Is This Just A Bluff?

 I know a lot of people were like 'You put a deadline day down and if they don't negotiate by the deadline then you trade him" after the Rat Boy debacle. I wonder if that's just what happened here. Treliving put a deadline on Tkachuk that wasn't a real deadline, and Tkachuk called his bluff. 

The real deadline is that arbitration date, which I guess is anywhere from next week until mid august. Not sure when the teams themselves find out when their go date is. I would assume someone from the league would let the actual teams know before they let the public know, but who knows, you know. 

Anyway. 

Despite the pining for the rebuild, I don't think it is happening, realistically. The team has too much infrastructure to just blow it all up in a cap world. The team will continue to try to win, is what I assume will happen. 

Whether Tkachuk's trade list is accurate or not, there are only so many teams with cap space as of todays date. I think the Flames trade targets are going to be picks, prospects (ie players under team salary control), or perhaps some star for star swap. If the team goes for picks and prospects, that limits who they can trade the guy to. If they do a star for star swap, that opens it up, by why would a team swap a star for a star? Teams would want to add Tkachuk to their star, not do a swap. Unless of course their star wants out as well. 

I just don't see it. I don't follow the league enough to know every star everywhere. Maybe there is drama going down in other markets. No idea. 

But if the number for Tkachuk starts with a 9 at the minimum, or somewhere around there, that eliminates a lot of teams. There are 12 teams as of today who have at least 9 million in cap space. Only five of those 12 are in the Eastern conference. New Jersey, Detroit, the Islanders, Ottawa, and Buffalo. 

The reason Tkachuk wants out has not been stated. I would assume it is the border issue, but who knows. It is probably that or money. If it's the border, then Ottawa is out. Of those teams remaining, none of them were very close to making the playoffs. Like, 20 points out and shit. The closest of those would be the Islanders. 

Not sure what the Islanders have, but they could absorb the cap hit and we wouldn't have to take back any cap. They have all their picks in the upcoming drafts. Trading good players for lottery tickets isn't the smartest thing in the world, but Kadri is still available. I know he said he wanted to go to a contender but same situation, no contenders have cap space besides the Flames. 

I wonder if the play here is to trade Tkachuk to the Islanders for draft capital, use cap space to sign Kadri and another winger, and keep trying to stay in the mix. With Monahan and Lucic coming off the books after this season anyway, I don't think that cripples you going forward. 

As of today they Flames have about 18 million in cap. I guess the Mangiapane and Kylington RFA contract stuff muddies the waters a bit, if you can keep those two to under 10 million in cap you might have enough room to sign Kadri. Who knows. 

That team wouldn't be so terrible. You'd have centre depth. I actually wouldn't mind it at all. 

Lindholm, Kadri, Backlund down the middle is pretty good. You got enough wingers to survive. The backend is decent, and Markstrom is respectable on paper. Not the worst Flames team every assembled. 

Even if Tkachuk is bluffing, I think I would rather that team (ie: with Kadri). 

Fuck Tkachuk

 These fucking yankee weasels. 

Hopefully the Flames use some of that 20 million a year they saved to put bounties on the heads of Mathew and John. 

Johnny Rotten

Look at what Rat Bot paid someone to write on his behalf: This shlock.

Fuck this twat. Can you believe this? Like, fuck off Rat Boy. Tell Yoko to suck a dick, too. 

This guy knew he wasn't going to sign an extension in Calgary since at least 2018. This bullshit about "I wanted to sign an extension last summer..." Ok Rat Boy, why didn't you then? The Flames offered one. Why didn't you sign it if you wanted to? Fuck you and your Jersey washed out stripper trash looking mother. 

And what is even sadder than Rat Boy getting his PR guy to write this pernicious pablum is that some idiots in this city are buying it. Go look at the calgarypuck forum. "Oh Johnny said he liked us so all is forgiven". Like, what the fuck? Why is our fanbase infested with these vermin. 

Idiots, let me spell this out for you: John Rat Boy knew he wasn't going to sign long term. He then gave interviews where he said he was very open to signing long term. That makes him Rat Boy. Rat Boy then had his agent go back and forth with the Flames negotiating a contract he knew he would never sign. That makes him Rat Boy. The Flames, being negotiated with, assumed there was a chance he would re-sign with them. He led them on. Like a Rat Boy. Then, the scuttlebutt goes, he gave the Flames a ultimatum during negotations, he said to them "Here is the final offer, take it or leave it" and the Flames said "Ok we surrender we agree to all your terms" and then he said "Lol naw", which, say it with me, is what makes Rat Boy, Rat Boy. 

