‘I think we’re going to have a team that is going to build aggressively over the next three years,’ said Robert Hayes, the new president and CEO of CSEC
Ideally, both of these projects will be completed around the same time.
After Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony, construction is officially underway on Calgary’s new downtown event centre — a state-of-the-art arena that will be known as Scotia Place, seat 18,400 fans for Flames games and other sporting spectacles and feature a food hall and other restaurant options that will be accessible both for event-goers and to the general public.
Meanwhile, the Flames’ hockey operations staffers are busy trying to build a contender.
The goal is that the rink, which will be located about two blocks north of the Saddledome, will be ready for the start of the 2027-28 NHL campaign. Question is, can this retooling team — with Matt Coronato and Connor Zary filling the net, Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz running the power-play units, Dustin Wolf tending the twine and Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar still making significant contributions as savvy veterans — be poised to win playoff games, and playoff series, by that same date?
That would be ideal, wouldn’t it?
Does that mean that September 2027 is circled on the calendar as a competitive target, too? Is this an official gotta-be-good-by timeline?
“I wouldn’t want to put words in the mouths of Don Maloney and Craig Conroy. They run the hockey operations,” said Hayes, who only started at the Saddledome about seven weeks ago. “I sat in on a three-hour meeting with them and they have a great strategy in place. It’s well thought out with respect to how they’re building the team. They’re going to stick to that strategy and I have every confidence that it’s going to be a very good, competitive team as we move forward.
“I won’t promise when we’re going to win the Stanley Cup, but I think we’re going to be a very good team moving forward.”
Based on the initial design renderings, released Monday, there will be room in the rafters at Scotia Place for another Stanley Cup banner.
That is, it goes without saying, the ultimate goal.
Whether you call it a rebuild, a retool, a youth movement or whatever, Flames fans have embraced this ongoing roster overhaul. There’s been no pouting as Conroy has traded away a long list of previous crowd faves — guys like Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, Jacob Markstrom and Chris Tanev — in recent months in exchange for future assets.
There’s excitement about the up-and-comers, whether they’re already working on their big-league resumes or are among the latest additions to the prospect pool.
There’s now going to be a whole lot of buzz about the building they will eventually call home. Monday’s sod-turning was preceded by a blessing and prayer ceremony with Indigenous elders and leaders.
On the outside, Scotia Place will emulate a home fire. Inside, they’ve borrowed some of the best features from Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, where a steep bowl ensures that everybody feels like they’re right on top of the action.
As Bill Johnson, a representative of global design firm HOK, promised at Monday’s reveal: “It’s going to be like playing into a wall of people. I think we’re going to give the Flames an enormous competitive advantage.”
The plans for this 10-acre parcel also include an underground community rink, which will double as a practice facility for the Flames, Wranglers and Hitmen and as a venue for minor sports.
“It’s going to be the envy of any city in the country, I think,” Hayes said. “If people are half as excited as I am about what the future looks like, we’re going to be in a really good space.”
“I wish they could hit the fast-forward button and put us in there next year,” added Flames coach Ryan Huska, sounding Monday like a guy who’d be happy to help with the shovelling. “I love the Saddledome. I think there’s so much character to it and we’re trying to make it a real hard place to play for the last number of years that we’re in there. But you do look forward to what’s coming down the pipe. Because to me, that looks like a very special building. It’d be a great place to work.”
And a great place to win.
Ideally, these two projects can coincide.
Of the design renderings shared Monday, there was one in particular that struck Hayes. It shows hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pedestrians on the streets that surround Scotia Place. The outdoor bar, overlooking the entry plaza, is packed. There’s no sign of toques or scarves, so if this a hockey game, it must be sometime in June.
“What I picture is Round 4, Stanley Cup final, and those streets are shut down because it’s such a bustling scene that you see,” Hayes beamed. “That’s the dream.”