Flames season in review....

[Sample00]

The Calgary Flames

A Season in Review….

After being given the honour of guiding the Calgary Flames in the CPHL, GM Axel Axmann, quickly put his stamp on the team.

The goal was to make the Flames a powerhouse with veteran talent and good strong players.

In one of the first solid moves of the year, the Flames called up newbie GM KEVI of the NYI. The deal went down as follows, Flames sent:

Eric Daze, Oleg Tverdovsky, Mike Zigomanis and a third round draft pick
In exchange for
Byron Dafoe, Sergei Gonchar and Anson Carter

This trade would be pivotal as the Flames would acquire a superstar in Gonchar.

The next big deal involved one, Keith Tkachuk. Keith was acquired for Marco Sturm, Dustin Brown, and a first round draft choice. Although a decent trade this one was not one of the best deals GM Axmann would make. Giving up all that young good talent was not a wise choice.

And then it happened…December 16, 2004…THE TRADE!! NHL

In what could be arguably be one of the biggest trades of the year, The Calgary Flames and the Phoenix Coyotes teamed up to pull of this big exhange….

Kieth Tkachuk
Danius Zubrus
Joe Niewendyk
Anson Carter
Mike Rathje
Martin Biron

In exchange for

Nikolai Khabibulin
Josef Stumpel
Patrick Traverse
Miroslav Satan
Andy Sutton
Pierre Turgeon

On paper this deal still looks like a good one for the Flames. Little did we know at the time, that it would be this move that would come back to haunt the Flames. Axmann felt that Biron was not quite ready for Primetime and made it clearly known that he was looking for a proven performer. Efforts were made to get a variety of tenders…but when Khabby became available, it was pretty much a no brainer.

Well, good ole Marty Biron showed that he was in fact ready for primetime by ousting his old club in 6 games in the first round.

The next big deal the Flames made was with ole buddy Dave from the Florida Panthers..
Flames sent
Miro Satan and Jason Blake in exchange for Marco Sturm, Dan Boyle and Jason Krog.
This was a good trade but losing the scoring touch of Satan hurt. Flames were happy to acquire Sturm and Boyle in this trade.

Next up, Flames and Pens decide to change things up. Flames decided to add some veteran leadership to the lineup as well as some help on D…Flames send..
Josef Stumpel, Dan Boyle and Jason Krog in exchange for Steve Yzerman, Al MacInnis and Eric Boguniecki. Neither Big Al or Steve would be around for the playoff run…

February 1st 2005 saw a massive player swap between the Leafs and the Flames…
Here’s how it looked…Berggren, Johan (D) AHL
Deveaux, Andre © AHL
Caron, Francois (D) ECHL
Lacouture, Dan (LW) NHL
Zidlicky, Marek (D) NHL
Sundstrom, Niklas (LW) NHL
Knuble, Mike (LW) NHL
Jones, Ryan (LW) ECHL
Hedman, Oscar (D) ECHL
Haskins, Tyler © ECHL

In exchange for

Ronning, Cliff (LW) NHL
Sturm, Marco (LW) NHL
Weinrich, Eric (D) NHL
Taratukhin, Andrei © AHL
Tallackson, Barry (LW) ECHL
Parshin, Denis (LW) ECHL
Lundin, Mike (D) AHL
2005 3rd Round Draft Choice (pho)

How do you even begin to break this one down. Superfraggle was the brains behind this one as GM Axmann just nodded lots…
Bascially the deal came down to Zidlicky, Sundstrom, Knuble for Sturm, Ronning, Weinrich. Spare parts were throw in to try to make it the biggest player swap in CPHL history. Whether that mission was accomplished or not remains to be seen.

February 7th marked the day when veteran leadership was replaced by …ummm..veteran leadership. Flames talked to his ole buddy Kevi from the Isles and this exchange took place…
Steve Yzerman and Al MacInnis for Ronnie Francis and Matthieu Schneider.
With the NHL lockout in full swing, many felt that some players would retire if this process went on too long. There for Axmann felt it was time to move big Al and Stevie Y for Ronnie and Matthieu with the biggest reason being, is that Schneider might not be retiring right away…WHO KNOWS???!!!!!
Flames then promptly sent Matthiew Schneider back to the Islanders in exhange for Mitchell, Willie (D) NHL
Cajanek, Petr (LW) NHL
2006 2nd Round Draft Choice (nyi)
The trading is why we play this game isn’t it?????

On March 10, Flames talked to the Buffalo Sabres GM Mike and this deal went down
Chris Gratton and Marek Zidlicky were sent to the Sabres in exchange for superstar D, Scott Niedermayer and a 2nd round draft choice. This deal is one of the better deals Flames GM Axmann made as Niedermayer will hopefully remain a Flame for quite some time.(ya right!!)

One of the last big trades that the Flames made was with good ole boy Dave from the Panthers. Axmann cant quite remember the complete details but it was a blockbuster.
Going from the Flames was ubersuperstar D Sergei Gonchar but coming to the Flames were Adrian Aucoin and Dan Boyle. There were other players involved but the details were a bit sketchy as Axmann must have dipped into too many non alcoholic beverages.

Anyways that the season in review. There were so many smaller trades also made but those were the big ones and big they were!!.
So where do the Flames go from here…
Well, Flames signed Jarome Iginila to a 3 year deal that included a no trade clause. Jarome is and always will be a Flame in the CPHL and the NHL.
Flames will also try and resign Robert Lang to a long term deal. Hopefully some fair can be worked out.
Who will the Flames be moving, well the list is somewhat endless…
Gone or soon to be gone will be:
Shawn McEachern
Scott Young
Chris Chelios
Vladimir Malakhov
Scott Stevens
Nikolai Khabibulin

Some players here will surprise you and others wont but hey that’s what CPHL hockey is all about. If you have interest in any of these players, give me a buzz.
Thanks for another enjoyable season and I look forward to the challenger of next year.
Please excuse the dysfunctional write up, as I am not much of a journalist.
Thanks again, guys and gals.

[HelloHockeyFans]

Originally posted by Sample00@Apr 18 2005, 04:05 PM
In one of the first solid moves of the year, the Flames called up newbie GM KEVI of the NYI. The deal went down as follows, Flames sent:

Eric Daze, Oleg Tverdovsky, Mike Zigomanis and a third round draft pick
In exchange for
Byron Dafoe, Sergei Gonchar and Anson Carter

I still feel this was a very interesting deal... losing Gonchar proved to be huge, but I did get my best LWer in Daze. I also got a very good dman in Oleg... too bad he's retiring...

[MJK]

A great writeup Axel...we made a few big trades together and I look forward to making even more in the future!

[Goffie]

Originally posted by mjk123@Apr 19 2005, 08:59 AM
A great writeup Axel...we made a few big trades together and I look forward to making even more in the future!

Wait I am confused, I didn't think Dave liked to trade




Nice write up Axel!!

[Superfraggle]

Originally posted by Sample00@Apr 18 2005, 10:05 AM
Bascially the deal came down to Zidlicky, Sundstrom, Knuble for Sturm, Ronning, Weinrich. Spare parts were throw in to try to make it the biggest player swap in CPHL history. Whether that mission was accomplished or not remains to be seen.

To this day, i'm thrilled you see it this way. :P . You can be happy having gotten the CPHLers, and I can be happy having switched Caron, Deveaux, Lacouture, Jones, Hedman, Haskins for Taratukhin, Tallackson, Parshin, Lundin, and a 3rd. Good deal all around.