Let’s face it Flames Nation, the last few years haven’t really gone to plan. Not too long ago, we spent a beautiful spring on the Red Mile once more, while Johnny and Matthew ran around being everything we prayed they could be, and although it came to and end sooner than we’d have liked, we shared that joy. Now with that joy replaced by sadness, uncertainty, and general weirdness, it’s time to, as our dearest Rasmus Andersson so beautifully put it “Embrace the Chaos”.
Rewind to about 28 seconds after our 2nd round playoff elimination two years ago, Johnny bailed. Fast forward past that and Mr. Tkachuk followed suit, albeit far more respectably than Johnny Ohio. It looked bleak, all hope was lost.
But then, seemingly out of the furthest reaches of nowhere, Treliving took the crumbling shell of what that fateful year gave us, and turned it into, on paper, something that had people like me mouthing off way earlier than we should have been. Losing Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk in the span of weeks, only to see them replaced with Huberdeau, Weegar, and Kadri, who was coming freshly off of a Stanley Cup run, things could be worse right? Wrong.
We went from having a similarly powerful roster on paper, and saw nightmare after nightmare unfold. One goal game after one goal game the Flames fell further and further down into the pit of sadness. Post after post, missed net after missed net, you straight up couldn’t have scripted a grosser, sadder way for a redemption arc to unfold. In tight games, Calgary was historically bad. In terms of hitting the post, Calgary was otherworldly good. Records that you truly don’t want to have seemed to be the only thing anyone in Calgary sports media had time to talk about. Most notably, Mr. Huberdeau. The largest single season drop in production in NHL history. Friggin’ oof.
But how? How did everything that could have gone wrong, go so wrong? Well once we finally rid ourselves of the pain of that season, we started to hear maybe how. Firstly, we lost the GM who saved us from a rebuild despite us also seemingly needing some retooling. Treliving and the Flames mutually parted ways, citing differences in opinion of the direction of the organization, which seemed very coach-centric, which we’ll get to next. The move quickly ended up with us seeing Tre land in Toronto, which as a religious Leafs-hater, I enjoy knowing Tre won’t see the Cup anytime soon. Next, The Prodigal Son, the face of Viking, Alberta, one of the previously most lovable dudes ever in our fair city, Coach Daryl Sutter, suddenly became Enemy #1 behind closed doors. With numerous reports of “it’s him or me” coming from prominent names on the roster, things in the locker room were very evidently our issue. Coach D was relieved of his duties, and though sad to see him go, sometimes the right thing happens and things improve. With Tre’s departure so cryptic and indirect, I think it had to have had a lot to do with someone wanting to fire Daryl and someone wanting to keep him. But with the removal of Sutter from the bench, attitudes started to change. Guys went from being all but certain that free agency would see them out of Calgary, to being open to re-signing. While nothing big has happened yet, the Lindholm and Backlund situation seems so much more positive moving forward.
There’s hope to be had, but we’re not dumb. Hope has been unproductive the last little while in the C of Red. This year, we worship the unknown. We let Conroy and Iggy wheel and deal and cast their magical little voodoo spells and do whatever the hell they want, and we pray for chaos. With only the expectation of the unexpected to guide us, we’re gonna crush Pocket Dawgs, drown in an ocean of Dome Foam, and whatever catastrophic, magnificent ending we find, we will face head on, half in the bag and full of cheese.
Let’s Get It.
The Morning Skate 