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Calgary Flames Official Thread

Agreed agreed agreed.
I'm kind of indifferent if they want to try out Ryan, but I'm pretty done with handing older, potentially post-prime players $4.5M, 4 year contracts. I'd say 2 year max, maybe $1-2M if that. (I think he had a $600,000 salary in Carolina, according to CapFriendly).
Just looked up Grabner, seems ... interesting. 25G in 59 games this past season, but has a few absolute flop years too ... (9G, 80 games in 2015-16) If we can get him, like you said, for 1 year and hope that's his good year, he seems like a scoring-heavy guy.
Vanek seems okay too, aged 34 ... but been bounced around quite a bit and still seems to perform well no matter where he is.
I'd still prefer we go for Marner, JVR, someone younger/more consistent, but if these guys are going to give us the scoring depth we need, i'll take it.

I'm checking the news looking for anything new a few times per day these days, supposedly there's still some more "big changes" to come. Any guesses on what that could be?
 
I've been reading pretty ravenously too. I feel like they can't be done. We still need some scoring help.

There's a rumour that the team brass and Brian McGrattan were spotted having dinner with Ryan Reaves. I'm not sure why the team feels like they might need a specialized pugilist, but it appears they're really thinking hard about it. The best reason I can think of is that some fighters are well regarded in the locker room. Maybe it's about upping the commitment level than it is about bludgeoning people? The team has a reputation for not being that tough, but I'd rather they rectify that by going for guys who are more complete players than a guy like Reaves who is just a fighter.

EDIT: Flamesnation did another UFA player profile on Grabner. It highlights to connections between Grabner, Ryan and Peters in Spokane. Sounds like Grabner is basically a powerplay specialist. Which under normal circumstances might be more of a red flag, but let's face it our powerplay stunk out loud last year. If all he does is come in and convert on the powerplay, that'd hardly be the end of the world.
 
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Yeah, Grabner seems kind of intriguing, his inconsistency between seasons kind of scares me though.
I kind of get them talking to Reaves, Smith was even complaining about our lack of fighters after that Oilers game that Tanner Glass had to go and get all beat up in. Honestly I thought with Reaves' reputation, that he'd have a higher salary (like $3M?) ... usually when you're the best in the league at something you get paid more, even if it's overpaying. Apparently his salary is closer to 1M. I'd much rather, as you said, overpower opponents with skill, but seeing that Reaves is a lot cheaper than I thought he would be I wouldn't HATE them if they signed him.
Only thing is, he's a right-handed shot, and our 4th line is kind of right heavy with Lazar, Hathaway, Brouwer, etc. Then again, Reaves doesn't really do much shooting anyways, I'm sure we could plop him wherever we want and he'll do his thing.
 
My money is on us bringing in Ryan (95% chance). I bet we take a good run at Tobias Rieder (50%). Of all the potential depth guys we've apparently been sniffing around he has one virtue the others don't, he's 25. Pretty much all the other names that have come up are significantly older: Grabner, Vanek, Reaves and Neal are all 30+ and JVR is 29. If you got Rieder he could be a key depth piece for much longer than any of the others. Apparently a lot of Canadian teams have interest in Rieder too, probably because we're a fairly young lot. So there's no certainty there.

EDIT: I just read over on Calgary puck that our new assistant coach Geoff Ward has coached Rieder before as a member of the German National team in the World Championships. It never hurts to have a connection.

I mentioned Neal and JVR just because they'd be the most sure fire solutions for top 6 scoring. The Flames have said anyone else they pick up, you aren't likely to buy their jersey. Which suits me just fine, those two are going to get way overpaid. I'd vastly prefer Neal of the two, but I'm so worried that his injuries are due to catch up with him soon. I worry his contract runs the risk of becoming an albatross early-on otherwise I'd say go hard on him. He's gritty and capable of scoring. JVR apparently scores much like Monahan, lots from in tight. I don't see how that adds a new dimension to the top line. Not to mention he's listed as an LW. He's not worth to us what he's bound to be asking for.

So failing Rieder, I bet it'll be Reaves or Grabner. I'd prefer Grabner for the offensive upside, but we'll see. I like your point about Smith complaining.
 
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Okay so I guess the Flames have signed Derek Ryan to a 3 year deal at $3.125M/year, and Austin Czarnik for a 2 year deal at $1.25M/year.
I guess this is some of the depth scoring we might need, with Ryan coming off a career-high 38pt season last year and Czarnik still a young guy with good AHL stats.
The thing is, these guys really don't do anything to up our physical presence, with Ryan and Czarnik being 5'11 and 5'9 respectively.

