Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
Was thinking about the moves that would be the worst outcome for the Flames this summer and got me wondering what other scenarios people would have. You know, the ones that would make you face palm and then keep you up at night. What does that look like for you?
For me the pieces would be:
Draft: Alex Nylander
Trade: MA Fleury
Free Agent: None
Camp: Mason Raymond
The Nightmare: The Flames go to the draft with a bevy of draft picks and possibility. They've been talking about getting bigger and more black and blue. There are plenty of those types in this draft, especially in the 2nd round, so this is set up well for the team to be successful. Here's where the nightmare begins. The Flames see all the big boys up top go to their rivals. Tkachuk goes to Edmonton. Dubois goes to Vancouver. The Flames take "BPA" and select Alex Nylander. Treliving makes his bold move to acquire a goaltender and sends our three 2nd round picks to Pittsburgh for MA Fleury. We come away from the draft with Nylander and Fleury as big pieces.
July hits and the reality starts to sink in. The free agent period is upon us, but the Flames stand pat, because Fleury's salary has added to the budget challenges and there is too much uncertainty to spend any more money until other contracts work themselves out. Prospect camp rolls around and we get to see first hand that Nylander is more perimeter than we thought and we start to experience flashbacks of Jesper Mattson. August roles around and we start to hear the club talk about what great shape Mason Raymond is in and how he's looking like a lock for a position in camp. "Gully" says that May Ray has always been one of his favorite players and he's happy to have a chance to coach him.
Wake up in a cold sweat.  |
Draft: Alex Nylander
Trade: MA Fleury
Free Agent: None
Camp: Mason Raymond
Draft: Nothing wrong with that, the NHL is going towards more goal scoring, small pads for goalies are coming, there are other things that are happening, that favors skilled players, so taking Alex Nylander is not that big of a deal. See what the Crosby line did and what their size was. I remember the 2008 draft when the "big boy" Zach Bogosian killed the NHL combine(had the best results ever, better than some of of the veterans already in the NHL) and he was being talked about how he was the best defenceman in the draft and was head to head with Drew Doughty, Doughty went #2 and "big boy" Zach Bogosian went #3, Alex Pietrangelo went #4 while Erik Karlsson went #15, I would take Pietrangelo or Karlsson over "big boy" Zach Bogosian any day. I remember this draft because the Leafs had the 5th pick and was excited to see what they do with and they pissed it on Luke Scheen. The point is, that you can't predict how these players will turn out.
Trade: MA Fleury is a good goalie and before his injury was having a very good season, was proably in top 10-15, you don't get those kind of goaltenders every day. Take a look at Pittsburgh's cap space and you will notice that it will not take three 2nd round picks to get Fleury and if you think that Brad Trevling will make a move like that, than you have no idea about the way Brad Trevling thinks(take a look at the Dougie Hamilton trade).
Free Agent: None would be ok, the worst thing you can do is, sign a 2nd line player to a 1st line player contract and handicap your team for a long long time.
Camp: The Flames want to play a speed game and Mason Raynond fits that plan, I think under Glen Gulutzan, Mason Raymond can be 40 point player, that idiot Hartley had favorite's that he would play and not give everyone a chance, Hartley had no idea how to build a relationship with his players and Hartley did not know the strengths and weaknesses of his players, Glen Gulutzan understands this and he will use it with Raymond here, Mason is only 30 years old.