Quote:
Originally Posted by Bingo
Will have to see if they use any.
Not wanting to retain for 2.5 years is a different animal and doesn't say anything about their willingness to retain on expiring contracts.
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In my eyes Conroy and the organization should be aggressive in being willing to do it though. If they truly want to fast forward things and not dwell in irrelevancy, using the cap space in the short term to effectively skip the line in the draft is a good way to do it.
Markstrom @ 50% for Alexander Holtz (I don't think we'd see a deal like this being a 1 for 1, but for as example)
That's a 34 year old goalie and ~$6M for a 22 year old top-10 pick that has already spent some time being developed. Those types of players are rarely traded, and would help the Flames get down this re-tool road quicker. When you look at Wolf being a sub-$2M goalie for the duration of that Markstrom retention period, it's not a very painful pill to swallow. Especially when we look at recent history and the fact that we spent that $6M in goalie salary on the league's worst goalie just last season.
The Flames seemingly don't want a prolonged period of pain, and using things like salary retention helps them avoid that. Conroy should of course extract maximum value, but the team is in a really good/intriguing spot when it comes to the goaltending position and dealing from a position of power right now seems like a smart move.
I'd sooner see Markstrom traded than Hanifin at this point. If we extend Hanifin and trade Markstrom and Tanev? I'd view that as a big ol' W (...bigger W being trading all 3).