Karri Ramo on waivers UPDATE: Clears, assigned to Stockton

[Eric Vail]

I wonder if Edmonton would be interested. They've had all kinds of trouble with their goalies and it is just a matter of time until they are floundering again.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Happy about this decision.

Thankfully Treliving didn't wait until the season was entirely blown before making a choice. I think internally they always knew that Ortio was going to be on this team going forward. At the very worst, Ortio is an okay backup goaltender and Hiller is the starter and plays well enough most nights to help the team win. Best case scenario: Ortio starts a couple of games, plays lights out, and helps the team work through whatever is keeping them from putting together a complete game. He steals the starters net and never looks back, Hiller plays on back to backs.

Ramo was given plenty of rope to start the year and he ended up hanging himself with it. Nobody to blame but himself. I wouldn't be sad to see him in Stockton in case we need a veteran to call up in the case of injury. Gillies isn't ready for NHL action yet, so it's better to have at least an experienced option if necessary.

At any rate, I just want a goaltender to stop giving up easy goals. Do that, and you give the team a fighting chance. It's hard to improve if you're always worried about a random shot going in.

[Buff]

The correct choice was made. I felt Ramo was the better goalie, but this season he cost the Flames in the games he played. He wasn't totally at fault because the team as a whole hasn't been good. However, his blunder cost the Flames at least a point against the Jets. Then on Ovechkin's goal last night... an NHL goalie can't let those weak plays happen so much in such a short span.

Too bad it was Ramo. But it is good to deal with the goaltending situation. Hiller can rest now knowing that, either he or Ortio will be the starter, but he'll still have an NHL job on a team he presumably wants to play for.

I'm sure the pressure of knowing that their NHL career could be over or on hold was a key factor into the weak play of both Ramo and Hiller. Combine their weak play with the team not being confident in front of the goalie and everything goes awry.

I think a huge part of the team's play is because they quickly lost confidence in the goalies and as a result were over thinking their play and not making the right decisions. Pressure gone, hopefully Hiller can settle down to be more reliable all game long, and Ortio can get game action and maybe show that he is ready to be a full-time goalie.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Ramo passing successfully through waivers may make him more attractive to a team that is headed to the playoffs, and isn't comfortable with their goaltending depth. Wouldn't it then be possible for him to be assigned directly to the AHL by the team that he is sent to?

Yes, if he clears, a team that trades for him could send him directly to the AHL, but you have to remember that he'll still get paid his full salary and have most of cap hit still count against the cap even if he's in the AHL.

There might be an opportunity to move him at the deadline as insurance for a playoff team, but I can't see that happening this early in the season.

[wireframe]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Being put on waivers does not necessarily mean he's gone but in this case, I think it does. Goes unclaimed and backs up Gillies in Stockton. Or maybe traded with 50% retained salary.

There is one fact that is beyond debate IMO. Signing a guy to a $3.8 million dollar contract and waiving him 6 games into the season is a black mark against the GM.

I disagree. I think that shows a GM is humble enough to accept his mistake and fix it. Would you rather he kept Ramo for the season while hoping he got better?

[dammage79]

Originally Posted by Eric Vail

I wonder if Edmonton would be interested. They've had all kinds of trouble with their goalies and it is just a matter of time until they are floundering again.

I think they're plenty happy with Nilsson and Talbot.

[heep223]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

Happy about this decision.

Thankfully Treliving didn't wait until the season was entirely blown before making a choice. I think internally they always knew that Ortio was going to be on this team going forward. At the very worst, Ortio is an okay backup goaltender and Hiller is the starter and plays well enough most nights to help the team win. Best case scenario: Ortio starts a couple of games, plays lights out, and helps the team work through whatever is keeping them from putting together a complete game. He steals the starters net and never looks back, Hiller plays on back to backs.

Ramo was given plenty of rope to start the year and he ended up hanging himself with it. Nobody to blame but himself. I wouldn't be sad to see him in Stockton in case we need a veteran to call up in the case of injury. Gillies isn't ready for NHL action yet, so it's better to have at least an experienced option if necessary.

At any rate, I just want a goaltender to stop giving up easy goals. Do that, and you give the team a fighting chance. It's hard to improve if you're always worried about a random shot going in.

Actually, I blame Treliving. He should never have signed him. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 and it's easy to say from my armchair, but the obvious move was to keep Hiller and ease Ortio in as backup.

[Lanny_McDonald]

Glad to see a decision, sad to see that Mr. Shooter Tutor is the one staying. Ortio has to step up or the problems are only going to get worse for the Flames. The book is out on how to defend against Hartley's stretch pass game, and the book has been out on the Shooter Tutor for a few seasons. Troubling times ahead.

