Quote:
Originally Posted by Svartsengi
I like Sergei but for a return involving yet another 1st round pick going out the door I would want him to have signed an extension with us prior to the trade. I have no idea what kind of dollars he is looking for or whether The Flames can even afford him.
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The Flames don't have many pending UFAs going into this summer, but they do have a lot of tradeable contracts.
Frolik, Brodie and Stone are all useful NHL players on expiring deals. They combine to make $12.5M. Add in Smith's expiring $4.25, and the Flames have nearly $17M in cap space to work with.
Andersson moves up to play with Gio, Kylington plays with Valimaki, Hamifin stays together. Dube, Jankowksi and Bennett have to grow up, and Neal plays with Backlund/Tkachuk.
Tkachuk is unlikely to get more than $6.75M per year, given what Johnny and Gio are making. Bennett, based on early returns, is not going to be worth much more than $3M.
Whether or not they can afford Bobrovsky is up to Brad. They can surely afford Varlamov. They should probably do everything to get Bobrovsky. They need to get at least one of them, and failing to do so is a fireable offense to me at this stage.
Now, before any of this happens, they need to make sure David Rittich isn't the guy. And that means letting him run with the job for a month, or however long it takes for him to a) earn it or b) flame out.