[Split98]

I think Johnson has proven to have great potential here in Calgary. Without him, we're talking about the draft right now. I don't pretend that the hot streak was the Johnson we can expect to see nightly, but he absolutely earned a spot here next year.

This year, he's our starter. Elliott has been given enough opportunity to take the reigns so I hope the Chad is given an extension and the games he's earned. If we can find a taker, try and move Elliott this year. Otherwise, show him the press box for the rest of the season.

As Calgary4LIfe mentioned earlier, we have two goalies in the AHL right now that are going to need contracts next year. Rittich is a good goalie, and has put up 1.96/.929 this season. I'd love to see him get a few games on the Flames this year so see what we've got. Gillies hasn't been great, but we know he'll be offered a contract. He's got a ton of potential we'll want to see through.

But a Johnson/Rittich or a Johnson/Gillies tandem has potential to be an upgrade on what we're seeing from Elliott. If we make the playoffs it'll be in spite of Brian's starts I doubt he sees a game in the post-season. I see no problems playing either one of those two in Brian's place. The bottom feeders he's beaten were certainly not something Rittich or Gillies couldn't handle... and he lets in enough softies that there's no risk trying someone else. Really, we can only improve on his starts.

Next year, we know what we have in Johnson and we have Gillies and Parsons to look forward to. I don't think we should be making any big moves for a starter quite yet, and certainly not making any commitment to Elliott. None of them are sure things, but all have potential to do very well here. It wouldn't be unheard of to have one of our 5 prospects push for a spot next year. Not saying that is what WILL happen, just that we shouldn't close the door on that quite yet. With Johnson now, I feel comfortable enough that we have someone in net that can cover the starts. He may not light the NHL on fire, but he's good enough to do the job. Or hell... he HAS already lit the NHL on fire once before. Who's to say that Johnson hot-streak ISN'T the real Johnson?

Either way, I've seen no upside to having Elliott around.