Flames Salary Cap Crunch

With the draft only days away now and July 1st fast approaching I thought it was an ideal time to take a closer look at the Flames overall situation when it pertains to the talent on the ice and what Darryl Sutter needs to do in order to assure that he keeps his job past April of 2011.

First off, Gary Bettman announced that the Salary Cap for the 2011-12 will increase slightly from the $56.8 million it was at this past season. So, for all intensive purposes let us assume that the cap will fall in or around $58 million.

The Flames, as it stands now, have roughly $53, 379, 166 committed to 17 players for the upcoming season; a breakdown of 10 forwards ($28.9 mill), 6 defence ($18.6 mill), and 1 goalie ($5.83 mill).

Pardon the alliteration, but let us delve deeper into the defence...

Jay Bouwmeester – Age 25, $6.68 million
Robyn Regehr – Age 28, $4.02 million
Cory Sarich – Age 30, $3.6 million
Steve Staios – Age 35, $2.7 million
Mark Giordano – Age 25, $0.891 million
Adam Pardy – Age 25, $0.7 million

On paper that does not look all that bad, but we all know it could use some tweaking. Regehr and Sarich have clearly lost a step and in a day an age when speed is vital, these two guys are liabilities when they do not have you within an arms reach. Giordano and Bouwmeester represent the only speed on the blue line. You compare that to the cup champs in Chicago who have Keith, Seabrook, Campbell, Hjalmarsson and Boynton who were all capable of jumping into a rush and creating offence. Looking for answers, the Flames have Ian White, who was acquired in February in the Dion deal and is a pending RFA. He would help the speed on the backend but at what cost. White is coming off a career season in which he tallied 13 goals, 25 assists and was a plus 8 when he spent most of his time on one of the leagues worst teams. He finished 28th in defence league scoring ahead of such names like Phaneuf and Bouwmeester who both make almost 6 million more dollars a year than White.

Rumours have been swirling that White is wanting upwards of $5 million a season. I do not see this happening, as he has yet to really prove himself. Looking at players comparable to him, we have Ryan Whitney and Stephane Robidas who he finished right behind in scoring who make $4 million and $3.3 million a year respectively. This was the range I thought he might be garnering; while still probably a steep price tag, the bar has been set and players like White will want to cash in when they can.

In order to accommodate such a demand, Darryl will have to make some decisions. Staios should be an obvious person to dispose of, as I am still trying to figure out why they traded for him in the first place. Regehr would most likely garner the most in return, but the problem looms with his ‘no movement clause.’ Assuming Robyn does not waive the clause, it really leaves Cory Sarich, who makes $3.6 million, the ideal candidate to be shipped elsewhere. He may still bring back something useful as there are teams in need of a stay at home defenceman with Cup experience. He could possibly be worth a 2nd round draft pick, and would free up the room needed to sign White.

So, you rid yourself of Sarich and Staios, and you re-sign White to the $3.5 million a year range. Than you bring up one or two ‘young guns’ (not to remind Flames fans of the late 90’s), and you give some kids an opportunity. Matt Pelech (currently an RFA), John Negrin, and Keith Seabrook have all had ample time in the minors and would provide the backend with some much needed youth. Not to mention the newly signed gargantuan Chris Breen and Gord Baldwin, also an RFA.

So now your defence looks like this:

Jay Bouwmeester – Age 25, $6.68 million
Robyn Regehr – Age 29, $4.02 million
Ian White- Age 25, $3.5 million*
Mark Giordano – Age 25, $0.891 million
Adam Pardy – Age 25, $0.7 million
Pelech/Negrin/Seabrook – Age-22-25, .5 -.8 million
*assumed contract

Now instead of having $18.6 million tied up in defence, you have roughly $17.4 million in 7 guys. You get faster, you get younger and you still have a core four (Bouw, Regehr, White, Gio) that can really hold their own, with the senior citizen being Rocket Robyn at 29 years old.

The goalie situation should be pretty easy for the Flames; let Kipper play his 70 games and find a guy to spell him whenever he needs a rest. It has not been so easy in recent years. Curtis McElhinney was the guy for the past while, but patience grew thin with him and he was shipped to Anaheim for disgruntled former Leaf Vesa Toskala. Toskala proved useful the last month and half of the season, as he provided much needed reliable support for Kipper down the stretch; something he has never really had in the 7 years he has been in Calgary.

The Flames also have a couple of goalies itching to get a shot in the big leagues in Leland Irving and Matt Keetley. Irving posted decent numbers with Abbotsford last year (2.76 GAA, .905 SP%), while Keetley was a touch better (2.59 GAA,. 912 SP%) in 11 less games. Keetley is an RFA and made only $600,000 last season while Irving would be a cap hit of almost $1.2 million with added in bonuses.

Knowing Sutter’s tendency to trust a veteran over a rookie, Toskala would be the more educated choice. The question that lingers is whether or not Toskala would be willing to re-sign for a much smaller number than his $4 million price tag of last season? My guess would be yes, as he has done nothing really to earn a starting look anywhere else in the league. This would result in the Flames having an all Finnish goalie club this year with Vesa and Miikka tag teaming the 4x6.

