Quote:
Originally Posted by Oling_Roachinen
The Flames could have offered him this deal weeks, heck months, ago.
The fact it comes after free agent frenzy and the Flames let Byron reach UFA indicates that he wasn't a top priority to make sure to keep around. I think there's far greater evidence that the Flames reassessed the team after free agent frenzy and decided that there was room for Byron than they decided not to qualify him because of the scary arbitration. Both are speculation, one makes much more sense.
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Why would the Flames mismanage assets like that though? Just because they like a player doesn't mean they will restrict their options or lose control and take a player to arbitration. They obviously thought highly enough of him if they thought he would file for arbitration instead of accept his Qualifying offer.
They likely talked to Byron and knew he would go for a 1-way contract instead. That seems like the most likely scenario to me.