“You have to earn the right to win hockey games.”

Those words are courtesy of Phoenix Coyotes’ head coach Dave Tippett from earlier this season. Can we agree that everyone in the Coyotes organization has “earned the right to win hockey games?”

Going into the Western Conference Final, there are people who are rooting for the Coyotes because they are an example of the quintessential perseverance story that sports have thrived on for years. In the face of adversity, they’ve managed to pull together and achieve more than anyone expected. When the world doubted, their resolve only got stronger. Pick your cliché.

Disney makes movies about these kinds of stories.

The Coyotes fit the formula quite nicely. Between ownership questions that have hovered over the team for three years, losing their (perceived) best player in the offseason, and constantly being overlooked as one of the better teams in the NHL, the Coyotes organization has lived its “hockey the hard way” slogan like a badge of courage.

"“Yeah. I remember two years ago we were projected 30th, so we can’t get much lower than that!"

It’s not just the “them vs. the world” story that makes the Coyotes so interesting. At least it shouldn’t be. On a much smaller, more intimate level, these are the guys that sports fans should root for. At all levels within the organization, the team has some of the best leadership in the NHL. From GM Don Maloney, to head coach Dave Tippett, to long-time captain Shane Doan, the Coyotes have the goods. There’s no questioning who is in charge; and with their recent success, there’s no doubt that the secret sauce in Glendale was working.

But more important than the formula, each of these vital leaders is a likeable human being. Professional sports are filled will all types: from pompous to annoying; from arrogant to disconnected. Yet in Phoenix, each man showing the way at each level is the kind of individual we would all root for in real life. We’re talking about the kind of men that you’d meet, shake their hand, and walk away saying, “I hope that guy does well.”

Well, they are doing well. They’re doing very well—and it’s about damn time.

Here are a few brief insights into the three guys in Phoenix who deserve all of the success that’s coming their way.

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Even though the Phoenix Coyotes had made the playoffs in each of the last two seasons, there wasn’t a ton of confidence going into the season. When we think back, the consensus was that the Coyotes had been built around the strong goaltending of Ilya Bryzgalov and that’s what helped lead them to consecutive playoff berths. So before the season started when we had the opportunity to talk to Coyotes’ GM Don Maloney for a few minutes, there were questions whether the organization would be able to maintain the high standard they had set.

Between hockey pundits and media experts, the vast majority of opinion makers were expecting a sizable drop off for the Coyotes. What did Maloney think of the people who were expecting his team to finish in last place in the Pacific Division? How would he react to that statement?

He laughed. Then he answered with a smile:

“Yeah. I remember two years ago we were projected 30th, so we can’t get much lower than that! But you know what, that’s OK and I don’t blame them. I know everybody looks at Bryzgalov leaving and saying ‘he was the sole reason that you had the success that you did.’ But I’m not buying that. I look at Bryzgalov before he came to us and there was a lot of uncertainty to his game at that time. We were bringing him around. No disrespect to him—I think he was fantastic. But I think we’ll be better, certainly at that position [goaltender], than people might be think. And if we are, we’re going to be good.

The way I look at the season, there are three or four teams that you can legitimately say, ‘OK, they’re ahead of the pack.’ Then there’s the pack and it’s everybody else. We’ll be in the pack—and our goal is to be at the top end of the pack.”

Look at these comments and think about how the season unfolded for Mike Smith and the Coyotes. There’s a reason that Maloney is a successful GM while the rest of us (who thought the Coyotes would struggle) are just writing about the sport.

The way he responded was the perfect representation of the organization he’s helped build into a serious contender. He accepted the doubt, and calmly explained that while outsiders may not understand, he had belief that this team was built to be just as good as previous editions. He understood the strengths of his organization were still in place and that his major offseason acquisition(s) would fit right in with the plan that was already in place.

He saw something that we didn’t—and knew he had a secret that most hockey people wouldn’t understand until the regular season matured into the home stretch.

It didn’t matter if people doubted him before the season started. People would find out soon enough.

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Dave Tippett has been successful wherever he’s coached. When he was an assistant for Andy Murray with the Los Angeles Kings a decade ago, he molded the Kings into one of the best power play units in the league. (You read that right, he was coaching the offensive side of the puck). He parlayed his success as an assistant into the head coaching gig with the Stars. He did well in Dallas until Joe Nieuwendyk wanted to put his stamp on the team and fired him in favor of Marc Crawford. Tippett was unemployed for about 11 seconds before the Coyotes snatched him up and turned around their franchise.

