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| Courtesy: CP |
James Wisniewski 6 yrs, $33 million? Erik Cole 4 yrs, $18 million? Ville Leino, 6 yrs, $27 million?
Is everyone taking crazy pills? And that’s not even half of the outrageous deals that have been handed out over the past couple of days,
What about the “Pick up as many players as possible and sign them to 4 year contracts” strategy that Dale Tallon has employed in Sunrise, Florida?
Unfortunately Jovo Cop can’t even say he’s taking his talents to south beach, because A) Sunrise is long, long ways from South Beach, and B) Jovo Cop’s talents are severely diminished from when he last left the state of Florida.
And then there’s the so-called “un-tradable contracts.” We’ve seen two of those, Brian Campbell and Dany Heatley, subsequently dealt in the last week.
It’s kind of fun to see, isn’t it? Starting to seem like these GM’s are almost treating their teams like their own personal fantasy teams. Ok, well maybe not quite like that, but close, right?
The ridiculous deals can all be attributed to a couple of factors that don’t really need to be stated but for reference I will.
The $6 million increase in salary cap and the need for some teams to simply reach the cap floor of $48.3 million. Also the lack of “really” talented players outside the B. Richards of the world have made overpaying average players not only popular but Bieber popular.
The one thing I was happy to see, from a Flames perspective, is that Jay Feaster decided not to throw money around like it was flowing like the salmon of Capistrano.
He stood pat after signing Alex Tanguay and quietly signed newly acquired defenceman Chris Butler to a modest $1.25 million a year for two seasons. A decent dollar amount for a player, that I believe, will provide similar services to that of Adam Pardy and at a lower price than Pardy got in Dallas. ($2 million per for 2 yrs – another head scratcher).
Feaster then signed Anton Babchuk to a two year deal worth $2.5 million a year. This one surprised me. I really thought Babchuk would be moving back east, as I thought he would be one of those players who would be overpaid by a needy GM.
He helps the PP a ton, but his defensive deficiencies are a cause for concern. Hopefully new Associate Coach Craig Hartsburg can help out with that.
This leaves the Flames with 13 forwards signed (including Raitis Ivanans who I don’t expect will play another NHL game), six defence, and two goalies under NHL contracts.
This doesn’t include the signing today of first round pick Sven Baertschi to an entry level deal worth $1.45 million annually (including bonuses which count against the cap).
I like how they went out and signed this guy right away to avoid any more Tim Erixon-like things happening again.
Feaster has gone on record as saying that unless they can find a top 4 d-man to fit into the team, then they will go with what they have, which makes the Shane O’Brien rumours carry a little less weight as I don’t think O’Brien fits in the top four of this team. And personally I’d rather see TJ Brodie, Chris Breen or John Negrin given a shot to make the squad over a guy like O’Brien. The Flames have enough grit on their team (Jackman, Sarich, Giordano, and Butler) that they don’t need any more in my opinion.
They only have $3+ million left in cap room and it would be kind of nice to simply leave that and give the team that flexibility they’ve been dreaming of for years.
It was nice to see Feaster go after Brad Richards. I’m not sure how realistic the chance was but given Richards comment of how much being in the east meant to him, I doubt the Flames had a realistic shot at him –even with Iginla helping out.
Richards chose location over anything else, as I think he left roughly $4-5 million on the table (rumour was that Feaster offered him 9 yrs, $64 mill. He took 9 yrs, $60 mill from New York).
Feaster didn’t seem to make any big moves, and therefore it’s really hard to screw up. It’s the moves he didn’t make that I’m really happy with. Not signing Pardy to the money he was given was a great non-move, and not shelling out ridiculous dollar amounts to under-achievers was great to see.
The Flames have enough of those playing on their team already (Stajan, Hagman).
They still however insist on giving no-movement clauses, and it seems to have become the Flames modus operandi. However, those clauses are seemingly becoming easier and easier to get around, so I’m not sure how big of a deal it is in the end.
Those are my thoughts. Rookie camps are under way!
Here is to the 12 month long hockey season!
JERSEY FOULS!
