[sureLoss]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...in-retirement/

Not a lot of Flames related content this week besides this:

2. All of a sudden, Vancouver has more than $20 million to play with for 2018–19. Word is they were very interested in Mikael Backlund before Calgary re-signed him. They have young players with top-six skill — Jonathan Dahlen, Adam Gaudette and Elias Pettersson — who might not be ready for full-time top-six roles. How do they bridge that one-, two- or three-year gap? One possibility is they offer some short-term, bigger-money contracts to the group of available free agents.

Their interest in Backlund has opponents thinking they could be an aggressive participant in the market. The other is by leveraging their cap space like Vegas did last summer. We’ll help you, the Canucks can say, but you are going to help us. Two calls I’d be making would be to Chicago and Ottawa. Could the Canucks pitch taking some or all of Marian Hossa’s cap hit and/or Bobby Ryan’s contract, as long as the Blackhawks and Senators make it worth their while? (Ryan would have some control over his destination.)

Also of interest:

8. Doug MacLean said on our Wednesday-night telecast of Ottawa/Buffalo that the Senators see a drop-off after the first seven picks of the 2018 Draft. They could finish anywhere from 27th to 30th with two games to go, and don’t have to decide on giving up their first-rounder to Colorado until the pick is due. But if it is lower than seven, Doug’s intel suggests a pass. We’ll see.

10. Interesting conversation last week with Winnipeg’s Kyle Connor. In the 2015 draft, he thought he was going to Florida. The Panthers were picking 11th, “and I had a lot of good conversations with them,” he said. “But I remember that Lawson Crouse was supposed to be a high pick and he dropped down to them. So I understood why it didn’t happen.” From there, Connor wasn’t sure. Neither were the Jets, although every team knew the Boston, which picked 13, 14, and 15 had a different list than almost everyone else. Most teams agree that Vancouver had Brock Boeser ranked higher than almost everyone else, but when I said that on-air a few weeks ago, someone reached out to say there were two teams the Canucks privately admitted they were afraid of. One was Minnesota, which was common knowledge. It took me a while, but I finally figured out the other. It was the Jets. If Connor was gone, Boeser was going to be the pick. Worked out for Winnipeg — and Vancouver.