harmfuljays wrote:
Where is Butch? He kept telling me the Leafs were going to get Hamonic even after Treliving and Snow were spotted on the draft floor.
Flames are full of young right now....so coughing up some draft picks isn't going to hurt too much. There is still no Mike Vernon or Mikka back there. Wait.......is Ryan Miller still available? Wonder if the Flames could get a deal on him.
I liked what I saw of Michael Stone but he's not a 4 Mil player so it looks like the Flames are cutting bait.
Still have to sign RFA Bennett and Versteeg might be worth a second look for the price.
15 Million in cap space so there is room
Still missing truculence and pugnacity on the Flames roster........the Flames were easy to push around and the bigger west clubs like Anaheim made it look simple. Call me a dinosaur but expecting Bennett or Tkachuk to handle the the rough stuff doesn't seem appropriate. I thought Ferland could have been that guy but he doesn't seem to want to embrace that role on a consistent basis.
Oh I dunno, I think the Flames are fine in the "truculence" department. Pursuing that sort of thing can be a mistake, as illustrated by Treliving's boss once signing guys like Colby Armstrong and Colton Orr to multi-year deals. And I think it's quite telling the Flames decided to leave Troy Brouwer unprotected for the expansion draft this year. The back-to-back Stanley Cup champs for some weird reason decided to give up a first rounder for a guy who averages 8 minutes a night max even though they never needed a player like that during either of their Cup runs.
Believe me I had to witness what happens when a team makes itself too soft all last year, but more glaring than the lack of toughness in Colorado was the lack of speed. In Calgary they had the problem of a fantastic top three on the defensive depth chart and absolute garbage beyond that. That problem's been solved and then some.
IMO, and mind you I haven't seen a ton of Flames games, Calgary could use just a little more skill up front. That center corps is good but not great, not a contender yet. Maybe find one more scoring threat on the wings. Either way they need more offense. The Flames ranked exactly 17th in the league in Goals For and Goals Against. So obviously they need better goaltending too.
Lastly...still puzzled as all hell on the Gulutzan hiring. Maybe he proves me wrong this year, but if he doesn't, he's as good as fired, and Treliving is in big trouble as well.