Don't question the man about his #1 line...

But none of that is really news. If you didn’t know his past, a quick look on Wikipedia or his bio over on the Coyotes official page should help fill in any blanks. Resumes are easy to find.

It’s the kind of person and the kind of leader that Dave Tippett is that makes him so valuable to the Coyotes.

We had the opportunity to talk to Tippett earlier in the season. At the time, Ray Whitney and Shane Doan had played on the same line for a few games; despite knowing the team swears by its scoring depth, I thought it was rather clear that they had a top line (at that particular point in the season).

“You guys have your top line,” I said, “and Vrbata been more second line type, secondary scoring playing for your team…”

“Which one would be that top line?” Tippett interrupted.

“Um, where ever Doan is…” I replied.

Hall of Fame writer Eric Duhatschek chimed in: “Wherever Iginla is…”

“Oh, Ok!” Tippett said with a half smile, half smirk. “There ya go… Now I know… Just checking…”

The scene was a perfect reminder of the way Dave Tippett views his team and what he expects from all 20 guys to succeed. He politely (and professionally) continued as he explained that Radim Vrbata was an important player to the Coyotes (and deserved an all-star mention) because of the goals—and the timely goals—he’s scored over the first-half of the season. But the point had been made: “No one is more important than anyone else. We have no top line, we have no fourth line.”

Later, Tippett discussed a recent Coyotes’ victory. He could have said the same words after any of the Coyotes 42 wins this season:

“When our team plays well, the one thing you could say is that we had contributions throughout our lineup. Our goaltending was good, we defended pretty well, we got ample scoring throughout the lineup. Probably any team could say that, but our team, it’s a ‘must’ for us to be successful. Everyone has to contribute.”

Like Tippett hints at in his statement, every coach in the league would say the same thing. The difference is that when Tippett says it, I believe him.

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What kind of player is the ideal hockey player?

Undisputed leaders.

Most of us who religiously follow hockey have a few characteristics that we’d want the perfect player to embody. We’d want someone who plays hard every night. We’d want a player who can spark his team when someone on the bench needs it. We’d want a guy who leads his teammates—a guy who can inspire both on and off the ice. A guy who can hit; a guy who can score. A guy who would throw his body in front of a slapshot; a guy who would play through injuries.

We’d want a guy who puts other people’s accomplishments before his own. We’d want a guy who puts team accomplishments before his own. We’d want a guy who would do anything to help the team win.

Enter Coyotes’ captain Shane Doan.

This year, we had the opportunity to talk to someone close to the team about the Coyotes captain. While waiting in the locker room for another player to come off the ice for a another story, he pointed at Doan and said (paraphrasing):

“You see that guy over there? It all starts with him. Everything about this team, the team mentality, and all of the recent success—it all starts with him.”

He’s the kind of leader that we’d all love to follow in our everyday lives. He’s the kind of guy who is quick to take any blame; but even quicker to give any credit to those around him.

It’s hard to adequately explain how Doan lights up when he gets to talks about others. We’ve had the opportunity to talk to him about everything from Vrbata and his all-star caliber start to his first year in Winnipeg with Teemu Selanne. That latter showed that even though he’s been the undeniable face of the Phoenix Coyotes for 15 years, he still has the humility we’d all like to believe our heroes possess:

What did he say when asked about his rookie year in Winnipeg with Teem Selanne?

“Honestly, you can’t explain how nice a man he is,” Doan said. “As a rookie, as a young guy, he went out of his way to feel so comfortable. I thought, ‘he’s Teemu Selanne!’ He scored 76 goals and he was so unarming and easy to talk to. I enjoyed him a lot.”

Doan always complimentary of the other team—and always means it. Not the cliché answers. No matter what the subject, he’s always more comfortable talking about others than talking about things like his first career hat trick (and his near miss for his second in the very next home game).

Now, if you remember, Doan did not receive the greatest reception from the fans in Winnipeg. Even though he started his career in Manitoba, he also made comments about wanting to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix for the fans. The comment simultaneously endeared him to Coyotes fans and ostracized him from some Winnipeggers. It’s a situation that he easily could have soured him towards an entire fanbase.