We also re-signed Dalton Prout, a defenseman we acquired from NJD when we traded Eddie Lack. Thing is, I don't see where he'd fit in the line up, so the fact that we just signed him to a $800K one-way deal kind of boggles my mind.

I think we're signing a lot of people and crowding our roster too much in my opinion, it might be time to let a few on the back end go in a big trade or something. I don't remember how the whole buyout window scenario works, but if it's still open they might still want/need to get rid of Brouwer to make space. Stajan might retire too. Either way, the bottom 6 is a bit of a bottle-neck, with over-paid and under-performing players taking up spots younger, more skilled players could use instead.
 
Woah so we just signed James Neal ... honestly wasn't expecting that. 5 year, $5.75M per year.
I think we DEFINITELY need to buyout Brouwer now, or we won't have enough cap space to sign Janko Hanifin and Lindholm, and give Tkachuk a raise.
 
It was my cousin's wedding this weekend so I was a little bit disconnected from the action. I was really shocked to see the Neal signing go down. The dollars and term are higher and longer than I would want (but honestly not as bad as I would have feared) and my reservations about his physical health also remain, but I cant' say I totally hate the deal. Neal is an asset I'd want on my team were it not for some of the downside issues he carries. And, now that he is on my team, so I've gotta hope for the best. He's going to be physical, he's going to score and from what I've read he's going to be a leader and a motivator. He's apparently good friends with Mike Smith, another player also known for giving a shit. So hopefully he's going to have a big positive effect in the locker room.

I feel like at best, he can be something like a combination of how Marian Hossa worked out in Chicago (went to the final 2 years in a row losing with Pittsburgh against Detroit and then with Detroit against Pittsburgh the following year before signing with and finally winning in Chicago) and how Gary Roberts worked out in Pittsburgh (a tough veteran who imparted his will to win on a young team). At worst we might be looking at our Milan Lucic. Naturally, there's a lot of room in between those extremes so let's hope for the upside.

I expect they'll be deploying him on the first line with Johnny and Mony to start the year, but if it's still true that the Flames will be exploring putting Tkachuk on the right wing, maybe he'll see some time on the second line as well. It's probably best to try to keep his minutes down where possible if it helps him remain healthy.

As for the other guys, Ryan seems like a pretty good pickup for the bottom 6 and Czarnik seems like the right kind of guy to take a chance on progressing from the AHL to the NHL. I doubt we'll ever seem Prout or Robinson do much on the big team. Prout is a fighter I think, so maybe they'll bring him in for Vegas and Edmonton. I doubt they want him taking time away from guys like Andersson and Valimaki, so if anyone goes down, I doubt Prout is the first to draw in.

The Flames have something like $12M in cap space left with Hanifin and Lindholm being the priorities, but Kulak, Jankowski, Gillies and Rittich also need deals. They might not buy out Brouwer this year, but as you say next year is a big year for contracts and he'll either have to play well enough to be traded or be bought out then. I also expect to see Stone gone in favour of a cheaper internal option to free up space. Maybe even Frolik too next off season if they still need even more space?

EDIT: I really wonder what the starting line-up is gonna look like? They have Monahan, Backlund, Lindholm, Ryan, Bennet and Jankowski capable of playing centre in the starting lineup. Frolink and maybe Tkachuk can play both wings and then you have a number of younger guys fighting for opening night slots. Lazar, Maginapane, Foo, Czarnik and maybe even Dubé or Ehliz. Brouwer also... exists. I think the only thing we can really expect with absolute certainty is that Johnny Gaudreau will be the top line LW and Neal will be on one of the top two RWs.
 
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My guess for the lineup would be something along the lines of:
Gaudreau - Monahan - Neal
Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm
Bennett - Ryan/Jankowski - Frolik
Mangiapane - Ryan/Jankowski - Foo/Czarnik

Giordano - Brodie
Hamonic - Hanifin
Kulak - Stone/Andersen

Smith - Rittich/Gillies

I hope we didn't just spend 3M/year on a 4th line centre, but if Janko turns out to be way better than Ryan he could take 3rd line and Ryan take 4th. (I think Ryan should be fine, but on Instagram I read a lot of CAR fans saying stuff like "haha good luck with Ryan he sucks." So idk. Janko seems like a stud though.) Depending on how Frolik does and if a rookie pops off, Frolik could potentially be put on the 4th line too and let a Foo or a Czarnik go 3rd line. Like you said, Neal and Lindholm or Tkachuk could probably occasionally swap too.

