Flames Management Confidence - Free Agency

[Bingo]

Still can't get my head around the Calgary view of management in the Athletic piece so I'm going to use the fact that it's August to launch a quick topic for every section in that piece along with a poll.

Not very concerned about how confident Torontonians are in Calgary's management but I'm dying to see the Calgarypuck version.

Poll One - Free Agency

1 - low
5- high

[TheScorpion]

Versteeg and Frolik make this a 3 and not lower.

[Hack&Lube]

Signings then buyouts of Mason Raymond (3 year, $3.15M CAV), Lance Bouma (3 year, $2.2M CAV), and Troy Brouwer (4 year, $4.5M CAV) over the last two seasons drops this one to their lowest score for me.

That's $9.85 million in cap hit for huge overlapping term that was basically written off as bad decisions.

[Dion]

The Brouwer signing and then the buyout has me at a level of 3. Free agency has not been Tre's strongest suit and has always made me second guess his free agent signings.

[Textcritic]

I was probably at a "2" before 1 July, but Treliving's impressive summer has raised his overall grade in my eyes.

[dammage79]

A 3. Players may not pan out but he consistently goes out and signs player to plug holes. The list of unsuccessful signings to succesful ones is not balanced. I do suspect that this year's fa class will tilt this up back to a 4 by season's end though.

[Wood]

I meant to vote 4 but whatever

In hindsight the Brouwer signing was poor, but at the time he appeared to be a solid signing to fill a big hole we had on the right side

People may point to the Frolik signing as a mistake, but I disagree. He had a bad season, but his first 2 seasons here were fantastic and just a year ago he was a part of one of the best lines in the league

If he can finish the contract off strong that was as good of a free agent signing as anyone could hope for

[Brewmaster]

I think it depends how you define free agency. If you include re-signings and RFA deals, Treliving has done a good job of negotiating team friendly deals and keeping good talent in Calgary (Gaudreau, Monahan, Hamilton, Giordano, Lindholm, Backlund, Brodie, Stone).

UFAs have been mixed, with Raymond, Bouma, and Brouwer all being disappointments, but Frolik and Versteeg looking like good signings. James Neal, who is the biggest UFA signing by this management team, looks like a big win given what he has done so far in his career but we never know how these things pan out.

[Flashpoint]

Voted 2.

It's always a bad idea to sign UFA's. You're overpaying for what they've done in the past. If your best case is Frolik and Versteeg, you're better off to develop it internally at lower cost.

The summer looked good regardless - but you can't really judge till you see them suit up. The Neal signing does appear poised to add the elements of bite and top line scoring that we've lacked.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Wood

I meant to vote 4 but whatever

In hindsight the Brouwer signing was poor, but at the time he appeared to be a solid signing to fill a big hole we had on the right side

People may point to the Frolik signing as a mistake, but I disagree. He had a bad season, but his first 2 seasons here were fantastic and just a year ago he was a part of one of the best lines in the league

If he can finish the contract off strong that was as good of a free agent signing as anyone could hope for

The Brouwer signing was bad from day one.

[flame^thrower]

I wanted to go with a 4, but just a few too many that drag it down. Now, hopefully Neal brings that up, even after playing here a few seasons. Also, Czarnik and Ryan may turn out pretty well for us.

[Parallex]

Usually I pray that someone takes his phone away until July 7th or so but I liked what he did this year so thimble in the middle.

[McG]

3. Just 3.

[Mass_nerder]

I gave a 3 because I was pretty happy with the Neal and Czarnik signings, but overall I think it's more like a 2.5 based on signings in the past few off seasons.

[Huntingwhale]

I picked 4, but I'm probably being generous. As bad as Brouwer's was, we haven't had a truly crippling contract of the likes that Sutter or Feaster were infamous for. I can't recall a signing by BT that truly boggled my mind. Most of the signing made sense at the time and were for legit holes in the lineup. At some point it's up to the player to perform.

The Neal signing has the potential to be a home run.

[bubbsy]

Gave it a 2. Brouwer was terrible, Raymond was also bought out. Frolik had a solid start but given the state of the franchise, not a necessity, and already looking to be moved down the depth chart....

Neal is exciting this year could be a mistake as early as next season (worst case).

[Cali Panthers Fan]

This is the one area Treliving deserves criticism for.

Good free agent signings: Frolik, Engelland, Versteeg (following PTO), Neal (TBD)

Mid-range: Hiller (1 good year, 1 bad), Diaz, C. Johnson

Bad signings: Raymond (buyout), Brouwer (buyout), Grossmann (following PTO-and released),

The bad and mediocre far outweigh the good.

[kermitology]

Good:

Ryan
Frolik
Neal (for now)

Bad:
Brouwer
Grossmann
Glass
Bartkowski
Stone
Bouma
Raymond

The bad aren’t that bad, but the good are too few. Free agency is tough. You rarely get what you pay for.

[Lanny_McDonald]

2. Has not been Treliving's strength. The Neal and Ryan signings could turn that all around, but the string of free agents he's brought in have been pretty brutal.

[mrdonkey]

A 2 from me here. Most signings I'd say have been of little consequence overall but there are some big mistakes in there, as there usually are in free agency. Frolik and Engelland turned out ok despite looking a little hairy when they happened, but when the best you can say is that things went ok that doesn't really merit anything higher than a 3.

I'm also going to lump coaching in with this as they are free agents of a sort, and as someone who hasn't been a fan of either Gulutzan or Peters since day 1 I'm going to give that one a thumbs down.