Spector on Flames: Getting it wrong in Calgary

The on-line headline in the Calgary Herald tells the entire story: “Cammalleri deal shows Flames taking run at playoffs.”

The sub-head should have been: “Future? What future? Flames will deal with that when it gets here.”

Another Band-Aid trade, another second-rounder out the door, another prospect given up on. And the Calgary Flames find themselves marginally better this morning.

Yeehaw.

Is there a fan in Calgary who can look in the mirror today, even after clearly getting the best player in their deal with the Montreal Canadiens, and say the Flames have a prayer of beating the Vancouver Canucks in a seven-game series in Round 1 of the playoffs?

Because that is the measuring stick here, folks. Sure, Calgary will beat the rebuilding Edmonton Oilers by two goals instead of one for a while longer, with a rejuvenated Michael Cammalleri in the lineup. But it’s not about beating the Edmonton Oilers, folks.

The facts are, a Flames fan would trade rosters with the St. Louis Blues in a heartbeat, and the Blues are still a second-tier team in the West.

It’s about winning a Stanley Cup. And when your goalie is your best player most nights at age 35, and your leading scorer is 34 and can no longer carry your team the way he once did, does this trade really bring a Stanley Cup any closer in Calgary?

Or are we stuck in the right now, a futile chase for a few playoff dates in April?

“Oh, absolutely. This isn’t something that’s done that’s future-looking,” Flames general manager Jay Feaster told reporters in Calgary during the first intermission of a 1-0 OT win on home ice over the 29th- place Anaheim Ducks.

“We want to win right now. We want to be a playoff team,” Feaster said. “In terms of our playoff push, we think this is a real jump-start.”

We’re fans of Jay Feaster, honestly. He’s sharp and honest, and he’s always been very fair to me. But we can’t put it any other way: he’s chasing his tail now in Calgary.

Look: there is no question that Feaster got the best player in the Cammalleri-for-Rene Bourque trade. Cammalleri enjoyed the best year of his career during his previous one-year stop in Calgary, where he had 39-43-82 back in 2008-09, and hopefully he finds that level again. He’s a quality player and a good man, with a fire in his belly that burns far, far brighter than Bourque’s.

But Feaster also traded a second-round pick for a fifth-rounder, dealt away a kid named Patrick Holland who just turned 20 and has 57 points in 40 WHL games this season, and burned nearly $3 million more in cap space for the next two seasons.

It is the ultimate “right now” deal for a team that should be thinking seriously about its future. Calgary is one of only nine National Hockey League clubs with an average age of greater than 28 years, and its six leading scorers on the farm in Abbotsford — topped by 30-year-old Krys Kolanos — average over 27 years of age.

Feaster is officially caught up in the vortex of selling off tomorrow for today. Caught up in the futility of shooting for the Brad Richards’ of the world, and when that doesn’t work signing Alex Tanguay to a ridiculous five-year deal that pays him through age 36.

It’s being reported that the second-round pick he dealt to Montreal leaves Calgary without a second-rounder in each of the next two years. In the post-lockout NHL, we are sorry to report that that approach has been proven not to work.

“If we’re going to make a run here in the second half, we need the powerplay to be very good,” Feaster said. “From our perspective, (Cammalleri) is a guy who needs a change of scenery right now.”

But, really. If he plays lights out hockey from Saturday until the end of the season, and the Flames make the playoffs, what then?

Is Calgary in the same stratosphere as Vancouver? As Chicago? As San Jose? As Detroit?

Like, what’s the goal here? To perhaps make the playoffs as a mega-long shot, then pray that everything comes up sevens in April and May?

Or to build something with longevity?

We know: There are some contracts up after this season. Some cap room will open up. That means Feaster can build a winner through free agency, that all-or-nothing process where you get to sign over-priced, long-term deals with older players. Like the one Tanguay got.

It doesn’t work that way anymore, Calgary. When will someone in that organization figure it out?