[nik-]

I would have preferred it was Hiller than went down, because I felt over the sample size of a full season last year, Ramo was better. Honestly though, I don't give a ####, I just want this goalie issue settled and it appears it has been.

There's a good chance he gets claimed, but whatever.

[Bandwagon In Flames]

Originally Posted by HartAttack

After thinking about this some more, maybe they figured Ramo is the least likely to get claimed out of the 3 goalies, and that could be why the Flames chose to put him on waivers as opposed to Hiller.

He's the least likely to get claimed because he's the worst of the 3 goalies. You put your bad players on waivers. What else is there to understand?

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by nik-

I would have preferred it was Hiller than went down, because I felt over the sample size of a full season last year, Ramo was better. Honestly though, I don't give a ####, I just want this goalie issue settled and it appears it has been.

There's a good chance he gets claimed, but whatever.

That's probably a good thing at this point. He's not likely to play again this year unless someone gets hurt, and it offers us a bit of cap relief to possibly make another move at some point.

[Two Fivenagame]

Strange situation all around.

In hindsight, re-signing Ramo was a mistake and him being waived really highlights this. Is this horrible start completely his fault? Likely not, but the timing of this transaction makes it look like BT is hanging the goat horns on him.

Remember in the off-season when there were rumours that BT was close to acquiring Talbot and other G's. Seems like signing Ramo was a panic move once the dance had begun and everyone had paired up.

[Two Fivenagame]

double post blaaarg!!

[Cali Panthers Fan]

I still don't completely understand why he couldn't trust Ortio enough to be the back up to start the year. Meh, I guess it's probably that he didn't trust Hiller enough either and was hoping for Ramo to take the next step.

Didn't happen. Can't be mad at him giving it a shot. It's now time to move on and go with whoever is playing well.

[pepper24]

Will be interesting to see how the goaltending situation plays out.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by heep223

Actually, I blame Treliving. He should never have signed him. Obviously hindsight is 20/20 and it's easy to say from my armchair, but the obvious move was to keep Hiller and ease Ortio in as backup.

I think they wanted to make sure we had goaltending depth, and were willing to bury money in the minors on a 1-year to make sure we had it.

If you go into the season with just Hiller and Ortio, and Hiller gets hurt in pre-season, then you have Ortio-Gillies as a tandem for a team with playoff aspirations.

The first 6 games were not good (although the team in front has just as big a blame as goaltending for that IMO), but I understand why they thought they needed 3 goalies though.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I've heard multiple times from the talking heads on XM Radio that over the entire course of the summer that the Flames were trying to move Hiller. They did not expect to start the season with three goalies. Hiller was going to San Jose, until Martin Jones became available. Really threw a wrench into the flames plans.

[Ruttiger]

Originally Posted by Two Fivenagame

In hindsight, re-signing Ramo was a mistake and him being waived really highlights this. Is this horrible start completely his fault? Likely not, but the timing of this transaction makes it look like BT is hanging the goat horns on him.

Remember in the off-season when there were rumours that BT was close to acquiring Talbot and other G's. Seems like signing Ramo was a panic move once the dance had begun and everyone had paired up.

I'd agree with this. He was insurance in the event Ortio was judged not ready I'd assume. Instead, it's Ramo that's not ready.

Really highlights how pivotal goaltending is. It can mask a lot of blunders when things are going well and just suck the absolute life out of a team when it's not. See Scrivens, Ben. Fasth, Victor. Khabibulin, Nikolai. Dubnyk, Devan. Labarbera, Jason. I could go on.......

Edit - I do remember the rumours of a trade involving Hiller so this likely factored into the decision as well.

[Robbob]

He deserves to be waived based on his answer to kid sun reporter they showed last night. The kid asked what should he do about his coach that is an oiler fan. Ramo's respond was to respect him. There is your answer for the demotion.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

I still don't completely understand why he couldn't trust Ortio enough to be the back up to start the year. Meh, I guess it's probably that he didn't trust Hiller enough either and was hoping for Ramo to take the next step.

Didn't happen. Can't be mad at him giving it a shot. It's now time to move on and go with whoever is playing well.

My guess is that Treliving thought he'd be able to trade Hiller this summer and the plan was to start the season with Ramo and Ortio. When the Hiller trade didn't happen, they got stuck with the three-headed beast.

Ideally, the Flames would have started the season on a hot streak with Ramo or Hiller taking control and someone else would have been desperate to grab one of the goalies who helped get the Flames into the playoffs last year.

Since that isn't what happened, we're where we are now.