[thymebalm]

Re: Granlund

-He's always been a great player. I watched him nightly during his time with the Heat, and he was almost a point a game as a rookie in the AHL. He has a laser shot, can deke and skate and think the game. You watched him and thought "too good for this league."

-He didn't have a spot on this team. He was going to be wasted or ruined buried behind Bennett, Backlund and Monahan. There was zero room for him as a center. He probably could have turned into a good winger for the organization, but we'll never know now.

-He had no trade value. What!? I just said he was good and no he has no trade value?! GMs knew he was going to be waiver wire fodder when the Flames couldn't fit him in next season, so why would they pay for something they could have for free? It's hard to make demands when the other GMs can look at your salaries and roster spots and see your weakness.

-Shinkaruk was probably the level of prospect being offered across the board. What Treliving was really after, if you recall, was flexibility. He was handcuffed by the previous GMs (Wideman, Stajan, Smid), and a couple of poor choices of his own (Bouma, Raymond) and he was left needing to hold an asset that he could waive and retain. Shinkaruk had the extra year on his ELC to give the Flames a call up ready guy that they didn't need to expose for an extra year.

Was it worth it? I don't know. Granny can play. Were they going to be able to keep him at all? maybe not. I think a lot of GMs had his name circled come October when the final roster was announced.

We've tasted the feeling of losing a quality guy to the wire because of bad management. Sacrificing Byron to the Three-Headed Goalie-Monster didn't pay off, and Montreal is laughing in our faces. As they should be.

Treliving wasn't going to let that happen twice. He had an asset that was going to be exposed and it was either pull the trigger in February or have the rug pulled out from under him in October.