So we asked him about the mixed reaction that he received in his first game back to Winnipeg:

“Yeah, when you’re playing, I think you’re against their team and they’re very passionate about their team,” Doan explained. “But at the same time, they’re all great fans. It was pretty cool what they did. I appreciated it. Then I really appreciated it booing too. That’s a lot of fun too.”

By the end of his answer, he had the biggest grin you can imagine. Yeah, he’s just fine with how things went down in Winnipeg.

He’s not just the player that fans can buy the jersey for next week’s game. Sure, any fan would fit right into Jobing.com Arena with a brand new Doan jersey. But even more than that, he’s the guy that a fan can buy his jersey and in 20 years, someone comes up to them and says, “That guy was awesome. I wish we had someone like him now.”

Like they said: “it all starts with him.”

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Only time will tell if these three men can take the next step in their quest for the Stanley Cup. But when we’re looking around the sports landscape for guys who are worth rooting for, the Coyotes have three guys who fit the bill.

Don Maloney, Dave Tippett, and Shane Doan all are good men who are not only good at what they do, but they’re enjoyable guys to be around. That should matter, shouldn’t it?

The types of guys who make the hockey world a better place—those are the ones who are supposed to succeed, aren’t they? They’re the ones who deserve the recognition; even though they’d never seek the acknowledgment.

Finally, the spotlight is shining on their accomplishments. It’s about damn time. All three have “earned the right to win,” and it’s about time people started taking notice. It couldn’t happen to three more deserving men.

You know how you know things are going well for a team? When they come home from a successful road trip, smoke a division rival by a 6-2 score, and the coach describes the play as “sloppy.” That’s right—the team that scored six goals and pulled away from a rival that makes its living by shutting down the opponent, and the head coach described it as sloppy.

Such is life for the Anaheim Ducks these days. The Ducks scored early and often as they racked up six goals against the reeling Phoenix Coyotes.

It’s not often that a 13th place team will get a standing ovation for the final 30 seconds of the game. But then again, it’s not normal for 13th place teams to have 6-0-1 stretches either. They’re not just winning—they’re dominating. In the seven games, the Ducks have outscored their opponents 31-13. They’ve been the highest scoring team in the NHL throughout the first month of 2012 by averaging a full four goals per game.

Not too bad for a league that has most teams averaging under 2.50 goals per game.

Still, the head coach wasn’t positively pleased with his teams overall game. When asked when he knew his team would be able to avoid complacency and would be rolling again tonight, he said: “when Corey Perry scored.” For those keeping track, Perry scored with less than four minutes left in the game.

“Quite frankly, I thought we were pretty sloppy. [I had to] bite my tongue most of the night. They missed a lot of chances and we took advantage. We had four shots in the second period, we had two goals. The chances we did have – after they scored the goal, we had a good push, a good deflection, and got a good power play goal. But I mean, it wasn’t one of those barrages where we kept coming at them and we weren’t playing like we were in Vancouver or Calgary where we were shutting teams down. I thought we were a little loose. But, I mean, I’m not complaining. We still won over a good hockey club and we scored six goals.”

Again, that’s the head coach of the winning team.

One of the huge keys to the Ducks recent run of success is the secondary scoring the team has received from players not named Getzlaf, Perry, Ryan, or Selanne. Against the Coyotes, it was the third line of Andrew Cogliano, Nick Bonino, and Jason Blake that proved to be the difference-makers for the team.

The three joined up for one of the prettier goals you’ll see this season. “It was just a pretty play of skilled NHL players. But I think the confidence part wasn’t on Cogliano, but on Bonino. Bonino, who’s getting better every game. Cogliano made a nice play to him, but corral a bullet pass and pass it back is a real tough play.”

Those are the types of plays that weren’t coming earlier in the season—from anyone. Now they’re coming from seemingly everyone.

The added scoring punch wasn’t lost on Boudreau: “[It makes] all the difference in the world,” he said. “Then the other team is talking about it. You have to at least acknowledge the fact that they’re out there. When you have a third line—earlier on, not one of them had a goal. There’s really not a thread out there. Then the fourth line, I think at one point, had one goal. So you’re basically trying to shut down two lines. If you have three lines that have been productive, then you just keep throwing them out.”

But it’s not just the third line and fourth line guys either. Over the recent run of success, the Ducks have been receiving contributions from everyone—defensemen included.

