[Calgary4LIfe]

The problem with bringing Elliott back is that you know what you are bringing back. An inconsistent goalie. You just can't rely on an inconsistent goalie. Maybe if they acquire another solid goaltender who hasn't been a starter but seems ready for it, but bringing back Elliott as the certified starter is just asking for another year of inconsistency.

In a perfect world, you bring in two young up and coming goalies. 2 out of Grubauer, Pickard or Raanta (though Raanta isn't that young, but he is thought of as a possible starter). You hope that one of them catches fire and rises to the challenge. You hope the other one plays well enough to be a competent backup and to be able to roll for a while when needed.

None of the available and experienced legitimate starters that are rumored to be available entice me all that much. Any of them could very well prove to be great, but all of them seem to have some holes and issues. I think I actually like Smith the most at the moment out of him, Fleury, Halak and Elliott, but only because I think he is a bit more consistent. Then again, it isn't like I follow the Coyotes all that much.

Fleury is inconsistent. Is he REALLY an upgrade over Elliott? I am not sure about that.

Halak - he has only played half or more of a season's worth of games 4 times in his career - and only once in the last 5 seasons. Can you really count on him coming in and being a legitimate starter? I would only want him as a '1b' guy (and I am 100% fine with that seeing as he is more than likely not going to cost any significant asset to acquire). He only has one more season, but is paid 4.5 million. That seems ok - until you realize that, once again, you probably don't want to acquire him HOPING he can play at least 50 games as the bona fide starter. Adding that contract to Smith's, Fleury's, etc.., is not something the Flames can afford. Maybe with Pickard (1 million), Grubauer (RFA, but can't see him asking for much north of 1 million), etc., it is workable.

Out of the young goalies, I am actually liking Pickard now. Just being a stat watcher, he posted up better numbers than Varlamov (maybe Varly got the tougher assignments? Maybe his injury affected him this season?) on the crappiest team in the league. I am surprised he got above .900 as a SV% (.904). He looked reasonably good to me whenever I see them play (which is not often) - at least it makes me think that goaltending is not the reason why Colorado is such a putrid team.

I don't want to see Gillies going back in any goalie trade either. Everyone left is a stop gap. I want Calgary to have as many damn bullets as possible in trying to find out the next guy. Yes, who knows how they will make room (Gillies, Rittich, MacDonald, Schneider, Parsons) in the AHL and ECHL, not to mention they will own the rights to McCollum next season who the Flames are likely to loan out somewhere again).

I am not even looking for spectacular goaltending. Just someone consistent. Someone that will stop what he should stop. I don't care if he can't stop every single breakaway on him this upcoming season, as long as he doesn't allow garbage goals from un-screened shots coming from low danger areas (like outside the blue line and behind the net!).

Elliott isn't that, so I hope that the Flames move on. I especially hope they move on considering the Flames will have to spend a 3rd round pick to bring back Elliott who didn't provide consistent goaltending. It is a shame, as I liked Elliott, and some part of me wants to bring him back just to hope he rebounds and shows that he is an elite goaltender, just to shut up all the critics out there. But then again, there have been a lot of goalies that are like him - runs of elite level play interspersed with outright losing games for his team.

Johnson didn't provide consistent goaltending, but as a backup he is good. Really good. Best backup the Flames have had probably since the early 90's at least. Can't think of another backup that was better than him for the Flames since the early 90's - unless you want to count Ramo, but that was a 1a/1b scenario for me.

Call me crazy, but if Ramo's knee is healed, I would include him in the '1b' scenario. I think he is better than an average backup, but not quite someone you can rely on to be a starter. Has to make sense on the contract though.

Don't spend many assets, but let's throw some more darts at the board and hope for the best here. It is almost to the point for me where I want Treliving to sign a few guys on a damn PTO and have a battle royale to earn the spot.

Every goalie available has warts - especially with regards to inconsistency. I just hope that whomever the Flames acquire just works out. Still hoping for a roll of the dice on two young guys, and you hope with those 2 plus Rittich and Gillies, that the Flames will find a capable, average, consistent starter.