Quote:
Originally Posted by ricardodw
I know that Stempniak is playing the best hockey as a Flame right now , but historically he pulls a Bouwmeester..... he played his worst down the stretch last year and followed up his goal a game pace in Phoenix with absolutely nothing in the playoffs.
Stempniak is the ideal trade right now guy as when he goes the last 15 games with 1 goal and 2 assists he will be a contract dump.
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Couldn't agree more. Stempniak is the first guy I would move. Playing well, cheap, doesn't have a NTC and when Baertschi is back we need room on one of the top 3 lines for him. We are loaded at wing and that is the only position we are loaded at, which is the least valuable position to be loaded at. Trading Lee making room for Sven might not hurt our top 3 lines but give us decent cap space next summer for a center
The 2nd move is trading Iggy if he wants to go. If we get a decent return on him then we have huge cap flexibilty, more than likely getting a top 5 pick and always have the options to sign him in the off season.
If Iggy decides to resign as long as it is reasonable then I would say dump Cams. If we can't move him then I would look at trying to move Tanguay. If that is a no go then consider moving Kipper.
In the end our only strength as a team is on the wing and in goal. But Kipper is 36 now and we aren't good enough. We need to take advantage of a shorten season and a slow start. Columbus is the only team right now that we have no chance finishing lower than. Florida, Washington, Buffalo, NYI all are good enough that if we trade a couple guys, give Backlund and Baertschi decent minutes we could easily finish 2nd last. If we can add a few 2nds, add a couple decent prospects through trade, draft a top 5 pick and make a run at some UFA's we will look alot better next season. If we miss out on UFA's because fear of a rebuild as long as we don't trade everyone we could be in decent shape next year. If not trade again next season. I don't see the need to trade 10 guys in one year, but we need to move at least 2 this year and have to consider one core guy