[sureLoss]

From Friedman's 30 thoughts:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/3...olden-knights/

Other Flames related:

15. The Flames are loading up on young goalies and defencemen. Last week, they signed 2016 second-rounder Tyler Parsons, who backstopped London to the 2016 Memorial Cup and the United States to 2017 world junior gold. Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson are free agents at the NHL level, but Calgary now has five goalies at the AHL and below with NHL potential. Jon Gillies and David Rittich are at AHL Stockton; Mason McDonald is at ECHL Adirondack; Parsons is still in junior as is Nick Schneider with Medicine Hat (so you know Kelly Hrudey loves him).

“Gillies and Rittich are getting closer to playing in the NHL, but I’d rather cook them for another year if we have to than jam them in,” GM Brad Treliving said Monday. “The biggest challenge in goal is finding enough spots for everyone. Is there enough net? A goalie can do well in the ECHL, you’re fine down there. The real question is Parsons. He’ll have played three years of junior, won a Memorial Cup, a world juniors and there is potential for another run now. You don’t want to rush someone, but you do want to challenge him. At the end of the day, you always rather not enough spots than not enough players.”

16. On defence, Calgary is discussing signing Boston University’s Brandon Hickey, a third-rounder in 2014 who has one more year of college eligibility. They just snared NCAA free agent blueliner Jake Healey. They are pretty deep at the NHL level, although there will be free agency questions. Those two join a prospect pool that includes Rasmus Andersson, Brett Kulak, Oliver Kylington and Adam Ollas Mattsson, who just came overseas on an AHL tryout. (The Flames are also excited about Adam Fox, going to the Frozen Four with Harvard.)

“When we got here, the plan was to build down the middle, with goalies, defencemen and centres,” Treliving said. “We’ve talked about goalies. You’d like to have a big four on defence. We have (Mark) Giordano, Dougie (Hamilton) and T.J. Brodie. We’ll see who that fourth is, whether we bring back Michael Stone or it’s somebody else. Ideally, you allow for two kids, maybe one on the third pair and an extra. But the plan is to let them marinate. You don’t have to rush them, although it’s contingent on what we do here. What it gives you is options and depth. They can come and play here, or they give you the opportunity to find other things you need.”

With all of the cooking analogies, I’m betting Treliving spends a lot of his free time watching Chopped.

17. Treliving did indicate he wants to bring back Deryk Engelland, who is a free agent. But, he probably has to sort out the fourth defenceman first, and I can see him not wanting to disrupt an improving, more confident club by picking only one potential contract to solve now.