[hockey.modern]

The forum has been pretty quiet the past few weeks, and I thought it would be a good time to address what the team needs to accomplish in the off season. Let's start off with how this years season and what was accomplished and what wasn't. These are the areas of which Brad Treliving should address this off-season.

1. Goaltending

2. Top 6 Forward Depth

3. Who to Sign and How Much

4. Expendable Players

1. GOALTENDING

For sure, without a question goaltending was one of the biggest reasons for the let down this season. Right from the get go, the season was started off with an unorthodox three headed goalie mess. Three mediocre goalies that wasn't capable of taking over a starter spot and players like Kari Ramo & Jonas Hiller were unable to keep up with what they were able to accomplish the previous season. Fans were wishing for Joni Ortio to steal one of the spots, but he wasn't getting the job done their. All three goalies were below sub .900% in save percentages which was a complete disaster for the first months of the off season. The three goalie situation also brought the Flames into roster problems which led to Paul Byron being waived and picked up by the Montreal Canadians.

Bad asset management on Brad Treliving on that part, but still being a young GM in the league, he will learn from this mistake going forward.

Let's look at what Brad Treliving has done to the goaltending situation this year, although it was very minor due to injuries within the organization. Not ideal situation going forward, but with Kari Ramo stepping up big, the Flames were able to stabilize the goalie situation short term for the season.



2015-16

Before

NHL

Hiller

Ramo

Ortio

AHL

Gillies

Simpson

-------------------------

After

NHL

Ramo

Hiller


AHL

Ortio

Poulin

After less than 20 games to go in the season, goaltending remains the biggest concern for the Flames going forward, and as mentioned by management, it will be the #1 priority in the off season. Ideally, it was going to be Ramo as a 1B situation, but with the uncertainty of his future due to injury, that doesn't create an option anymore. With big contracts coming to Johnny Gaudreau, and Sean Monahan, money will be tight for the goaltending situation. If Joni Ortio can continue with his play this season, he leaves the Flames of an option of signing him as a backup or 1B situation for next year. With the options available for UFA/RFA Free Agency, the flames have a few options. Spend assets for RFA goaltenders that are capable of a starting role, or go to a safe route and look at the UFA goalies. Here are the best options available:

2016-17

RFA Route

Andersen

Ortio


Mrazek

Ortio


UFA Route

Reimer

Ortio


Ward

Ortio


Raanta

Ortio


Darling

Ortio


Wildcards that could come to play with the cap situation in Tampa could also lead to Bishop being sent off. Another one that comes to play is with Philadelphia and the tandem of Neuvirth and Mason, and one of them would help with the Flames situation. Would also think Brian Elliot is expendable with Jake Allen taking over his spot as starter.

Wildcard Route?

Bishop - 1 year remaining at $5,950,000

Ortio


Neuvirth/Mason

Ortio


Elliot - 1 year remaining at $2,700,000

Ortio


__________________________________________________ _______________



2. TOP-SIX FORWARD DEPTH

With Jiri Hudler gone, the Flames depth at the top-6 looks pretty weak. However with the draft, the Flames are in a good spot to fill one of those spots. This season, depth for the forwards hasn't nearly been as much as a problem, however the consistency of secondary scoring needs to be looked at. Management needs to address players that can play in this role, whether that comes from free agency, or players in the farm. Here's what the bare bones of the top six looks like right now and what areas will need to be filled out this off-season. Frolik could fill one of those spots, however he's best suited as a 2/3 liner.


Now

Gaudreau-Monahan-Ferland

Colborne-Backlund-Frolik




The Future

Gaudreau-Monahan-X

X-Bennett-X


With a Top 10 Draft Pick, That could potentially fill one of the spots if they are NHL available and make the cut.These are the best options that would best serve the needs for the Flames at the draft.


1. Matthews

2. Laine

3. Puljujarvi

4. Dubois

5. Tkachuk

6. Chychrun


Now onto RFA/UFA Free Agency, the best players that would fit the Flames should be:


1. Okposo

2. Backes

3. Lucic

4. Nichushkin

5. Hoffman

6. Eriksson

7. Coyle

8. Brouwer


Going forward, that could lead into a 2016-17 that looks like the following:


Gaudreau-Monahan-Okposo/Lucic/Backes/Nichushkin

X-Bennett-Matthews/Laine/Puljujarvi/Dubois/Tkachuk


__________________________________________________ _______________


3. WHO TO SIGN AND FOR HOW MUCH


The following players will be RFA/UFA at the end of this season:


Forwards

1. Johnny Gaudreau

2. Sean Monahan

3. Joe Colborne

4. Josh Jooris

5. Kenneth Agostino

6. Freddie Hamilton

7. Drew Shore

8. Bill Arnold

9. Derek Grant

10. Turner Elson

11. Bryce Van Brabant


Defence

1. Tyler Wotherspoon



Goaltending

1. Joni Ortio

2. Kevin Poulin


Out of that list, the players that Brad Treliving should target and resign for the NHL squad are:


NHL

1. Johnny Gaudreau - $6.5-7.5 Million AAV/7-8 years

2. Sean Monahan - $5.5-6.5 Million AAV/6 years

3. Joni Ortio - $900k/1 year (prove it contract)

4. Joe Colborne - $1.5 Million AAV/2 years

5. Jakub Nakladal - $1.0 Million AAV/2 years

Total: $15.4 - 16.4 Million




AHL

1. Kenneth Agostino

2. Freddie Hamilton

3. Derek Grant

4. Bill Arnold

5. Tyler Wotherspoon

__________________________________________________ _______________

4. EXPENDABLE PLAYERS


For the 2016-17 these are the players that have their contracts up and hopefully will result in great trade assets for the deadline or during the season. Even greater if Brad Treliving can deal with these players this summer and allow for players in the farm to develop in the NHL for the next season as their is a logjam, especially at defense.


1. Wideman, Dennis

2. Smid, Ladislav

3. Raymond, Mason

4. Engelland, Deryk

5. Bollig, Brandon


__________________________________________________ _______________


Overall if the right moves are made and Brad Treliving completely gets rid of all the negative contracts (highly unlikely) our lineups for both the NHL and AHL could DREAM to look like the following for the 2016-17 season:



NHL

Gaudreau-Monahan-Okposo

Frolik-Bennett-Laine

Ferland-Backlund-Colborne

Bouma-Stajan-Hathaway


Giordano-Brodie

Jokipakka-Hamilton

Wotherspoon-Nakladal


Andersen

Ortio


AHL

Shinkaruk-Grant-Poirier

Mangiapane-Arnold-Agostino

Klimchuk-Jankowski-Smith

Pollock-Hamilton-Carroll



Kylington-Kulak

Culkin-Morrison

Sieloff-Anderssson

Kanzig

Gilmour




Gillies

Simpson