Speaking of the blueliners, “If they’re not a threat, then people don’t worry about them,” Boudreau said. “We need teams to be saying in between periods, or before the game, ‘you really gotta watch out, Cam Fowler is jumping into the play; Beauchemin is jumping into the play.’”

Anyway you cut it; things are going well in Anaheim right now. All 20 guys are playing with confidence on a given night – the stars, the secondary guys, the defensemen, and the goaltenders.

Just imagine what they could do on a night when they weren’t sloppy?

Scoring a hat trick is a big deal. So why do we say that Shane Doan “finally” scored a hat trick in the headline? Because in Doan’s case, it took him 1,161 career NHL games to score three goals in a single game—the most in league history. For those keeping track, those would be his 306th, 307th, and 308th goals of his career. It’s about time man.

Anyone around the team will tell you that it couldn’t have happened to a better guy. In a league that that reveres the title of “captain,” Doan has been one of the best captains of the last decade. His leadership is visible on the ice and on the bench; but it’s just as important in the locker room and on charter airplanes. He’s the unquestioned leader of a team that has repeatedly surprised the harshest of critics over the last two seasons. If you ask some people around the team, they’ll tell you that the secret to the Coyotes success is #19.

This is how the man celebrated his first career hat trick...

While preparing for a quick interview, I overheard someone say, “it all starts with that guy right there,” pointing at a cooperative Doan.

We always hear about how a team has a tendency to take on the personality of its leaders. Sometimes that means the team will take on the personality of an iron-fisted coach. Sometimes that means a squad will perform in the mold of an outspoken general manager. But ideally, a team will learn from one of their own—from a guy that sets an example in the room, on the bench, and on the ice.

In Doan’s case, the “leading by example” thing goes far behind the playing surface. He is one of the most cooperative, well-spoken, understanding guys that I’ve encountered in the entire NHL. He takes his time when answering any question and pauses to make sure he gives the best answer possible. And there are some guys that you just trust their honesty when they answer questions. Doan is one of those guys.

His reaction to the third goal of the hat trick was quintessential Doan. After netting his first hat trick in almost 16 years, he looked at the opposing netminder and actually said “sorry.” He was sorry because he tacked on a meaningless goal with 0.1 second left of a 5-1 blowout. After the game, the humility continued:

“I knew I wasn’t a lock to get it, and then the puck kept coming to me. They kept trying to find me. There was chance after chance. …It was getting embarrassing.” –Shane Doan (via Arizona Republic)

I, for one, am happy that he finally scored his first career hat trick. If for no other reason, it gave me an excuse to write this story.

Here’s a cold, hard fact that anyone who has ever had a job clearly understands: things get messy when someone is fired.

At the end of the day, management decides that it’s best to remove someone from the office because things would be better if someone else was doing their job. Think about how tough that decision can be for management. Think about how tough it can be if you are the person that is being removed. Your employer thinks the office would be a better, more productive place if you weren’t there.

Reality bites.

As usual, hockey has a way of mirroring real life. Coaching changes are usually messy. There is no one, magic bullet that explains all of the reasons that a leader was forced onto his own sword. Instead, it’s usually some toxic elixir that combines losses, doubt, unrealized expectations, and underperformance. It’s like asking a player why the team is struggling: if they knew what was wrong, they’d do something to fix it.

Just like in our everyday lives, telling (or hearing) that someone is fired is never easy. Los Angeles Kings GM Dean Lombardi explained that things weren’t any easier when he was firing his coach of the past three seasons, Terry Murray: “If this was just a business relationship… we always use the cliche, `This is business.’ But this was more than business. This goes beyond that. It’s always difficult even if you’re using the business approach. There’s a very good man here and nobody likes to be the bearer of this type of news.’’

Again, reality bites.

Why was Terry Murray fired?

It’s pretty simple—the Kings are sitting in 12th place in the Western Conference and they’re the lowest scoring team in the league. People on the opposite coast, in different time zones, and in the 300 level will throw out things like “losing the room” or “needing a new voice.” There are a time and place for each of those arguments when a coach is fired—but now is not the time and Los Angeles is not the place. This season the Kings’ management, fans, and ownership expected to win. And they expected to win a lot. When the wins weren’t piling up like most people thought they should be, it was only a matter of time before changes headed the Kings way.

