There are only 28 days until free agency opens in the NHL on July 1. It’s a date all too familiar with Flames fans recently, as this July 1 marks the second anniversary of Johnny Gaudreau’s long-winded departure from Calgary. The decision led to a cascade of events, leading the team into a rebuild.
After Gaudreau left, his superstar 100-point linemate, Matthew Tkachuk, requested a trade. Although the return for Tkachuk was promising, the young American has gone on to lead the Florida Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup Finals appearances, while the Flames have missed the playoffs two years in a row.
Mackenzie Weegar has been a strong addition to the team, but former 2022 Hart Trophy candidate Jonathan Huberdeau has had a historical falloff since coming north.
Huberdeau was centred around Darryl Sutter’s big departure from Calgary. Sutter and Huberdeau’s relationship appeared somewhat sour from the start and only got worse. After only one season, rumours were spreading that players in the room spoke poorly of their head coach in season-ending exit meetings. The Flames legend was fired only one season into his extension on May 1.
The move was part of a total overhaul, as only three weeks prior, Flames General Manager Brad Treliving and the team agreed to part ways after nine years.
With the team in new hands under Craig Conroy as GM and Ryan Huska as head coach, and a cornerstone offseason beginning for the Flames’, we wanted to know who Flames fans think is to blame for the team’s collapse over the last two years. We asked, and you answered.
Want to take part in Sunday Census polls? We send them out every week on our Twitter at @wincolumnCGY. Follow along or send in ideas for the next poll!
Who’s to blame for the Flames current demise?
We presented the below poll to our readers: Who is to blame for the Flames current demise? The options being: Murray Edwards, Darryl Sutter, Brad Treliving or wildmusicyyc.
Murray Edwards
Starting off with a bang is the highest up in the chain of command, owner of Calgary Sports & Entertainment Corporation, Murray Edwards. The Flames owner collected a healthy 33.2% of our respondents’ votes this week.
Edwards being criticized by fans is no breaking news story, as the Canadian businessman has been known to influence the team’s roster decisions throughout the years. Edwards has owned the Flames under the CSEC since 1994. In that span, the team has had 16 different head coaches (including Darryl Sutter twice) and eight general managers. That’s an average coaching stint of one and 7/8 seasons and an average GM stint of three and 3/4 seasons.
Those stats, although obscure, might be enough reason for the average sports fan to raise some questions. The team’s inconsistency and overwhelming disappointment in the last 30 years can absolutely be attributed to the franchise’s ownership. Did this specific moment in time fall solely on Murray Edwards? Maybe not, but we do know he had a major influence in trade decisions this season. Reports emerged that Edwards didn’t want to make a deal with former GM Brad Treliving at the deadline and also vetoed a Jacob Markstrom trade over reported salary retention and desire to compete for a playoff spot.
Do you want your ownership to strive for competitiveness? Sure, but even just the past year of Murray Edwards has shown that the overwhelming majority of fans want him to take a more hands-off approach during this inevitable rebuild.
Darryl Sutter
The 2023–24 season marks the 20th anniversary of the Flames’ unimaginable game seven Stanley Cup Finals appearance. The head coach and GM of the team at the time was Darryl Sutter, his first of two stints with the Flames.
Darryl’s history with the Flames runs deep, and it seems fans don’t attribute much of the recent demise to him. The Alberta boy only received 6.2% of the vote this week, finishing last in the poll.
Sure, Darryl butted heads with the new generation of players and didn’t give young skilled players a chance, but I agree with the majority of Flames fans that Sutter’s most recent stint with the Flames wasn’t the biggest cause for the franchise’s latest falter.
Brad Treliving
Former GM Brad Treliving takes the cake this week, collecting 48.3% of the votes. Treliving’s nine years with the Flames is the longest stint by a general manager for the franchise since Cliff Fletcher. Fletcher was the franchise’s first general manager, holding the position from their inaugural season in Atlanta in 1971 until May 16, 1991. Fletcher was the mastermind of the Flames’ success in the 1980s and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2004.
Since Fletcher’s departure from the position, the team has had little to no success with executives outside of Darryl Sutter and Brad Treliving.
Treliving, the current Toronto Maple Leafs GM, made a name for himself in Calgary. But, his decisions as a General Manager were heavily criticized and sometimes downright head-scratchers. Treliving’s part in failing to resign Johnny Gaudreau was only one piece to the puzzle that formed into his disastrous exit from the organization.
Although his return for Tkachuk was applauded, his inability to form a new roster around Jonathan Huberdeau was heavily criticized. Beyond that, his relationship with Darryl Sutter had reportedly dwindled, leading to both parties exploring greener pastures.
Although it’s only one season into the new era of Flames management, Craig Conroy already seems to be pleasing fans with his decision-making. With a new culture in place and youthful decisions being made, it only took a year to wipe the slate clean of Brad Treliving’s decisions, much to Flames fans’ chagrin.
wildmusicyyc (playoff anthem)
Finally, a song that haunts Flames fans’ memories from the 2022 playoff run. The playoff anthem produced by wildmusicyyc, “Win the Cup,” has been marked by Flames fans as a pivotal moment in the team’s recent collapse. Released on April 5, 2022, the song garnered massive attention from the Flames community but quickly turned from an inspiring fight song to a painful rhetoric of what once was.
I’ll let you be the judge of the song’s overall quality, but you have to admit the message is clear: wildmusicyyc thinks the Flames are great, and we all did too…
The now Flames breakup song garnered 12.3% of our votes this week, finishing third in our poll. Although I hope the Flames are good enough to inspire a song again one day, I think most Flames fans are okay with passing up the toe-tapping next playoff run.
Future so bright we need shades?
Although the past season was once again full of disappointment, the Flames have set course in a new direction, much to the appeal of fans. GM Craig Conroy is looking to lay the foundation for a new generation of Flames hockey this offseason, and boy, oh boy, has he dealt with a mess in his first season.
Buckets of pending unrestricted free agents, a rookie head coach, and a turbulent locker room left Conroy in a sticky situation for his first season. Who’s to blame for creating said mess will be debated for many years to come, but hopefully, it’s quickly outshone by stories of the team’s success. The last era of Flames hockey was tantalizing at times, but overall, it was much of the same mediocrity.
Craig Conroy and the next generation of Calgary Flames history is upon us. No matter who’s to blame for the last era, let’s hope there are greener pastures in Flames fans’ futures, just like Brad Treliving and Darryl Sutter. Literal pastures for Darryl, but you get my point.
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