[sa226]

You can't always have 6 top 6 forwards, or 9 top 9 forwards. If you do, you're the Colorado Avalanche.

With the cap the only way we're going to find another top line RW is via an ELC. The Flames decided to tie 16mil + up in their top 3 defencemen. There's your additional top 6 forwards right there. The Flames elected to balance the offence between their forwards and defence. I prefer that to the Avalanche or Oiler model.

Moving forward, the Flames are hitching their wagon to a core forward group of Monahan, Gaudreau, Bennett and Tkachuk. Brouwer and Frolik are fantastic complimentary players that can play throughout the lineup. You need players like that, but you pay a premium for them on July 1st. So let's say the Flames paid a 1-2 mil premium for Frolik and Brouwer combined. That's 3% of the cap. That money is absolutely workable. The term is too.

The real mistakes of the day are paying someone like Backes or Eriksson that kind of money on that kind of term. Those moves are like scotch tape on a life raft. It'll keep them afloat for now, but it's still going to sink.