Dean Lombardi said as much in his conference call:

“…I think it’s safe to say that with the expectations this year it becomes more result orientated. This goes back to—every situation is different and the challenge for a coach as well as players, when you have expectations, it’s driven more to results. It’s harder, at times, to look for those victories within losses. That’s just the state of the franchise right now. You could look for more of those things 3 years ago. But we’re trying to push to the next level. And it isn’t easy.

It’s a lot easier playing with the house’s money… I do think we’re at the stage of the franchise where you’re going to be judged on wins and losses and playoff rounds. And that’s where you strive to be. It’s a lot easier when there are no expectations and with every win you can get a parade. We’re not there right now, so it comes down to wins and losses.”

When a team isn’t performing and the GM feels like a change needs to be made, they have two choices. They can either go out and make a major trade to shake things up or make a head coaching move. With the acquisition of Dustin Penner at the deadline last season, the trade for Mike Richards in the offseason, and the Simon Gagne signing during free agency, the organization has made a commitment to bring in players that are proven scorers to help push the team from “playoff contender” to “Stanley Cup contender.”

Where are the goals? I'm pretty sure they're hidden right next to the wins...

When the team was underachieving, Lombardi felt that there was only one way to go.

It’s important to note that Lombardi must believe in the team or he would have made some kind of change to the roster. (No, waiving Ethan Moreau doesn’t count.) But Ducks GM Bob Murray summed it up only a couple of weeks ago in Anaheim when he made the decision to make a coaching change of his own: “If I didn’t believe that they could do it, I would have gone a totally different direction and blown things up and started all over.”

But why? Why have the Kings struggled with this roster this season? Is it the coach’s system? For every fan that complains that the Kings are the worst scoring team in the league, they need to acknowledge the fact that the Kings have been one of the best defensive teams in the league over the last handful of years. This year is no different.

The common line of thinking is that offensive can be effected by systems, but by and large scoring is created by talent. Defense? Defense is primary successful when the team buys into the coaches strategy and gives incredible effort. A guy like Alex Semin can wake up and score 30 goals in his sleep. But to have a team that keeps the puck out of the net for three consecutive years, there needs to be a certain level of heart, dedication, and passion from the players willing to sacrifice for the team.  From that point of view, the Kings are as good as they’ve ever been.

Lost his job, but never lost the team

Here’s the tough part for Terry Murray—he hadn’t lost the team. Over and over, we hear about how a coach has “lost the team” and someone new needs to come in to gather the troops with a newfound focus. That’s not the case in the Kings locker room. As early as last week, guys like Kopitar and Williams said they believed that they could come back from a deficit. Confidence is a huge part of today’s NHL; and the team believed that they could make a comeback. That’s not the sign of a team that had lost all hope.

The players have been playing with just as much dedication and passion for Terry Murray than they have for the last three seasons. Players that give up on their coach wouldn’t be willing to make those kinds of sacrifices.

Offensively, on the other hand, the Kings have been a dumpster fire for the better part of two months. Over the last week, the team knew they needed to score more goals and it was obvious that certain guys were gripping their sticks a little tighter than usual. Will coaching change the fates of each and every one of the struggling offensive players? Fans and the GM are betting on it.

But make no mistake about it. The Kings didn’t quit on this coach. The teams focus was always there—even until the bitter end.

I can’t say the same for the coach in Anaheim. That was a case of a team that had tuned out their coach and was ready to hear a new voice. Both Randy Carlyle and Terry Murray are good, successful NHL coaches, but both were fired for different reasons. Even though the losses were piling up for the Ducks, the main reason that Carlyle was fired was because the GM felt that the team had given up on the coach. He wasn’t alone in his assessment.

Some of us were there in the locker room. We were there at practice. We saw the games. We know what a team looks like when they quit on their coach because we just saw it in Anaheim two weeks ago.

Murray this week: “We’re in good shape.”

In Los Angeles, no one around the organization thinks the team quit on the coach. The only problem—and it’s a huge problem—is that they weren’t winning enough. Just last week, I asked Terry Murray how he felt about the team’s performance through the first third of the season with the increased expectations:

Let's run the play where we score a goal at the end...