What is hard about this to understand? Rat Boy led the Flames on knowing full well he was NEVER going to re-sign here. He knew this back to at least 2018 when his dad had a heart attack. 

Fuck Rat Boy. Fuck his wife. Fuck his mother. Fuck Guy. Fuck the entire family. Why people are going "Gee willy I guess he didn't fuck the franchise because he paid some fucktard to write a players tribune article saying he wants to visit one day in the future all is forgiven gee golly"? 

Can't wait to boo the shit out of this little turd when he comes back. Hopefully he cries. AND FOR FUCK SAKES DON'T SELL HIM ANY MORE COCAINE WHEN HE COMES BACK TO CALGARY. He's revoked. 

Rebuild?

 News out today that Tkachuk is going to arbitration and how that impacts the Flames and the contract decision and blah blah blah. It appears that Tkachuk has signaled he is not signing long term. Things can change, but that is the consensus opinion currently. 

If Tkachuk goes, notwithstanding the return, the team will have lost 2/3rds of it's first line. The team couldn't get out of the second round with the two 100 point guys it's about to lose. What are the chances of winning a Cup when those guys are replaced by Mangiapane and Toffoli? Who in turn are replaced on their line by Dube and Coleman? Who are in turn replaced on the third line with who the fuck knows? 

In short, what would be the point? And that's the point, not that it isn't obvious. It's time for a complete rebuild. 

There is no point in having a Lindholm anymore. There is no point in having a Backlund anymore. There is no point in having a Toffoli or a Coleman or a Hannafin anymore. I'm not even sure they need a Kylington. 

Everybody on the roster 25 and older should be traded, if possible. 

If the goal is to win a Cup, which I am not even sure is the goal, then there is no path forward with this current group. So why keep it around?

Because the goal might just be to get to the playoffs and cash in on a few home gates. But that's not an answer I want to hear as a fan. 

Do you want Treliving handling the rebuild? I don't. It's pretty late to get someone else in here, but they should. The guy has almost 10 years and a couple of first round wins to show for it. He had his shot. This last season was his shot. He gambled, it didn't work out. That happens. I don't see why he should keep his job, though. Is there a 32 year old free agent he has to outbid everyone on or something? And why couldn't Conroy give out those stupid contracts?

To me, the goal should be to be as bad as possible next year and to take a shot at getting a high draft pick. To do this they should, again, trade off anybody over the age of 25 they can. They should be aiming to get draft picks, not players. They can take players back on bad contracts signed to term and draft picks. The goal should be to be as terrible as they can for the next three years, so they can build a band of players that mature at the same time, allowing them to take a couple of cracks at the Cup before they have to sell those guys off. 

Is there another path? Maybe. It would depend on cap space, but signing a couple of the currently available free agent wingers and the big name centre would have to be it. Not sure I see the Flames being able to pull that off. But if you lose Tkachuk and Ratboy and replace them with Kadri, Niederreiter, and Kessel or something, that might keep the Flames competitive enough. 

I guess we have another month of this "will he or won't he" drama to sit through until we find out.  

Johnny Hockey Left Because Of Trudeau's Covid Policy, Duh.

 It has been a few days since John RATBOY Gaudreau (or however it's spelled) chose to leave the Flames and sign with an american team, and people seem to still be trying to figure out why. 

Really? It's not that hard to figure out. John is married to a yankee, will have a yankee baby, and wants to raise the baby as a yankee. That's hard enough to do if he is living in the land of the Loyalists, and it's especially hard to do if (when) the Tyrant re-imposes useless lockdowns and travel restrictions. 

So his choice was re-sign in Calgary and be apart from his family for the majority of the year after the lockdowns get re-imposed (which...listen, in year 3 of the marriage he may be wishing he took that deal) or sign somewhere in the USA and just eliminate that complication completely. 

Now he is a rat because he must have known he wasn't coming back to Canada at some point before the last hour of free agency and declined to share that with the team. And if the rumours are true that he actually was negotiating with the Flames and then the Flames met all his asks and he still said no, that makes him like a super king rat. I'll be booing him when he plays here. 

But the reason he left is quite simple. He couldn't trust that Canada wouldn't go crazy again over the flu. I can't blame him for thinking that way. 

I can blame him for not being explicit to the team. It's also the teams fault for not being able to smell a rat (so to speak) and letting him get to free agency. But as to why he left? Let's not be naïve. It was the threat of border closures and travel restrictions due to hysteria over wu flu. Why people have to pretend otherwise is beyond me.