Connor McDavid Has Officially Ended The Calgary Flames, Now Matthew Tkachuk Is On The Way Out
The Calgary Flames got their bare butt, balls, and back spanked by Connor McDavid and the Oilers in the 2nd round of the playoffs this year. A gentleman's sweep for 97 and the boys.
So now you have to take a good, long look at the Flames. They haven't made it past the 2nd round of the playoffs since Jarome Iginla brought the squad to the Cup Final in 04. They've won the Pacific Division twice in the past 4 years. They lost in 5 games to Colorado in the first round of the 2019 Playoffs. And then obviously we all know how their playoff run ended this year.
Calgary has been building something over the past few years. They've been trending upwards and becoming one of the better teams in the league. But they're not the best team in the league. They're not the best team in the Western Conference. Hell, they're not even the best team in Alberta. So if the team isn't even the best team in their own province, well then what's the point of having these superstars stay in Calgary?
Full disclosure, I've never been to Calgary. So I can't say this with complete and total certainty. But I have to imagine that for the most part, it fucking blows. I'm sure Stampede is a ton of fun and maybe the summers are decent. But for the most part, I have to assume it sucks to live in Calgary. Especially over the past few years during the pandemic. So the lifestyle is miserable and then these guys are supposed to just suit up every year for Connor McDavid to take a massive shit on their chest on the way out? Yeah no thanks. No wonder Johnny Hockey pretty much said he'd play literally anywhere else. No wonder Matthew Tkachuk is ready to get out. Connor McDavid has checkmate on the Battle of Alberta.
It sucks because the BoA has been killer the past few years. Some of the best games of the year have been between Calgary and Edmonton. But no Gaudreau? No Tkachuk? It's time for a total rebuild in Calgary. It already took them like 10 years to get to the point they were at. Bedard could certainly kickstart that rebuild timetable. But the Flyers and Blackhawks are already doing everything they can to be the worst teams in the league next year, so good luck to the Flames on sucking harder than either of those two.