“I think we’re in pretty good shape,” Murray shared. “I think we’re in good shape. We made a lot of changes over the year. We brought in new players, veteran players and it takes them time. We were hoping that Scott Parse would be able to come in and really contribute to the team and that broke down. He’s out and probably done for the year. Penner’s starting to get going; he’s been through a lot through the summer time (and) getting himself to the level that we want. [He’s had] a couple of injuries right from the start—groin injuries and he broke his hand, so there’s a lot of that happening. Doughty comes in late to training camp, or after the training camp, misses the early part. There have been a lot of things, and I think that overall the team’s come through with an incredible amount of confidence. We’re in pretty good shape.”

Unfortunately for Murray, it will be another coach reaping the benefits of all the early season character building. He continued:

“You want to go back through statistics; we’re only a couple of points behind last year’s pace at this time. We’re actually better on the goals against [average] at this time—we’re four less than we were at this time, and we’re fourth in the league in goals against overall this year. Pretty good.”

After the offseason moves (and expenditures) the Kings made this summer, “pretty good” isn’t going to get it done. When a team is shooting for the NHL’s elite at the beginning of the season and they’re swimming in mediocre waters after a third of the season, heads are likely to roll:

“Every franchise, don’t forget, has different levels of expectations,” Lombardi said from Boston. “This team came in with a very high level of expectation, so that puts a different perspective in your room—particularly when you’ve got younger players leading that group. So it’s unique here, in the sense that you have the youngest core in the league and you’re counting on these young players. But again, these established players have to step up here.”

Here’s the part that should be a little more worrisome for fans in Los Angeles. There’s no doubt that the pressure of expectations are weighing on everyone in the organization. But when those pressures start dictating personnel moves that the team normally wouldn’t make—there’s a problem. Firing Terry Murray may very well have been the right move at the right time for the Kings, yet Dean Lombardi repeatedly insisted on Monday that it was a move that he didn’t want to make.

Is it a move in response to the expectations? Or is it a move out of desperation? It’s a difficult question that only Dean Lombardi knows the answer to.

Ultimately, most people around the team believe that the blame for the mediocre start lies at the feet of the 25 men in the locker room. According to reports, the GM blasted the team for forcing his hand with their porous play through 29 games. In a letter to fans, Lombardi said: “I told the players that the coach, who works as hard as any coach I have been around, paid the price and that they are accountable.”

Hard work isn’t the issue right now. The team is working as hard as they’ll work for new coach that may lead the team in the future. Murray admitted only a few days that the team wasn’t executing the simple plays for a full 60 minutes and the mistakes were costing the team. And of course, scoring goals is the biggest issue.

The next step is for the Kings to show that they are, in fact, the team that many people expected when they were making their preseason predictions. Is this the type of team that can make the playoffs, win a few rounds and compete with the Blackhawks, Sharks, Canucks, and Red Wings of the Western Conference? Are they capable of becoming that type of team with a new coach that can squeeze a few more goals out of the collective sticks in that locker room? Well, that’s exactly why Lombardi made the move:

“To answer your question, I think every situation is unique, but why else, in any sport, would you make this change unless you’re hoping for improvement?”

Whoever takes over the reins, the mandate is improvement. A point here, a victory there won’t get it done either. This is a team that is built to win. The boss has spoken and he expects better results—now. Like the office politics that we’re all used to, he thinks the group of individuals will thrive under new leadership. Murray walked the plank for the group’s inefficiency.

Now that he’s gone, it’s up to the rest of the guys to show that things will get better.

Rebuilding.  It’s an awful word to consider, especially when it’s a professional sports franchise that is hell bent on winning games and isn’t worrying about the bottom line.  Rebuilding takes a serious financial commitment, incredible faith and patience from the fanbase, and a little bit of luck (because there is no real guarantee that any sort of rebuilding process will be successful).  In the case of the Calgary Flames, they have much in terms of those three elements.  It’s exactly why all of the talk of trading Jarome Iginla (while he still has another full year on his contract) comes across as static noise to the team’s management.

Being a resident of the City of Calgary and also not being a Flames supporter, I take a step back and try to reason with what is going on with the club from time to time.  More importantly, I try to reason through the lens of all the fans that are around and how they feel with what is going on.  It’s not really hard to get a pulse of how the city feels about their Flames.  It is generally written all over the faces of the true supporters, the ranting and ravings of the casual fans, and the elevated levels of indifference from the corporate seat holders who are trying to show their clients a good time in the lower bowl of the Saddledome.  Things are not well here, but all three levels of fans hinge on Jarome Iginla.  Whether he stays or he goes and whether they want him or not.

