[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by Fire of the Phoenix

It troubles me that management was so wrong with where this team was at, I think they bought into the hype TBH. I've always liked Hudler but I thought, at the time, that both he and Russell should've been traded at the draft, or at some point in the offseason. I'm hardly a hockey savant, but I just don't see why they couldn't see this. Buy low, sell high and leave emotion at the door. Hudler and Russell were never going to be long term solutions and the team is still building... so why keep them?

I can see why Wideman wasn't traded though. That extra year probably made other teams very nervous considering the first two years of his contract were so bad. It also doesn't help that the Flames don't seem willing to retain salary for some reason. Hard to fault BT for all that, but Russell and Hudler should've been very movable.

Probably didn't have a deal in place since most buyers are already tight against the cap or still in a building phase. GMs are probably more conservative in nature then us fans who probably think its like trading on the stock market.