If Colborne is going to cost 3M going forward, then the Flames need to trade him.
I'm not convinced that he's a top 6 forward, and teams get killed cap-wise when they overpay the bottom half of their roster.
I don't believe we'll be a contender with contracts like Colborne (3.5), Stajan (3.2), Raymond (3.15), Bollig (1.3), Smid (3.5), and Engellend (3) on the books. I'm quickly becoming of the opinion that players are either consistent high end NHL talent, or they're expendable, and they need to be paid accordingly. There are no shortage of guys like Hathaway, Nakladal, Grant, etc, toiling away in lesser leagues, and they'd gladly take league minimum if it meant a 1-way NHL contract.
On a somewhat related note, if Josh Jooris gets more than 800k from this team, I'm going to snap. I don't care that his qualifying offer is around 1M... he is the definition of expendable. He's the type of player that should be on a league minimum contract, as there is a line of guys behind him who would gladly play for that, and they'd play just as well.
|