This is where the fanbase faith is a real sticking point.

The Flames management knows that they cannot trade Iginla (or Miikka Kiprusoff for that matter) because they are the faces of the franchise. They are the players that everyone in the city pins their playoff hopes to.  As long as Iginla keeps smiling for the media and saying how much he wants to win a Cup in Calgary, the faith will remain on the better side of the middle. Most importantly for the organization, the Saddledome will keep selling tickets. While players like Olli Jokinen, Matt Stajan and Jay Bouwmeester continue to take a kicking for their lack of consistency from game to game, the fans truly need a player that can carry the whole city on their shoulders. Iginla has been that man in Calgary for more than a decade.

There is an element of naivety to the shouts from the casual fans that want to see Jarome Iginla traded away from Calgary to start the rebuilding process right now. It’s as if there is a belief that trading the captain away will make for a quick process to turn this club around.  As if there is going to be a team that is willing to trade their superstar straight-up to make the Flames better or change the atmosphere of the club.  It is far more likely that if/when Iginla gets dealt out of Calgary, it will be a deadline deal in 2013 to a team that wants to limit their risk with a future unresticted free agent forward. It’ll be a team looking to win a Stanley Cup that is willing to take his big price tag out of town.  In return, the Flames would possibly get one roster player, a good prospect, and a number of good to reasonable draft picks. It would give the Flames a boost in the proper way to rebuild this team.

No pressure Sven...

I cannot see Iginla getting moved this year. The Flames would likely get an underachieving, overpaid star in a straight salary swap if they were to move him this season. It would possibly be a player that would keep the team in the conversation for sneaking into the playoffs this season, but also likely an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. It would give Calgary the cap flexibility to do something more in the off-season and maybe a mid-round pick for their trouble.

There has to be a proper time to strike when the iron is hot. Here and now isn’t that time because the market isn’t hot for Iginla… yet.

The Flames dropping the bomb on this roster this season could be a disaster from a financial standpoint. If they conceded that the team can not succeed as currently constructed and rebuilding for the future is the best way to go, the fickle fanbase (both individual and corporate) will be more likely to take their money elsewhere from the Saddledome.

I’m not saying 100% of fans because there are a lot of real hockey in Calgary that can’t get their hands on tickets. Whether they are winning or losing, there will be those that will still support the ‘C of Red’ until the end of days.

It’s the big money that the team really worries about.  The casual fan that doesn’t come to a game that often, buys a jersey during their visit for a souvenir or the corporate groups that entertain their clients.  Those are the ones that may feel they are not getting good value for some very steep ticket prices. If the team doesn’t have anyone to pins their hopes to, well, forget about it.  It will take its toll on the Flames organization, possibly a pretty good hit to the coffers of the ownership group to which the faith in their management would likely be tested.

Call scouting and drafting what you will. Skill. Luck. A combination of both?  Historically speaking, the Flames have not had a great deal of either, but there has been some glimmers of hope with the draft picks they have been able to sneak onto the draft floors with over the past couple of seasons. The future of the Flames could very well depend on what has happened in Minnesota and Los Angeles over the last two drafts (and what is going to happen in Pittsburgh in 2012 and beyond).  If the Calgary Flames make any deals for draft picks or prospects for potential free agents at the trade deadline, they will have to lean heavily on their scouting department to find some diamonds in the rough in the junior ranks or players with skill that NHL clubs have given up on. They’ll hope that any potential prospects can adapt to the system that is in place by the current coaching staff, making their transition into the club easier and then translating that into wins on the ice.  Even if the team isn’t torn down and sold for parts, the management team is still going to have to be strong in the player development department since a lot of the good young players are hard to come by without high draft picks and/or lots of cap space.

If the Flames can find a talented fresh face that they can turn into the face of their franchise (someone the whole city can fall in love with and management can keep around for the long-term), there would be much less postpartum depression when they eventually have to say goodbye to the old era and great years gone by.  Calgary is certainly not alone when it comes to strong ties to hockey nostalgia in Canada, but if they can successfully do the ol’ switcheroo between Iginla and Kiprusoff to a couple of new young bucks, they could be alright.

Boy, I’d sure hate to be Sven Baertschi right about now, he’s right in the crosshairs for that job with an incredible junior season on the go for him in the WHL.  That is going to be a lot of pressure, when he walks in for training camp next season.

Trying to replace a legend always is.