Andrei Taratukhin recently elaborated on his reasons for bolting back to Russia this summer.
Russian link here.
Relevent bits:
I wanted, of course, to play in NHL, but there was no hundred per-cent guarantee that I would remain in "Calgary". I have a wife, two children - it is hard to leave them constantly. The past season was very difficult due to problems with the visas. At first I didn’t get to see my children together, only separately. I didn’t get to see my daughter for the first time until she was already 6 months old! That’s no way to live. Plus, in Calgary there are now five key centers with the one-way contracts, and then me – on a two way contract. It could be assumed that the guys on one way deal would be more likely to be chosen for the team. To me they said there was a lot of movement at center. Also proposals from UFA’s. The team has good leadership, and is trying to win a championship. Good players, and a good coach who has taught me a lot. Even my contract was good. But I must have some stability. They conferred with family, and wife said: "give to remain here"!
I passed summer training camp with Calgary. And then they said to me that one, can, two players of farm club will remain with the Flames. And only when rumors started that I would remain in Russia, did the statements of Calgary management appear. They did begin to indicate in the press that I was one of the most promising rookies. - you do understand? They began to fuss only after I had left. What it was to be expected. We did begin conversation from the fact that none of the rookies made the NHL.
- Translation courtesy of Babel and poster 'Flashpoint' on Calgarypuck.com
A family man's preference for his home country is expected and predictable. The pertinent info for Flames fans is contained in the hilighted portion: Andrei's perception that his chances of making the team were slim echoes something I wrote back around the time his defection from the Flames was announced:
Taratukhin's possible flight is apropos to my previous post detailing my annoyance with the Wayne Primeau signing and Matt's recent post on the loss Giordano: Sutter's penchant for filling the roster with veterans over rookies, despite the fact the young players in question are a.) cheaper and b.) likely to outperform (or at least provide greater cap value than) the incumbent vet is proving to be a damaging strategy. The result is the draining of future assets as they bolt due to the perception that there is no room for them on the roster.
This is not an encouraging trend, to say the least.
At the time, I was unsure whether Taratukhin left over purely monetary concerns, but his flight combined with the needless signings of Nilson and Primeau (not to mention a smiliar loss of Giordano) raised alarm bells. This interview further validates my theory.
Some may see this as the Sour Grapes whining of a spurned Prima Donna. And that might well be true to an extent. But one only need look over his current Flames roster, or his acquisitions and signings over the last few years, to see that Sutter (and therefore, Flames organization) values veteran skaters to young players. Experience before exuberance. Naturally this is true of every GM to an extent...proven performance being a better bet than mere potential. But Sutter has seemingly pursued this preference to a damaging degree. Marginal NHLers such as Zyuzin, Amonte, Friesen, McCarty and recently Eriksson, Primeau, Nilson, Mark Smith and (potentially) Aucoin have taken their turn in Flames colors, many at the expense of a younger, cheaper, potentially more productive players in their stead.
Calgary currently has two players below the age of 25 on the roster - back-up Curtis McElhinney (24) and Dion Phaneuf (22). Sophomore David Moss is 25 and made the team last year thanks to a perfect storm of circumstances: strong showing in the AHL, plus Kobasew being ineffective and injured, plus McCarty being injured, plus Amonte being ineffective plus scoring in his first 3 games as a call-up. A lot of injuries and suck from the incumbents AND good AHL numbers AND a healthy dose of the Primacy Effect (also known as a "good first impression") had to conspire to get Moss up to the bigs. That's a lot of good breaks.
Finally, Warren Peters, who managed to make the club out of training camp (but was a healthy scratch last night), is also 25.
Sutter has done some good things for the club's developmental system since he took over. He re-stocked a prospect cupboard that was almost completely bare. He's established a strong AHL team. He's collected some decent players from later in the draft. But the whole thing looks to be stagnating thanks to a sort of glass ceiling erected above the kids heads. Prospects not named "Dion Phaneuf" are met with a sort of guarded ambivalence about their position in the organization, even if their performance seems to indicate they could contribute at the NHL level if actually afforded the opportunity (see: Mark Giordano).
Instead, veteran journeymen are used to plug roster holes, despite boasting higher price-tags and minimal ability. Ask yourself: why does Wayne Primeau deserve a 3 year, one-way, multi-million dollar contract? Why is he preferable to say, Boyd, Taratukhin or even Warren Peters? Sure, he has a bunch more experience, but many, many years in the NHL has proven one thing as evidenced by a glance at his stats-line: he's a mediocore player. At best. Same with Mark Smith and arguably Marcus Nilson, who was also re-signed this summer even though he was all sorts of brutal last year. And don't get me started on the 2 year, $3M Eriksson contract: a mistake that was stamped in the exact same footprint as the Zyuzin gaffe the previous year.
Take a look at a number of "contenders" rosters and register the contrast between their developmental policy and Calgary's...
- The San Jose Sharks have 8 players 24 years old or younger on their starting roster. And only one of them (Patzold) is a rookie. At least 3 of them are already counted on to be difference makers for the squad (Michalek, Carle, Vlasic).
- The Detroit Red Wings, an admittedly old team with lots of established vets, has two youngsters below 24 (Hudler, Filpula) on their roster, with Kopecky (25) and Brett Lebda (25) and Kronvall (26) and Henrik Zetterberg (26) just beyond the mark. All homegrown Red Wings players.
- The Anaheim Ducks won the Stanely cup last year with 21 year olds Getzlaf and Perry playing major roles as well as Dustin Penner (24) and Travis Moen (24). You can add Bobby Ryan (20) and Ryan Carter (23) to the mix for them this season.
- The Ottawa Senators are favored to be the best team in the East after making it to the cup finals last year. Their roster includes: Nick Foligno (18), Josh Hennessy (20), Patrick Eaves (23), Antoine Vermette (24), Jason Spezza (24), Andrej Meszaros (21) and Ray emery (24).
Clearly, not all these guys are rookies...but they were only a short-time ago. The organizations in question obviously made concerted efforts to develop their pups at an NHL level. They didn't sign doddering vets or marginal grinders when it was clear that a youngster could replace those contributions AND take a few valuable steps forward. They didn't bury them behind 30 year-olds with one-way contracts...
This is not a grave indictment of Sutter. I've really liked many of things he's done as a GM here in Calgary. But some cracks are beginning to form in the veneer of "hockey genius" that coats his tenure here. Rookies are fleeing and the payroll is soaring. One wonders how much currency remains from the '04 play-off run and whether it will be enough to sustain his reign should this season end up playing out like the last one.
