Burning Down the House

As the Dust Settles

While minor deals continue to filter in and even some bigger names hang in limbo (Tanguay, Biron), most of the big headliners have found new teams and new fortunes.

Whats best of all is that the Flames largely skipped the whole process by inking stud defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to a 5 year deal before the mayhem even started.

Many speculated that the big contract given to JayBo would mean that another significant piece of the team would go elsewhere, but with Aucoin, Vandermeer, Cammalleri, and Bertuzzi on the outs that doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ve yet to really run the numbers, but withsome cheap young players set to make the team, the Flames look largely ready for the season to start tomorrow.

The Flames also re-upped Adam Pardy to a nice 2 year contract worth $700K per year, which is perfect for your #6 defenseman.

RFA Dustin Boyd was qualified, which means a 5% raise unless I’m either mistaken or an ill-advised offer sheet is signed.

A ridiculous draft day trade swapping Jim Vandermeer’s $2.3M boat anchor salary with beloved punching bag Brandon Prust helped clear cap space for Bouwmeester. I’ve heard rumours that this was actually pre-negotiated in the trade deadline deal that brought Olli Jokinen to Calgary, but I can’t be certain. Basically, the deal was for Lombardi/Vandermeer/picks, but Sutter wanted to keep Vandermeer for the playoff run as it’s well known that he likes to stock up on defensive depth for potential summer games.

Later on July 1st, the Flames added a depth forward in Freddie Sjostrom. Before being run out of Phoenix and let go by the Rangers, Sjostrom enjoyed some good years playing the Calgary Hitmen in the WHL. The speedy Swede has never been able to translate his game to the NHL as strongly as he probably would want, but he gives the Flames a serviceable depth/bench forward with a small pricetag ($750K). And who knows - maybe the Sutters will be able to craft a Lundmark-like turnaround for the 11th overall pick in the 2001 draft.

On day 2, the Flames signed some AHL depth in Riley Armstrong, Garth Murray, and defender Staffan Kronwall. The two forwards are unlikely to receive NHL paychecks this season and will instead be counted on to steady the youthful Abbotsford Heat. Kronwall is a guy who can play short stints with the big team in case of the injury bug bites hard.

As it stands now, the roster looks like so:

If you consider the top 12 forwards, top 6 defensemen, and the 2 goalies, the Flames are counting somewhere in the vicinity of the $54.2M mark against the $56.8M salary cap. Unless Primeau and his $1.4M cap hit is moved, I’d say the team is likely a finished product.

The common refrain now is that this team will struggle with scoring goals compared to last year’s squad.

Really?

If you agree with me that Jokinen can replace Cammalleri’s output and Bouwmeester will exceed Aucoin’s (shouldn’t be hard), then all that the team needs to replace is Todd Bertuzzi’s 15 goals and 44 points. I think that should be easily managed given some further development from Bourque, Moss, and Boyd, a bounceback season from Phaneuf, and contributions from rookies such as Greentree and Backlund. Factor in a presumed improvement in the powerplay coaching from Sutter and Lowry over Keenen’s “what powerplay?” approach, and I’d be surprised if there was a significant drop off last season’s 8th best 251 goals.

And if that 2nd line doesn’t inspire you, just swap Jokinen and Langkow. Lanks plays better with Iginla than he does without him, and Jokinen is a bit of a lone wolf anyway.

…

Oh, and I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw the Habs sign Cammalleri for 5 years at $6M per. That is a terrible contract, and its exactly why he wasn’t coming back to Calgary. For those that doubted Darryl Sutter’s genius… well, we now have a far more complete player with a lesser cap hit. Beauty.