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Originally Posted by AC
All the reports from the media and from Stone himself have been that he was dead set on Vegas. Friedman and Marek said it's well known that was where he was going to sign.
Unless the Flames pulled out when they were informed he wasn't going to re-sign with us following the trade going through.
I'm sure the Flames were weighing the value of trading for Stone and risking him not signing vs what they would pay for an immediate extension.
But with Friedman, Marek, and Stone himself all confirming he only had one long-term destination in mind, I think it's worth taking at face value:
Friedman: "You said when you were talking about your future with your representative, you said Vegas was the one place you wanted to go. Was there anywhere else where you thought 'I may end up here for the time being'?"
Stone: "Yeah, there was lots of teams I thought maybe I was going to go to. But when the time came, there was a trade in place with Las Vegas it was pending talking with my representatives pending coming to an agreement. I couldn't be more excited, I wanted to get that deal done"
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I don't think what you're saying and I'm saying are mutually exclusive.
I'm saying the flames couldn't get a deal done without sending back salary. Stone is saying there were multiple teams involved as a destination.
The Sens had a deal in place with Vegas that they liked. It was contingent on atone signing an extension, so they made him available to talk extension.
I think they also had a deal in place with the Flames that they liked less.
I don't think stone picked his destination, I think the Senators had a clear preference on what trade they wanted to do and based on their borderline bankruptcy and the fact they didn't take any serious salary back in any of their other moves that day, it was the deal that didn't cost them any money.
I think if the flames had 10x8 on the table and weren't sending salary back, 1st+valimaki would've made stone a flame.
I get taking it at face value, but also, what else is he going to say after signing an 8 year deal?
Elliott also said this,
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I think if Calgary got him there, the Flames loved their chances of it eventually occurring. But word is Ottawa’s ask included Juuso Valimaki, and for the second year in a row Calgary rejected anyone’s attempts to pry loose the Finnish defenceman.
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He previously speculated that the Sens had offered Stone 10.5x5 but that would've left him having to negotiate again at 32, perhaps leaving money on the table.
I'm not going to make an argument that Vegas isnt a much more attractive destination than Calgary, but I think you can pay players to pay there.
I think when Burke went on TV to say that it would've cost x for the flames to match what stone makes in Vegas because of the high taxes in Alberta (lol), I think he was betraying what the flames would have had to offer Stone to get him to stay. I think Elliotte saying the flames were confident they could keep him means they knew the figure his camp wanted as well.
In the end Stone may have preferred making 9.5 in Vegas to making 10.5 in Calgary. But what we also know is that the flames couldn't possibly afford to give him that contract with Neal on the roster, and so the risk was in that he might leave before they had the opportunity to move the salary necessary to extend him. In Vegas, it happened right away.
To me what betrays this is Meloney saying they went to bed thinking they had the deal done, and Friedman quoting another GM that once Brannstrom was on the table, no other team was going to beat that offer.
If the flames thought they had the deal done, and no one was going to beat the brannstrom offer, it stands to reason Brannstrom wasn't on the table the night before the deadline.
I think the flames thought they had Stone in a deal that would've sent Neal out of town, and when Vegas offered Brannstrom with no Salary attached, Vegas took the cheaper offer knowing Stone signing an extension wouldn't be a roadblock, while Stone knew wherever be was going he'd be getting his big payday with term attached.