Quote:
Originally Posted by FireGilbert
While I understand the philosophy of leaving the 6/7 defence spots open for prospects, I am curious who all these Flames defence prospects are who should have made the team over the years? The only example I can think of is Giordano when Sutter offered him a 2 way and he left for Russia.
The fact is the Flames haven't had many good defencemen in the system who earned NHL spots. Ramholt never belonged in the NHL and more recently Kulak and Wotherspoon couldn't beat out Wideman for a job. I suppose you can say Andersson should have been on the team at the end of last season, but he didn't earn a spot out of camp and I understand the argument of not bringing a rookie into the lineup for the playoffs. The only NHL defencemen the Flames have drafted and developed since Sutter are Phaneuf and Brodie. Phanuef was given a spot before turning pro and Brodie was a call up who earned a spot the next season.
The Flames defence prospects are in a much better place now however and I fully expect Andersson and possibly Kulak, Wotherspoon, or Kylington are on the opening day roster.
|
C'mon. Kulak and Wotherspoon easily beat out Wideman. But they were "easy" to send down. It's very challenging to send down 5.25 million in the AHL out of the hop because that guarantees said player can't improve his trade value over the course of the season and you immediately hurt your cap structure for the entire season.
It's pointless to speculate. Wideman had a NMC. But Wideman was never the problem. Why constantly bring in these low-range guys like Jokipakka, Nakladal, Engelland, Smid, Bartowski to play 5-7 minutes when Wotherspoon probably never needed yet ANOTHER AHL season at 20 mins a night? At some point, it just tells your prospects there's just no opportunities.