Flames swap Ramholt for promising winger
By Craig DeVrieze | Tuesday, July 01, 2008
The Calgary Flames swapped defense for offense Monday in a trade certain to have an impact on the Quad-City Flames.
Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
The Flames sent veteran American Hockey League defenseman Tim Ramholt to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Kyle Greentree, a 6-foot-3, 212-pound winger who scored 24 goals for the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms.
Q-C coach Ryan McGill said if Greentree does not make the NHL roster out of Calgary training camp, he will immediately become a “top three forward’’ for the Q-C crew.
“He certainly adds a lot more skill to our lineup,’’ McGill said of Greentree, whose 48 points finished ninth among AHL rookies last year and whose 24 goals finished fourth. “He was a real sought-after commodity as a free agent coming out of college.’’
Greentree went undrafted despite a 62-goal, 115-point 2003-2004 junior season with the Victoria Salsa of the British Columbia Hockey League.
He finished as Victoria’s all-time leading scorer and went on to score 41 goals while dishing out 60 assists in three collegiate seasons at Alaska-Fairbanks.
“He has done a great job developing,’’ said McGill. “He has skill, can score and they think he is going to be an NHL prospect. If we happen to get him, he will develop more and put points on the board.’’
Coupled with the earlier loss of free-agent Tim Hambly, the departure of Ramholt, a second-round draft pick in 2003 out of Switzerland, leaves the Q-C club a bit thin on defense.
But in a telling quote from a Calgary release, Flames general manager Darryl Sutter said: “This move is a continuation of our work to upgrade upfront. On our depth chart, we believe a couple of young defensemen in the AHL and a couple of our juniors had moved past Ramholt.’’
One of the AHL defensemen in question is 2005 first-rounder Matt Pelech, who grew as a Quad-Cities rookie last year, said McGill.
The Flames also could count on youngsters Gord Baldwin and Brad Cole behind a veteran, be that Brett Palin or Adam Pardy, one of whom is expected to land an NHL assignment.
McGill also hinted a free-agent defenseman or two could be added behind the first wave of prominent NHL free agents who will hit the market today. One of those possibly could be ECHL vet Gerry Burke, who played much of last season in the Quad-Cities.
Several 2007-2008 Q-C Flames players hit the market as free agents today, but Pardy and forwards Brandon Prust, David Van der Gulik, Tomi Maki and Cam Cunning will do so as restricted free agents after receiving qualifying offers from Calgary ahead of last week’s deadline. Also receiving an offer was center Andrei Taratukhin, who played in Russia last year.
Given their restricted status, McGill said few of those are likely to be dealt with before the NHL’s unrestricted free-agent market is culled over the next couple weeks.
Not given qualifying offers last week were forwards Derek Couture and Ryan Donally.
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