It pains me to have a 4.5M/year Brouwer and potentially a 3.5M/year Stone acting as very expensive benchwarmers for most of the season, but I don't know if there's much we can do about it.
This lineup definitely seems like a massive improvement over last year though, and I think we're destined for great things in 2018-19.
 
Personally, I think Michael Stone is the Flames player most likely to be traded mid season. If Andersson is really showing like he's ready to take that slot at number 3 RD, I doubt they'll hesitate to give it to him. They might hang on to Stone for depth for a little while, but I doubt they'll want to be paying a 7th-D $3.5M for very long. I think there will be enough demand to move a largely serviceable right shooting D-man if they have to move him. If Brouwer ups his game under our new coach I'm sure the Flames will also leap at the opportunity to sell him too. Its either that or a buyout for roughly this time next year.

I suspect that number 3C will be Ryan's to lose unless they're playing Lindholm at centre. The thing I worry about with him is that he appears to be one of Peters' pets. The last time I can remember a situation like that was Blake Comeau and Brent Sutter and that situation stunk out loud. Like most humans I didn't watch much Carolina hockey so I have no idea what to expect really. If he has any red flag in his numbers it's that he was getting 60% offensive zone starts and there's no way playing with Jeff Skinner didn't bump up his production.
 
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Most of our newest Flames have chosen their numbers!
Neal is #18 (as expected), Hanifin is #55, Lindholm #28, Czarnik #27, and Ryan #10.
Guess that means Stajan is indeed out, as is Versteeg.

I'm also super glad a Western team didn't get Tavares, especially glad that he's on a Canadian team. Now we have Karlsson to worry about, I'm confident Calgary will be either #2 or #3 in the Pacific next year, but that changes if SJS or VGK gets Karlsson.
 
I think the Flames are taking a pass on Versteeg. I don't blame them. I like Steeger. I liked his attitude I like that he seemed genuinely excited to play for the Flames. The harsh truth of the matter is that as long as he's as injured as he often been he's wasting a roster spot. Ryan won't be taking any of Versteeg's ice-time since Ryan is primarily a centre and Versteeg is a winger. The roster spot on the 3rd line LW is most likely going to be Bennett's to start the year, but depending on how they deploy the rest of the roster it'll likely be open to some other young guy rather than Versteeg.

I'm not too chapped about the Ryan signing. He looks good, but with caveats (coach's pet, heavy offensive zone starts and playing with Jeff Skinner as a line mate). The guy he is replacing is Matt Stajan, not Kris Versteeg and it seems like Ryan is a huge upgrade in that regard. Ryan is younger, more productive and has a better face-off win percentage. I don't know about foot speed, but being younger he's probably a step up there too. Having him in the roster also sends a message to guys like Bennett and Jankowski that if they want to play centre higher up the depth chart they have to be better than that guy. If Ryan had been a Flame, his 38 points would have been tied for 7th on the team with Giordano.
 
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So far I think its just rumors, but I read the Flames and Lindholm might be getting close to a deal, supposedly $5M for 5-6 years. Comparing his $5M to someone like Neal's $5.8M, I just don't see it. Neal's had 10 seasons of no lower than 20 goals. Lindholm's never HAD a season with more than 20 goals. That's not to say Lindholm's bad, I think he's great and probably more responsible than Neal, but I think $4M would be more appropriate. Thoughts?

We currently have about $12,800,000 cap space left, and still need to sign Lindholm, Hanifin, Hathaway, Jankowski, Kulak, Gillies, Rittich, and Shinkaruk.
Assuming they do the $5M for Lindholm, that leaves $7,800,000. So the question becomes, how do you split that?

I would do something along the lines of this:
Hanafin: $2.5M
Jankowski: $2.3M
Kulak: 1M
Rittich: $1M
Gillies: $1M
Don't sign Hathaway or Shinkaruk.

I feel like these players, especially Rittich and Gillies, would want more money than that. We could let one of them go (or sign them and trade them), or pray that Lindholm signs for less.
There's also another way we could come up with $3-5M though. The next buyout period is supposedly August 4-6. A Brouwer buyout would save us $3M. A Stone buyout would save $2.3M. I think it's almost necessary to buyout at least one of those, if not both. Either way, Treliving is gonna have to pull some witchcraft to make this work.
Thoughts?
 
Interesting article from Matt Larkin of The Hockey News. It's a positive outlook for Flames fans.

THREE PLAYOFF TEAMS WHO COULD MISS IN 2018-19, AND THREE NON-PLAYOFF TEAMS WHO COULD GET IN

https://thehockeynews.com/news/arti...-and-three-non-playoff-teams-who-could-get-in

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