Designated Stajan Thread

[Heavy Jack]

Don't hate the guy but would like to see him moved out in the off-season!

[TheScorpion]

That's one great thread title.

"Designated Stajan Thread" - sounds like he's been demoted to the AHL or something.

[Finger Cookin]

I hope he retires as a Flame, whenever that time may be.

[Enoch Root]

Stajan does whatever is asked of him every night. He is a little overpaid but it isn't a huge problem and I have no problem with him being on the team for another year or two.

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by MarkGio

Important to the locker room? Now you're just reaching. Stajan takes alot of nights off. He doesn't play like a 4th liner should, and since he's not skilled enough for the top 9, how does he have a place on this team.

You say Stajan is only 1 million overpaid? I say if Stajan was expiring this year he would not be offered another contract. A guy like Jooris, Grant, or any number of players would be eating his ice time instead

Exactly. He may be good in the locker room. He may actually play. But he's not even effective on the 4th line, and he is easily replaceable.

He has an additional year on his contract, in comparison to Raymond, Smid, etc. Overall, his contract is worse. Quite a bit worse, due to the term.

[Aarongavey]

Stajan is the ultimate team guy. He is overpaid by about 2.35 million dollars a year, but other than that he is a beauty.

[red sky]

Honestly, he seems like a great character guy but the game has passed him. He is too slow, not strong enough, and not great on faceoffs. More over, he is really sloppy with his stick and every penalty he takes seems to be ones that could have been avoided entirely. At this point, if there was no expansion I don't think he would be playing in the NHL anymore after this year.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Stajan does whatever is asked of him every night. He is a little overpaid but it isn't a huge problem and I have no problem with him being on the team for another year or two.

Not sure what you mean by your first sentence. What is it he gets asked to do?

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Not sure what you mean by your first sentence. What is it he gets asked to do?

Play various roles, specifically 4th line and defensive duties. Never gets any cherry shifts. How many vets quietly accept a 4th line role and 10-12 minutes a night and never complain? Ever.

[Strange Brew]

We need more from a 4th liner than just someone who doesn't complain. Especially one making this kind of money. Everyone likes Stajan and his personal story but pretty clear he is not contributing much. And besides, Flames fans don't hear a lot of players complaining.

Really not sure what Treliving can do with him at this point.

[Dion]

Stajan is a great team player that will play any role or do whatever it takes to win.

[Roof-Daddy]

I'm not happy that the Flames are paying a somewhat soft, older, slowing 30+ veteran $3,125 million per year to play 10-12 minutes per night, lose face offs and put up 15~ points.

However, the more I ponder the long term cap outlook for the Flames the less concerned I am with it.

Flames are really set up good cap wise after the 2016/17 season when Wideman, Raymond, Smid, and even Engelland and Bollig come off the books.

If they can get a good solid stop gap starting goaltender, and a big mean nasty top six forward (Hello Milan) this off season they will really be set up nice. Especially if Bennett can continue to develop, and Jokipakka develops into a solid top 4 option.

[MarkGio]

That extra 3 million could be applied in any number of circumstances. For example, maybe Hudler wouldn't have come back for less than 5 million and Russel wanted 4 million. If we didn't have Stajan, that 3 million dollars could've been used to keep our good players (if that's something management wanted) rather than trading them for reasons stated by Treveling as "there's only so much dollars to go around". So yeah, every bad contract hurts irregardless. Stajan not being tradeable hurts simply due to the fact that it limits options.

In terms of Stajan "doing whatever is asked for him" I would disagree. Try asking him to win faceoffs, finish checks, and put up some points. He wouldn't do that. Are we really asking him to play the PK and 4th line, or is that all we have for him? There's a difference Monahan being asked to play the 4th line when he's capable of the 1st line, and "asking" Stajan to play the 4th line when really there is no other option.

