In terms of Treliving he has a few things to do heading into the summer to have a successful season.
Top of the list is signing Gaudreau and Monahan to 8 year contracts or 2-3 year bridge deals. I think the Dougie contract set the bar so I expect 6-8 year deal rather than a bridge.
Secondly how he handles the UFA's will be worth watching. Last year he was fantastic getting great value for Glencross and a solid waiver pickup in Schlemko. This year he has some higher profile free agents in Hudler and Russell. There is also Jones, Hiller and Ramo. I get the feeling the Flames want to keep Russell but if they can't work out a reasonable contract by the deadline they should move on. Hudler I think is as good as gone and I hope Jones is moved as well. I think they keep Ramo and no one looks at Hiller.
Another thing I feel he needs to do is try and free up some cap space before July 1. As of today the free agent class this summer looks better than it has for years. The Flames have roughly $16M in bad money that has another year. Wideman, Smid, Engellend, Raymond, Bollig. In addition I feel one of Backlund or Stajan should be moved as they are trending towards the 3-4C spot both making north of $3M. With the team lacking top 6 forwards too much bad money is on the team.
|