With the season officially over, most Flames fans and media pundits are looking for answers. Why did the Flames miss the playoffs? In yesterday’s press conference, Darryl Sutter auspiciously blamed the team’s home record, but most people who follow the team will say it was their inability to score goals.
The Calgary Flames finished dead last in the league in goal scoring, managing only 204 tallies in 82 games. To me, this seems to be the problem. The home record Sutter points to is a result of only scoring 204 goals, not the cause to missing the playoffs. With an obviously scoring-challenged group, the team will need to make changes next year if they are to contend again in the Western Conference. Listening to the Fan960’s Overtime show the past few days, which allows fans to vent their frustration and anger, I’ve heard an alarming number of calls for Iginla to be traded. I feel this would be the worst possible move the team could make, and if it happened, the playoffs could be a long, long ways off.
The idea most people have when they suggest trading Iginla, is that he’s on the decline from his most productive years, and now is the time to trade him, while he still holds some value. Perhaps a deal could be worked out where the Flames could secure a couple of early picks in the upcoming draft. Those drafted players, it would be hoped, could later blossom into that same offensive machine that Iginla did after being traded for Joe Nieuwendyk in 1995.
The problem of course is that chances are, it wouldn’t work out. Iginla turned out to be one of the top five players of the past fifteen years, but how many times have highly touted prospects fallen short? By moving Iginla, the team trades away its only real offensive talent, making their goal scoring problem even bigger next year. In a best case scenario, the Flames would secure a high draft pick, who after one or two years, (more likely three or four) turns into a goal scoring machine that the team could build on in the future. In the worst case scenario, the draft picks turn into Rico Fata’s, and the Flames are left with nothing, while their offensive struggles continue. So, if the draft picks did work out, the team would still need to suffer through a couple of seasons where they miss the playoffs and really have no chance of accomplishing anything each year. (Think Edmonton Oilers.)
The other problem with trading Iginla, is the team would lose the face of the franchise; their identity. Jarome Iginla has been the Calgary Flames for the better part of a decade, and is without a doubt the most highly recognized player on the team. Trading your only real marquee player away (Kiprusoff is great, but could never be the face of the franchise), would be like taking out the engine in a boat, and then asking the remaining players to start rowing. This is the same situation the Flames found themselves in after trading away Fleury in 1998. Suddenly, the team didn’t have anybody to rely on or anybody to guide them. The team was a rudderless ship, floating through non-playoff waters for several years. It wasn’t until Iginla began to develop into the player he is today, that the team was able to pull itself out of their seven-year funk, and return to the postseason.
Lastly is Iginla’s relationship with the fans and the people of Calgary. Easily the most beloved Flame since Fleury, and probably more beloved than he ever was, Iginla is as important to the city as he is to the team. There would be a public backlash from an Iginla trade, when people realize that the most famous person in the city, an unofficial ambassador for Calgary who’s involved with the community, has been traded away for a couple of draft picks.
Yes, the team needs some draft picks that aren’t in the 700th round, but there are 20 other players who can be traded that wouldn’t affect the team in anyway. Iginla is the only player, who being traded would have a profound effect on the team, and most likely not a positive one. He shouldn’t be traded away simply because he can be traded away. Much like the Oilers trading Ryan Smyth in 2007, this move could send the Flames into a long, downward spiral that most fans aren’t interested in seeing happen.
No comments:
Post a Comment