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Calgary Flames Official Thread

Flames signed Lindholm to a 6 year, $4.85mil/year deal and signed Klimchuck to a 1 year, $700 000 deal. I think Hanefin will get $2.5, but I don't see Jankowski getting more than 1.5 mil, and I think Kulak will get $1 mil. If only we didn't have Brouwers salary...
 
Lindholm and Gillies both got signed for a little bit less than I thought they would, so that's good news cap-wise.
I like the 6 year deal, Lindholm is still young and after watching a few highlights and things he and Hanifin both seem like emotionally invested players. This game recap got me particularly excited. Lindholm blows past 4 Panthers players and tips it in, then later in OT a pass from Lindholm to Hanifin ends it with 2 seconds left.

We also signed Gillies on a weird contract, 2 years at 700K, first year is two-way, second year is one-way. I wonder if we're still going to sign Rittich, or if Gillies is our backup for sure?
 
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Jarome Iginla is going to announce his retirement at the Saddledome today, I wonder if he will sign a 1 day contract and retire a Flame.

Flames signed Jankowski to a 2 year deal with a $1.675M cap hit. Not bad, think that's a good deal for him, he played well last year but needs to step it up now.

Kulak was awarded 1 year, $900 000 in Arbitration, I can live with that...
 
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Is it commonplace to sign a star like him to a 1-day deal for that purpose? I really hope they do. I was hoping he'd save his retirement ceremony for some time during the season so 20,000 ish fans can see him go, but it's his choice.
Content with the signings, if Janko can keep growing as a player over the next two years I'll be really excited, I just hope he doesn't have one of those "sophomore slumps." The Kulak 1-year means we can re-sign him next year if he's still good, or perhaps trade him if necessary.
 
Flames signed Rittich for $800 000 / 1 year deal. Pieces are falling into place...

Does anyone know where the video of Craig Button is shot? it looks like Crowchild in the background, but there are no TV Studios there, and I've seen this angle lots in sports interviews lately. I'm wondering if it's just stock footage they put behind him...
https://www.tsn.ca/flames-avoid-arbitration-with-g-rittich-1.1148447
 
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Yeah I'm pretty sure it's just stock footage, you can see Brookfield still under construction behind him so it's definitely not a "reporting live on location" kind of scenario.
If I had to take a guess I'd say it might be somewhere near the Bow Trail and Crowchild Trail intersection West of Downtown, perhaps on the hill just above that intersection judging by the flyovers in the foreground. But the downtown buildings appear much closer to him in that video than they do normally at that location.
For these reasons I'm almost certain its just stock footage, unfortunately.

I remember always getting annoyed watching home games on TV, every time they went to commercial they'd briefly show footage of Calgary. Said footage must've been 2 years old, because Brookfield didn't even look above grade in some of their shots, let alone Telus Sky. I don't think it would be that difficult to take more up-to-date footage, but I'm probably being too picky lol.
 
Not going to lie, I shouted "YES!!" when I read this.
Now don't get me wrong, Brouwer seems like a nice guy and he was probably decent in the locker-room considering they gave him an 'A'. I didn't like the signing from the get-go, his highest points ever being 43. Nonetheless, he still put up points for us, though not nearly as many as the amount we paid him would suggest. But I thank him for his time as a Flame.
I'm happy about this though because we need the cap space to sign Hanifin, as well as Tkachuk and others next year. He was also a very expensive 4th line / press box player, so to get rid of him opens up a spot in the roster for a rookie to step up, like Foo or Hathaway.
 
I'm not totally happy with the buyout myself. Don't get me wrong I'm no fan of Brouwer's on ice performance. He has a track record as a guy who drags down his line mates statistically and only makes the occasional tip of the hat to his reputation as a tough guy. I figured with the way the team is shaping up this year that he'd primarily riding the pine anyway, so I wasn't worried about him causing much trouble on the ice. The issue that concerns me most is the $1.5M cap hit that's going to be left lingering until the end of the 2021-22 season. Youch! My hope was that he'd either have a played well enough under a new coach to warrant a trade with retention mid season or grinded it out until a buyout next year instead.

Tree probably had a good look at the line up and the odds of making changes mid season and decided he needed the room to maneuver. I doubt the Hanifin contract will even soak up what was the remaining cap space prior to the Bryout or that Tree has any more serious moves to go in the off season. He's just keeping an eye on the future IMO.

The happiest person in all of this might just be Curtis Lazar. He's being given a major opportunity to show that he really belongs in the NHL. He finally won't have Dave Cameron or Glen Gulutzen as a coach and he finally won't be saddled with Stajan and Brouwer as go to line mates. Looking at the depth chart he's probably going to start the year on Jankowski's flank. I'm really hoping he can make the most of it.

Here's my bet for opening night:

Gaudreau - Monahan - Neal
Tkachuk - Backlund - Lindholm
Bennett - Ryan - Frolik
Lazar - Jankowski - Foo

Giordano - Brodie
Hanifin - Hamonic
Kulak - Stone

Smith
Rittich
 
I think this open spot, along with the new additions, really encourages more competition for roster spots. Lazar, Czarnik, Foo, Hathaway, Mangiapane, Klimchuk, Ehliz, Lomberg, Quine, etc, all want a place on that 4th line.
Last year Brouwer, Lazar, and Hathaway were 4th line regulars, with occasional appearances from others. I think they're in for a wake-up call. They felt too safe in their positions last year. Now, if they want to keep that spot, they'll have to play their hearts out because there's a bunch of other guys behind them who want that spot just as bad.

I think this will be the shove some of our players need to really get going. Someone like Lazar, Bennett, or Hathaway could really surprise us this season. And if not, there's plenty of hungry fellas looking for their shot.


I wasn't under the impression that they'd actually need to free up this much money to sign Hanifin though, that concerns me a little bit. Once his salary is figured out, the only thing I'll be worrying about is how many days till the season starts.
 
I'm not a huge fan of retaining $1.5mil of cap space either, but it had to happen, that contract made him un-tradeable, and we need money for young guys. Don't let the door hit ya where the good lord split ya Troy...
 
It seems like there's quite a few passionate hockey fans here. Is anyone interested in doing a forum hockey pool this year? I started running one mostly with family last year and I'm part of different one going into it's third season. I don't mind running another one if there's sufficient interest. We'd need at least 6 and at most 12 to use the Yahoo platform which my other pools operate in.

I'm thinking something pretty low-key. It's always best to chip in a few bucks just to keep people interested through the season. Even $5 works. All we'd have to do is run a draft some time prior to the start of the season and we're away to the races.
 
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