I am so late to the party.
These were significant assets that the Flames gave up. Very significant, in my opinion. Assets like these are the golden currency of the NHL. However, I will also argue that Hamonic is a significant add.
The positives:
- Good luck trying to gain an advantage on line-matching with the Flames. 3/4 of the game your team will be faced against a stellar defence.
- Adds a physical element, which is great since that is in a bit of a short supply
- Puck movement. Puck movement. PUCK MOVEMENT. Now the Flames have FOUR defencemen that can skate the puck out under pressure, or make a tape-to-tape awesome first pass. The transition game for the Flames just got easier, and the toughest part of defending in the NHL is the transition.
- A relatively low cost top 4. Flames can actually afford to splurge a bit on the #5 guy because of this. Stone can be re-signed for 3+ million a season, and it won't throw everything out of whack.
The Negatives:
- Only a negative nancy would be negative about this.
Sure, there are some risks. Let's be honest about that...
What if a Brodie - Hamonic pairing doesn't work? Well, Hamonic is being paid 3.8 million a season for the next 3 seasons. You can theoretically throw him down on the third pairing if you really have to, and the salary structure still won't be THAT terrible. I am willing to bring Stone back just because I think this. To me, this is the only possibility of a downside, but I think it is a rather remote one.
I do think that Brodie struggled early this season - maybe even as far as halfway through the season. Yes, I thought Wideman was even propping him up for a while, and Engelland as well when they were together. However, Brodie did start improving, and when Stone was brought in he looked very much like his old self, though on the opposite side of the ice. Bringing in Stone is a notch above that. It gives Brodie a legitimate high-end partner, and hopefully it allows for a bit more Brodie rushing like we saw under Hartley.
As for the draft picks - yes, they are significant. However, what holes organizationally do you really need to plug up? A 'glaring' hole on RW? I don't agree with that sentiment at all. Few teams work with 3 top players on a line together. Everyone is doing pairings. Pairings. Pairings. The third wheel on the line has to support the other two.
Gaudreau - Monahan - solid proven pairing
Backlund - Frolik - solid proven pairing
Now the Flames have to figure out the next pairing and who ends up as the complimentary piece on the wing out of:
Bennett, Janowski, Lazar and Tkachuk.
This SHOULD give the Flames 3 solid pairings. Where are the other complimentary players going to come from? Ferland is one (and I bet he hits 30 goals at some point in his career, but I digress). The rest are presently on the farm waiting for their chance, or will be acquired through FA or future trades that will further balance this team out. There isn't some MASSIVE hole on RW. The Flames enjoyed a very impressive PP (once they got out of their miserable start to the season anyways). Flames were just below average league-wide for scoring goals, but with a thousand and one reasons as to why they dipped this year. Forget the injuries, forget the new defensive system. The Flames have enough offensive talent on the team to compete with most teams already, now they shored-up their defence.
Don't like Smith much? Well, neither do I, but we are both fools for thinking he is some sieve. He is older, but he knows how to stop pucks, and he knows how to transition them up the ice as well (there's that word again - transition!). Flames are going to be suffocating to play against.
Get used to Gaskal's "Around the League" reports. I predict you will be reading them more often, and I am betting you will be reading this a lot in them from fans of different teams:
"Where was the urgency? We played like crap. We weren't ready. If only there was some effort."
Flames will just shut-down a lot of offence from other teams and transition back into the opposing zone quickly. With the addition of Stone last year (who was decent at it) and Barkowski (who made me cringe way too often), the Flames started moving that puck up the ice much more effectively. That long win streak was a compelling argument. Elliott played well, and I will argue he had some elite-level games that prolonged that win streak, but for the most part he was just a decent goalie. Flames just transitioned so well, and when hemmed into their own zone, managed the tough areas of the ice well.
I am not sure if Treliving will recoup those picks, but I don't think it is a must either.
Flames have their 'core' now. They also have a group of players that are maybe not considered core, but that Treliving is not trading. All the Flames need is for young, cheap complimentary pieces to find their way onto the team. I really believe that organizationally, they can do that for a number of years. Maybe nobody in the next few years will enter the team and be thought of as a 'core' piece, but they will come up and do their job. Their job is to compliment the existing players cheaply.
There is no glaring hole on RW. There is a hole for a third pairing on the team, but again, with Jankowksi, Bennett, Tkachuk and Lazar, I think the Flames will find something that works. Is RW really such a glaring hole? It is a small hole. The biggest deficiency is that it limits the PP somewhat without having that big RHS at Iginla's old position. That's it to me. If you need it that badly, just bring back Iginla for the 4th line and PP.
I hope the Flames sign Stone. He provides overkill, but the Flames will still need to sign a vet to play on the 3rd pairing. You can't expect Andersson, Kylington, Kulak or Wotherspoon to fill out both spots and not expect missed assignments. I think it is helpful if they have a vet out there who shout instructions to them as needed. I think that guy should be Stone, as he can really step up in case of an injury as well to the top 4.
An injury means you now have to play 3 out of those 4 defencemen with a total of 62 games between them. 32 if Treliving doens't re-sign Wotherspoon (as I am half-expecting him not to). I don't think Treliving is going to build an elite top 4 that turns into mush when there is a single injury. May not be Stone, but it will be someone.
Great draft overall. Valimaki is going to be a player sooner than later. Flames have done really well this weekend.
