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Markstom was the best possible goalie signing we could have gotten. It's very rare that a legit #1 becomes available as a UFA. Markstrom is a bit older, but also doesn't really have that many miles on him.

With any UFA signing you're pretty much guaranteed to be paying for 2-3 years of uncertain past their prime years. That's just how it works. You're bidding against other teams, and a major factor for the player is contract length. Every single player is going want to sign past what they expect their prime to be. A player like Markstrom is simply not going to sign a contract that only brings him to the end of his expected prime.

The Flames have had a revolving set of goalies for a while now, and simply needed more certainty. They got it with Markstrom.

I was opposed to the Neal and Brouwer signings from the start. It was obvious neither player had the complete all around game to do anything but bump in rebounds. Both were useless skaters. Both were fake tough guys too. Coleman IMO looks different. He can actually play up and down the lineup and has good hustle and defensive game.