I'm still hopeful that the news of Kipper's retirement at the end of this season is as accurate as Iginla's trade to the Bruins. Even if he has lost a step, I think having him with the Flames for this rebuild will accelerate the transformation of the team and give us a chance to win games that a normal goalie would not be able to steal.
If Kipper does retire, I would rather go with the Ramo/Berra combo next year. Its nothing against MacDonald at all but both of these guys are 26 and if there is ever going to be a time to do a full-on goaltending audition it is going to be next season when the rest of the team is rebuilding as well.
That way we either find out if one or both of these guys are the real deal or we are looking at acquiring another top 3 draft pick (get another Reinhart!), or maybe even both. At the very least I would hope that these Euro-goalies will be able to settle down and play to MacDonald's level. If not then I would look at bringing up Taylor or giving Irving a chance while the Flames are not in Win-Now mode.
With all of the other (younger) options I don't really see an upside to keeping MacDonald for the rebuild.
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