[MarkGio]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

We need more from a 4th liner than just someone who doesn't complain. Especially one making this kind of money. Everyone likes Stajan and his personal story but pretty clear he is not contributing much. And besides, Flames fans don't hear a lot of players complaining.

Really not sure what Treliving can do with him at this point.

When Torts asked the Sedins to play more of a checking role and they didn't complain, that was respectable. When Rick Nash didn't complain when Babcock gave Crosby the breakaway attempt during the 2010 Olympics, that was respectable. When Ortio doesn't complain that Hiller and Backstrom are getting starts down this stretch despite Ortio needing the starts for a contract and being a better goalie, that's respectable.

But what does Stajan have to complain about otherwise. He's barely an NHLer and he's getting 10 minutes a night and making over 3 million a year.

[Karl]

Anyone who's seen my previous posting history should know how much I had defended Stajan over the years. I really can't defend this season he's had. He's simply been bad this year way more often than not. I'd say he's actually been even worse this year than he was throughout the 2010-11 season, especially since the year turned to 2016 he's been particularly dreadful.

Now with the expansion draft perhaps coming up next year, an argument can be made to keep Stajan and hope that he does better on this team next year. I wish I could say I'm hoping for that, but sadly, I don't know. This once fairly decent NHLer is looking done as an NHL calibre player and I fear this is pretty much all he's got left. I don't think even expansion teams will touch him at this point.

This is why I am still somewhat leaning towards a buyout with this player in June.

[albertGQ]

Of course he is happy to play the 4th line centre role without complaining. What other role is he suited for? That's all he can play.

He's barely a 4th like player and is being paid like a 2nd/3rd line centre.

Of course he's not gonna complain. He hit the jackpot when Burke extended him.

[FlameZilla]

I've wanted rid of Stajan since 2011 but in the last couple of years I've come to accept his limitations and appreciate him as a steady, somewhat average bottom 6 centre.

When he does leave we can finally turn the page and move on from the Darryl Sutter chapter of Flames history, which can only be a positive thing. His presence is a constant reminder of the trade which epitomised a management style that hamstrung the franchise for years.

[GranteedEV]

Stajan's been tied to some anchors this season in Bollig and Jones. There have been times where his line has been genuinely effective. Colborne-Stajan-Jones was arguably our best line early this year. Jooris on Stajan's RW has also been effective. And I was really a fan of Grant on Stajan's LW today.

Stajan is not a traditional 4th line center, and due to our abundance of top 6 centers (Backlund, Monahan, and now Bennett) it's tough to find a 3rd line role for him.

I would prefer his cap hit go to a guy like Eriksson too.

But Matt Stajan can be effective. Just get him the F away from these Bolligs and such.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by GranteedEV

Stajan's been tied to some anchors this season in Bollig and Jones. There have been times where his line has been genuinely effective. Colborne-Stajan-Jones was arguably our best line early this year. Jooris on Stajan's RW has also been effective. And I was really a fan of Grant on Stajan's LW today.

Stajan is not a traditional 4th line center, and due to our abundance of top 6 centers (Backlund, Monahan, and now Bennett) it's tough to find a 3rd line role for him.

I would prefer his cap hit go to a guy like Eriksson too.

But Matt Stajan can be effective. Just get him the F away from these Bolligs and such.

In Monahan's rookie year Stajan / Backlund were the Flames #1/1A centres with 18 minutes each of ice time.

He had 14 goals / 33 pts in 63 games... The year before 23 pts in 43 games.... Basically a Centre version of Frolik .5ppg and doing some checking and PK.

Flames rolled the dice and extended him 4 years and thought/hoped that his play on a awful team would carry forward to be top-6 on a playoff team.

He didn't get bumped to 4th line until Monahan took over as #1 and Backlund as #2 last year

[Erick Estrada]

He's been quiet this year but IMO that can be a good thing for a 4th line center as there have been few games where he's stood out for having a bad game and you can't say that about most of the lineup. Still his salary is too high and ideally you would like to move that contract.