rather than make wholesale changes for a playoff run. That’s how most successful teams approach the deadline, but then, those are teams who don’t tend to NEED more than occasional touch-ups on the edges. This Flames unit is not that.
Given how outside attempts to acquire scoring have gone, I’ve often wondered if there’s something about Calgary’s system that neutralizes offensive skill, given how players such as Jokinen, Alex Tanguay, and Bouwmeester have seen their point totals plummet upon donning the flaming C. Perhaps Calgary also teaches solid defensive principles- even with the changing coaches, the Flames have always had that culture, ever since Darryl Sutter arrived several years ago. There’s certainly nothing wrong with this: Good defence is a foundation that had buoyed many a championship team. With the salary cap now, teams do have to pick their poison with how they build. Or be really, really good at player acquisition (which the Flames have not).
Though there are those that have flourished in Calgary, upon getting a new opportunity, it’s unfortunate that some of the veterans Calgary has acquired haven’t been as good as their offensive reputation promised. Some of that is age, but some of it might be the system that Calgary has employed. And in some cases, more time helped- Jokinen and Tanguay have turned themselves into fine two-way players. Some blame can be put on the drafting as well- even now, the Heat have few promising players, with those that do shuffle back and forth bearing the pedigree of a Krys Kolanos.
As fans, it can be frustrating when we see our team struggle, and believe it needs to change. The belief that the Flames need changes has certainly been expressed in this space. Even as we feel that frustration, we can come to realize that it’s not that easy. If we are to improve the offense, can we do it without undermining our defensive foundation? If we’re going to make a big-name acquisition, what do we have that other teams value? And will our supposedly tradeable assets with no-movement clauses ask “how high” when we say jump?
When we ask for changes, we have to be careful what we wish for.
Go Flames Go!