[Sylvanfan]

I have put a bit of thought into this deal, and it's really going to depend on what the Flames get back with Smid. If he is in fact a legitimate top 4 defenseman than it's a fantastic deal.

But I do sort of wonder if Smid maybe is a bit more Jim Vandermeer as opposed to a real top 4 guy. In that case the Flames just took on an expensive 5-6 guy with a lot of term left on his contract. Smid did seem to play okay to me the past 3 seasons for the Oilers, but I don't watch them that intently. On first glance it would appear that he wasn't really working out so well with Eakins this year.

The guy has known nothing but losing since coming to the NHL, and I do remember when he was sent down at the start of the 07-08 season how much of a laugh that gave most of the posters on this site. So he likely does need the change of scenery, but is coming to a team like Calgary who look to be a loser for the next 2 plus seasons what he needs? He does seem to fill a need with the team in terms of a bigger stay at home type defenceman with a history of playing some minutes. Than again, is he able to play that role effectively?

In terms of what went out, I think at this point the likes of Horak and Brossoit have less value to the Flames today than they would have 12 months ago. So if the Flames hold these players for another season, perhaps their value continues to decrease to the organization as other pieces start challenging them and as other teams realize this they don't offer anything but lower round picks for them. As a team starts to build better system depth, sometimes it is wise to move out players while they still have decent value. There have been a few teams cast guys off for nothing who didn't fit in their organization only to go on and excel at the next destination. At least the Flames did get something out of these two.