Quote:
Originally Posted by The Cobra
They were all hockey moves made after the fact, and retention is to simply increase trade value and doesn't put them over budget.
There is a difference between those and "Oh give him $1M, we can always bury him in the minors". They would not likely do it if they thought that there was a likelihood of doing that.
Part of the reason for the Lucic trade was the huge amount of cash they saved.
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I think you do have to consider that the Flames are not the Leafs, Rangers or even the Oilers when it comes to revenue. They will spend within their means, but they don't generate the sums of cash any of those teams do. So at the end of they day, they're not going to spend at those levels. Edwards and all the other owners didn't get into their positions by letting their business interests spend more than what they earn. The NHL's big spenders likely spend a lower percentage of their total revenue than many of their mid-level counterparts, they just have more resources to pay for their mistakes. Even in a new rink the Flames are still going to be down the list in terms of revenue. Unless you are a fan of the team...they're the type of team where a casual fan will think...that city has a team...where is that place. Not so sure Calgarians are going to constantly fork out a grand to see a game like people in Edmonton do.
In the NFL there is a term that the best ability is availability. So as much as this will anger a few on this site...Kylington just got paid a full salary for 2 years to play less than half a season. There are questions about his availability. Even with Tanev he did take some tough hits which one could see as making him a bit injury prone let alone what he's just been through. So I can see why the owner may not want to commit for a longer term of paying a salary again. How many of us working schmucks have an employer that would grant a leave at full salary for this long? For a lot of us after a week we're fighting with an Insurance Company doing everything it can to deny paying you 2/3rds of what you make if you even have coverage.