Newman
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12 comments:
I'm a little concerned about our defense. I don't like the idea of Babchuk and Sarich being half of our top two defense pairings and leaving the inexperienced Butler and Brodie(?) as our third. We definitely need a guy to slide into that fourth spot, then you could have Sarich, probably, in the third pairing with one of the rookies. I would feel much more comfortable with that.
I'm also glad Feaster didn't sign somebody after not getting Richards. So often you see a GM, after not getting that prized fish, take sombody as consolation. Feaster didn't do that. Good.
I see what you are saying kelli. Butler has a little more experience though than a rookie like Brodie. I just think it's time to give the young guys a chance. So many times the flames have held their youn players back in favour of older experienced players and then trade their prospects away. It's time for youth in Calgary
I wouldn't say non-moves have been the Flames strategy, considering they made many more moves than most teams, and they were right in there with Richards. In fact, I'd think it was quite the opposite, considering had they signed Richards it would be a huge, but not for lack of trying. Sure, they didn't win out but that didn't stop them from trying their strategy of getting him.
Hate to say it but I don't think Feaster is the right answer for this club. I hope I'm wrong, but Flames fan one day are going to look back on Feaster as another step in the wrong direction for this franchise until they have to completely take it apart when or soon before Iginla's done. Too bad :S
Yes, but my point is that they didnt go out and over pay a guy or two that they didnt need to. He could've signed some 2nd tier FA to too much money but he didnt. That's what I'm gettting at. I think its way too early to tell on Feaster. Wait till all the money comes off the books next season and then we can start judging what Feaster has done. Right now he is simply trying to clean up the pile of shit left by Darryl. IMO
Great article. I totally agree that Feaster did the right thing. He didn't mess with the chemistry that made us one of the best teams in the NHL for the second half of the season. And he has left a couple spots up for grabs for our prospects to get excited about. Furthermore, the moves he has made with our prospects are great! I see a possibility of a great your core being developed and when they come into the organization, you will have a great group of friends who enjoy playing together. This is shaping up to be a great TEAM!
True, they didn't sign a bunch of big names foolishly like Florida or drastically overpay like Columbus, and credit has to be given there. I guess I'm just not sure why they kept a lot of the status quo, can't they unload some of the dead weight? Give the franchise a real chance to start over?
There is much reason for optimism around Calgary, but I think it seems to be another season of trying to make the playoffs and then coming close or failing. I guess I don't see the point unless you're gonna really go for it, and that takes time and involves many bigger moves to really set this team up for the future.
Of course, it's easy to blame Sutter for a lot of these past decisons, and it's warranted, but I really hope Feaster has some more moves and adjustments to make to this team soon. There is no point in waiting until next year or trying to make the playoffs next year by bringing in players, it's gotta be a youth movement in Calgary similar to what Ottawa's done for their team.
Of course, easy to say but not so easy to do. And I get that, so it will interesting to see how much Feaster can change the dynamic of this team in the next couple months. I'm afraid if he doesn't it will be another season just like the ones previous.
Yeah I hear ya. I don't by any meas think it'll be any different than the last couple yrs an think the flames will be battling for 8th unfortunately. The dead weight that u speak of is so dead it's untradeable. Stajan is just gonna have to get better and then hopefully they can trade him. Bouw is not going anywhere IMO.
If you can't tell, I'm just not a fan of Feaster. Maybe on a team with some pieces in place but this is not the type of team for Feaster. We'll see!
Yeah and you have that right given his track record with draft picks and questionable trades following the cup win. Really that was Dudley's team much like Anaheim was a lot of Bryan Murray. But he seems to want to get younger, or at least thats what he keeps saying, so we'll see.
I like the Idea that Feaster made an attempt to sign Brad Richards. I think most everyone knew that this was a long shot Even though the Flames ended up putting a fairly decent Contract in front of him. No Matter, I've heard a rumor that Feaster might be trying to Land Alex Semin from Washington????? Anyone?
That came off a fake Peter loubardias twitter account. It's not real. I wouldn't worry about semin playing on the flames. Ovi would lose his shit and leonsis wouldn't let it happen.
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