Quote:
Originally Posted by Aarongavey
The Flames did not have the salary room to sign a 8 year extension, in large part because of the contracts handed out to aging UFA’s. So we will never know whether they could have signed him to a longterm contract or signed Mangiapane in 2020 to a longterm contract because they just did not have the room.
Instead of trying to lockdown their young players for as much term as possible and then using whatever space is left to fill in the gaps, they sign little show me deals because they do not have the space for a longterm contract or the GM has a philosophy of only paying once someone has performed and then when they show them (like Mangiapane and Dube) they back up the brinks truck.
Would Dube sign a 8 year 27 million dollar deal in 2021, maybe, who knows. But the Flames never do that. When Dube gets 60 points next year we can maybe sign him for 3 years at 18 million, buy two UFA years and lose him at 28.
The philosophy to not sign young players longterm is probably not a Murray Edwards philosophy. That is a management decision. The few times they have done it (Rasmus) it works out, but the decisions to buy expensive vets means they can only do it sparingly.
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Do you ever ask yourself ‘what don’t I know here?’ Or is the assumption the Flames are idiots and you know better from your couch/keyboard?
Pretty sure the Flames spoke with Tkachuk about a number of possibilities, long term and short term. Did Tkachuk let on that he might want to play elsewhere down the line? Doubt it. Did Tkachuk know Sutter would eventually be the coach and they might not see eye to eye? Probably not. Did the Flames say ‘we can sign you to 7-8 years but we have to move X to do so’.
You make the best decisions you can at the time with the information you have available. I can’t speak to what discussions were had because I wasn’t there and neither were you. But to think extending Tkachuk to a longer term deal wasn’t discussed is absurd. And if they took you suggested approach with each of their young players surely they would get burned by that as well and guys like yourself would be talking about how stupid the Flames are for signing player X for 7-8 years and now they’re stuck. The sword has two edges.