Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Predict the 2016/2017 Flames Starting Lineup

bubbsy · 10-11-2016, 11:05 AM

man, that ricardodw post is painful. I don't even quite understand the point being made, is it that with the contracts set in, this is the best the flames will be with this group, so they best be close to winning this season?? That's just so short sighted and un-thought out.

There will be a time that wideman, stajan, bollig, raymond, engelland contracts come off the books.

Some of that money will go to the goaltending, but it's foolhearted to think it won't be used to try to upgrade other areas of the roster. Not to mention, trades and further asset management (please go check the NTC/NMC of the guys under contract, there's plenty of flexibility there) should the roster need larger changes to compete.

It also takes a view that one of the youngest teams int he league, won't see substancial improvements directly through organic growth of the kids. I'd expect tkachuk, bennet, and some of the lesser blue-chip guys hit their best years over the period of the contracts of our best players. That could be any of jankowski, shinkaruk, gilles, poirier, kylington, andersson, kulak, ferland, etc.

WIth the gaudreau signing, the flames have definitely established a "window". Not for winning the cup, but the window of the core. the great news is that they are young enough that when this window completes, and even if they don't win, the core aren't 35 and limited assets, the team could easily change directions near the end of the window.

My opinion, rip it as you may, but i just fail to see how many flames fans are disappointed this morning. The entire core is locked up, there aren't any outliers as far as overpaid (caphit), longterm guys in there. The management have set themselves up to be able to be flexible given how the coming years play out. I just hope we see less raymond, engelland type contracts handed out. I do take some consolation that they could have done the easy and more "obvious" thing in signing some of this year's RFAs, but they did some solid calculations when deciding to let good players like Colborne (he's a decent middle 6 player in the league now) walk for nothing.

10-11-2016, 11:05 AM	#844
bubbsy Franchise Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Exp:	man, that ricardodw post is painful. I don't even quite understand the point being made, is it that with the contracts set in, this is the best the flames will be with this group, so they best be close to winning this season?? That's just so short sighted and un-thought out. There will be a time that wideman, stajan, bollig, raymond, engelland contracts come off the books. Some of that money will go to the goaltending, but it's foolhearted to think it won't be used to try to upgrade other areas of the roster. Not to mention, trades and further asset management (please go check the NTC/NMC of the guys under contract, there's plenty of flexibility there) should the roster need larger changes to compete. It also takes a view that one of the youngest teams int he league, won't see substancial improvements directly through organic growth of the kids. I'd expect tkachuk, bennet, and some of the lesser blue-chip guys hit their best years over the period of the contracts of our best players. That could be any of jankowski, shinkaruk, gilles, poirier, kylington, andersson, kulak, ferland, etc. WIth the gaudreau signing, the flames have definitely established a "window". Not for winning the cup, but the window of the core. the great news is that they are young enough that when this window completes, and even if they don't win, the core aren't 35 and limited assets, the team could easily change directions near the end of the window. My opinion, rip it as you may, but i just fail to see how many flames fans are disappointed this morning. The entire core is locked up, there aren't any outliers as far as overpaid (caphit), longterm guys in there. The management have set themselves up to be able to be flexible given how the coming years play out. I just hope we see less raymond, engelland type contracts handed out. I do take some consolation that they could have done the easy and more "obvious" thing in signing some of this year's RFAs, but they did some solid calculations when deciding to let good players like Colborne (he's a decent middle 6 player in the league now) walk for nothing.