Miikka Kiprusoff – Age 32, $5.83 million
Vesa Toskala – Age 32, $ 1.4 million*
*assumed contract

Next up are the Forwards…


All numbers for this article were taken from capgeek.com.

Hagman Lifts Flames to Victory

The Flames did what they had to do tonight beating the Anaheim Ducks 3-1. In the process they once again pulled within two points of the Detroit Red Wings for 8th place in the West.

Driving the Flames to victory was Niklas Hagman who had his coming out party wearing the red, yellow and black. Calgary also had two point nights from Iginla and Bouwmeester for the Flames who have now won three of four.

For Hagman, it was his second goal as a Flame and his first in 13 games. However, it wasn’t just the goal that made Hagman stick out tonight. He was all over the ice outworking the Ducks players on every shift. There was one shift, late in the third, where he single-handedly created three or four scoring chances simply by churning his legs. This was the Hagman everyone expected to see when the Flames acquired him from Toronto and helps justify the clearance sale that Sutter had in late January. That is of course if Nikky continues his strong play.

Bouwmeester, who has gone pointless in his last seven games, notched two assists for only the fourth time this season. Clearly struggling to find points this year, he turned his game around and looked much better tonight. Not sure if it’s the system that Jay is having a hard time adjusting to, but this season’s version of Jay Bouwmeester isn’t what most Flames fans expected when the Flames acquired him last summer.

Looking into the past, he played his entire career in Florida where he was given the chance to ‘free-wheel’ most of the time and structure was not so much of a concern. Now, under Brent Sutter, his game has taken a step back as he adjusts to the system, or at least that is what it seems like. I was looking forward to seeing him lead the rush up the ice on most nights, yet fans have rarely seen that this year. Tonight was the Jay we all thought he was and it was a breath of fresh air for many disgruntled Flames fans.

With nine games remaining the Flames travel out East for a three game road trip against the Islanders, Bruins and Capitals.

The Flames know what they have to do; win or don’t bother coming home.

On a side note, this past Sunday was the first day of Spring and a sure sign to tell it is Spring is if the ‘Leafs’ are out, and they certainly are this year.

Unfortunately, that line won’t be as funny if Iginla and Kipper are joining Kessel and Kaberle on the first tee this year.

This has been,

Newman on the Flames

Source of Photo: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/23/AR2010032304835.html

Team Canada, eh?

So the team has been named, the moment Canadians had been waiting for since the last Olympics ended in 2006. Now the debate can begin on who should be there and who shouldn’t be there, why this team will win, why this team won’t win, and all the other fun topics. As it concerns the Flames, the debate will be about whether or not Phaneuf, Bouwmeester or Regehr should have been named to the team. Well, I have a confession: I couldn’t care less. I suppose that’s a little harsh, and I guess what I mean is that I’m not concerned, in fact, I’m happy there aren’t many Flames playing in this year’s games.

It isn’t that I won’t be cheering for Team Canada during the Olympics; it’s just that when it comes to hockey, my main concern is the Stanley Cup, not a Gold Medal. I’d rather see the Flames win the cup this year, than Canada win a hundred gold medals. As far as I’m concerned, Bouwmeester, Phaneuf and Regehr not being named to Team Canada only helps the Flames.

This year, there will only be three Flames playing in the Olympics in Vancouver; Iginla for Canada, and Jokinen and Kiprusoff for Finland. These three players won’t have the benefit of a two week break in the middle of the year, and as a result may tire as the season winds down. How often do we hear that Kiprusoff plays too much as it is, and as a result is always tired come playoff time? Well, I wish he wasn’t playing in Vancouver, giving him that time off for some much deserved rest. The Olympics also bring in a risk factor for players getting injured. What would the reaction be of any NHL fan if one of their team’s star players were injured? If Iginla or Kiprusoff were to go down with an injury, the Flames’ season would likely be over. As a fan, I don’t see any reward to this risk, and hence it isn’t one I’m interested in taking.

I see too many downsides to NHL players playing in the Olympics, and I hope this will be the final time we see this. So far, there isn’t an agreement between the NHL and the NHLPA to play in the 2014 games in Russia, and I don’t see one coming together either. I can’t foresee any circumstances where the NHL owners would release their prized assets to play in some games in the middle of the night on the other side of the planet. The argument is that having the NHL players play in the Olympics is good exposure for the league, but is it really? In Salt Lake City at the 2002 games, all the stars were aligned, with a Canada-USA showdown for the gold medal. Did this do anything to expand the game’s audience in the United States? No, TV numbers are lower than ever. In Canada, the game doesn’t need anymore exposure, and if there weren’t any NHL players in the Olympics, Canadians would still be watching and cheering the team on. In fact, if the team was made up of junior players, judging from the annual World Junior tournament I think Canada’s chances for gold would be far greater.

I'll still be cheering on Team Canada, (probably not by yelling Eh, O, Canada Go!), but I’ll make sure to have my fingers crossed that neither Iginla or Kiprusoff (and even Jokinen I guess) are injured as they battle it out for Olympic Gold.

-TheRev


photo from: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2008/04/24/teamcanada-jerseys.html