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Originally Posted by Wolven
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Speaking of age, Taylor is only 26 as well. It might not hurt to keep him around as well.
That way if Kipper does retire the Flames would start camp with Ramo, Berra, Irving, Taylor, Ortio and Brossoit and see who the 1a/1b goalies are.
I really don't see a point in keeping MacDonald around though. We have a goaltending coach who can do the "mentoring" for whichever goalies end up with the big team next year and I would honest rather maximize the exposure of the goalies listed above to see who sinks and who swims.
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Irving and Taylor don't have contracts for next year and I think not only would it be a waste of contract spots to keep all of them just for tryout sake, but I really doubt both would re-sign into that situation. It's also probably not the best to plan at this stage to have two of those six guys on your list already destined for the ECHL. There's only so many spots for these guys in leagues that are best for their development, so the organization is going to have to cut one or two of them loose.
I'd also rather keep MacDonald for a year if Kipper is gone to backbone a young rebuilding team. Feaster has said he doesn't want to promote a losing culture during the rebuild and just throwing as many new guys as possible into the NHL is a very Oiler-esque approach. We want the young guys to learn how to win, and closer games will teach them a lot more. The team is also in the business of selling tickets. Not filling in the important goaltending spot well enough could easily end up in blowouts and losing fans. It's easier to go into it with MacDonald and move him out if the guys beneath him step it up.