What’s up Flames Nation? It’s been a minute, and holy hell do we have a lot to talk about.
After one of the most thrilling first round series’ we’ve seen in a hot minute, and taking out Fink’s precious Stars, the C of Red came out for what we had hoped would be the showdown of a lifetime with the Edmonton Oilers. Sadly, it was thoroughly underwhelming in all three phases of hockey and we went down pretty unceremoniously.
Fast forward to the off-season when the Front Office threw everything in the piggy bank at Johnny Hockey only to have him dump us like day-after Taco Bell and, for whatever reason, CHOOSE to move to the state of Ohio. Whatever. Then like 45 seconds later, Matthew Tkachuk at least did us the solid of informing us he also had no intentions of sticking around, and gave Treliving the chance to pursue something of a return for Chucky. As if you couldn’t have scripted it better, Oilers Twitter started EXPLODING with “we sent you into a rebuild” rhetoric, taking some sort of moral victory in their having been absolutely BODIED by the eventual Cup Champs.
Things looked bleak in Calgary, and trust me when I say that I even bought into the “things don’t look good” mindset, until King Treliving popped out of his casket like the Undertaker and went on one of the most wild wheel and deal runs in recent hockey history. The man refused to die.
After being afforded the chance to attempt to get some sort of return on Chucky, Tre pulled the trigger without hesitation, acquiring Huberdeau and Weegar from the Panthers, in one of the biggest fleece-jobs I’ve seen in professional sports. Tkachuk is a special player. He is not Huberdeau and Weegar special. We won the deal. It’s that simple. Was Tre done yet? Nope. A few weeks later, it seemed kind of odd that Kadri hadn’t been signed yet, and honestly, why not give the kid a go. He replaces a lot of the grit and attitude that we lost with Chucky, while brining in a fresh Championship pedigree after a wonderful showing in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year. While the price tag that came along with Kadri at his age left a little bit to be desired, there’s no arguing that what he brings to the table is what the Flames needed to replace. That, and Kadri is the prototype of a “Sutter-style” hockey player, I think some of the skeptics will be comfortable with what we got for what we paid. Things went from dark and cloudy to “How in the hell did we end up here?” in a matter of weeks. Things are once again looking up in Calgary, seeing us as early favourites to come out on top of the Pacific, at least for the time being.
We also picked up a new minor-league squad right here in Cowtown, hopefully giving the organization a little more leverage in getting an arena deal figured out, but that’s another day’s blog. Today we focus on the positives. Like how truly obnoxious and hilarious the boys have been picking their personal goal songs.
History has taught me to keep my expectations low, and that has proven to be an effective technique, but I’ll be damned if I’m not going to let myself believe that, as is the opinion of our STUD goalie, the Flames truly did get better this off-season, despite the fact that some inhabitants of the northern half of Alberta already had their shovels out prepped to dig our grave. I’m pumped to see what the boys have in store, and you genuinely should be too. 2022-2023 is going to be a very telling season regarding how much the front office is committed to winning and I for one appreciate the shit out of that attitude.
Let’s get after it C of Red. I’ll catch you cats for a Dome Foam in a few weeks. #IsItOctoberYet
The Morning Skate 