[Signing] Flames sign Erik Gudbranson (1 yr, $1.95 mil)

[Itse]

Someone needs to explain to Treliving that you don't have to spend cap space just because you have it, and that spending that cap space only improves the team if you spend it on good players.

[Jimdon]

Originally Posted by Goriders

They basically just changed the culture and got tougher. Which is what they said they were going to do.

I guess what did everyone think was going to happen when Sutter showed up? Kylington getting top pairing minutes.

They want Calgary to be a place where you don’t want to play as an opposing team. Just like when Sutter was here last time.

Stacking the bottom 6 and the 3rd pairing with bigger tougher players isn't going to do diddly squat about the fact that this teams best players consistently get outplayed and outshowed every time the going gets tough.

You're going to play zadorov, gudbranson, Richardson, Coleman and lucic against the top six from Edmonton, Vegas or Winnipeg? I don't think they'll find them all that hard to play against.

[d_phaneuf]

Originally Posted by Goriders

They basically just changed the culture and got tougher. Which is what they said they were going to do.

I guess what did everyone think was going to happen when Sutter showed up? Kylington getting top pairing minutes.

They want Calgary to be a place where you don’t want to play as an opposing team. Just like when Sutter was here last time.

Opposing teams want to play in the places where gudbranson is on the ice tho

[dino7c]

Coleman is going to have a lot of posters eating crow...did you guys not watch the playoffs the last two seasons? He will be fine out there against anyone...quit lumping him in with the others please. He is more a bigger Magiapane than a Lucic.

[Rollin22x]

This will be a spectacular year of overachievers! I’m really interested to see how it unfolds.
People complain about a boring offseason. This is anything but boring.
The intrigue is almost too much.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Erik says Sutter called him at the start of free agency. Really good friends with Markstrom and Tanev

I can fault Tre for many things this off season but this is not one of them. This is not a good signing and this lays at the feet of ownership and Sutter. I had a gut feeling when Sutter was hired that ownership would let him have more say than most coaches on who is on the team . This just proves it. Stick to coaching Sutter.

[Hanna Sniper]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

I can fault Tre for many things this off season but this is not one of them. This is not a good signing and this lays at the feet of ownership and Sutter. I had a gut feeling when Sutter was hired that ownership would let him have more say than most coaches on who is on the team . This just proves it. Stick to coaching Sutter.

Only thing it proves is you see only what you want to see.

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by Hanna Sniper

Only thing it proves is you see only what you want to see.

Because coaches reach out to bottom feeder players at start if free agency . First I have ever heard of this.

[Hey Connor, It's Mess]

Can't tell who is steering this ship anymore.

[Swayze11]

Who were we bidding against to warrant $1.95 million?

[Goriders]

With the recent signings and looking at who has reduced salaries to head to the AHL. Unless there's a trade I think the lineup will be as follows:

Gaudreau Lindholm Tkachuk
Mangiapane Monahan Coleman
Dube Backlund Pitlick
Lucic Richardson Lewis
Gawdin
Ritchie

Hanifin Tanev
Zadorov Anderrson
Valimaki Gudbranson
Stone

Markstrom
Vlader

I'm guessing the odd men out will be Mackey, Kylington, Welinski, Froese. Highly doubt Gallant makes it to the big club unless it's as an AHL call up.

The team got a lot bigger and tougher for sure. Especially on D. Grittier up front as well. In a nutshell more competitive culturally. Not more skilled though.

Remains to be seen if it will work. But this is pretty much what you would have assumed they would do. It's Sutter's recipe.

I figured they would have moved one of Tkachuk and Monahan. But maybe Tkachuk's issues were smoothed over by Sutter and they want to give a healthy Monahan one more shot.

Who knows.

[TheSquatch]

Just a piece away from a deep run boys.

[Hanna Sniper]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

Because coaches reach out to bottom feeder players at start if free agency . First I have ever heard of this.

I find it hard to imagine you know the practices of all NHL teams or are you just making something up again and passing off as fact

Maybe ends up being the case, may not, but you’re making assumptions and regardless what happens it’s not based on facts but rather paranoid griping.

Sometime I really wonder if fans really want their team to succeed, of if there’s a pleasure in this negativity

I hate Gudbrandson, but I’ll rather see how the team plays before I get all upset about it.

[zamler]

If Sutter is calling the shots then Tre is totally useless, then again if Tre is 100% the man behind this deal then, yea.

Why does he still have a job.

[Aarongavey]

Gudbranson's agent wanted 1 million and Brad said he would not settle for anything less than 1.95 million.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by zamler

If Sutter is calling the shots then Tre is totally useless, then again if Tre is 100% the man behind this deal then, yea.

Why does he still have a job.

Treliving has been totally useless since Burke left. Without Burke overseeing him, Treliving has been a bottom-5 GM in this league.

[blender]

It certainly appears that this particular signing has pushed some of this board over the edge.

I can't say I'm a big fan of the signing, but I'm also one who doesn't judge an off season until the games are played. There's nothing to judge, so why waste the time.

If you are of the mind that the Flames top players are bad and have no redeeming value, and some people here do believe that, then sure, anything short of wholesale changes is not going to be satisfactory.

On the other hand, if you believe that the Flames best players are good players that have failed to execute consistently due to various circumstances, then perhaps you feel that the addition of a proven coach, a proven supporting cast, and a new culture in the room might be the difference between being a borderline playoff team and a home-ice playoff team.

Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, you won't know how it turns out until at least 20 games into the season.

I know its the internet, but all the blanket statements and proclamations of doom and the demands for the GM to be fired are an inane waste of energy.

As a final note, Duhatchek's first notebook of the season was posted on the Athletic today. As always it's a good read. He comments on the different approaches of the Flames and the Flyers, and shares some interesting observations on teams that don't stay the course when things aren't going well. History will show us the outcome, but I like that the Flames have made significant changes without mortgaging the future. I am willing to be patient and see how it plays out. If it fails, there is a ton of flexibility to change it up next year.

[Caged Great]

Gudbranson and Stone are going to split time as the number 6. Gudbranson will play against heavier teams and Stone will play against teams where is better offensive game will be more necessary.

I don't see much of a problem with this signing. Yes, of course we would all like a better overall player than Gudbranson, but he's a serviceable physical defender. Sometimes you do actually need size on the blueline. It's not like he's going to be playing more than 10 minutes a night every night. He'll be the #6.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by blender

It certainly appears that this particular signing has pushed some of this board over the edge.

I can't say I'm a big fan of the signing, but I'm also one who doesn't judge an off season until the games are played. There's nothing to judge, so why waste the time.

If you are of the mind that the Flames top players are bad and have no redeeming value, and some people here do believe that, then sure, anything short of wholesale changes is not going to be satisfactory.

On the other hand, if you believe that the Flames best players are good players that have failed to execute consistently due to various circumstances, then perhaps you feel that the addition of a proven coach, a proven supporting cast, and a new culture in the room might be the difference between being a borderline playoff team and a home-ice playoff team.

Regardless of where you fall on that spectrum, you won't know how it turns out until at least 20 games into the season.

I know its the internet, but all the blanket statements and proclamations of doom and the demands for the GM to be fired are an inane waste of energy.

As a final note, Duhatchek's first notebook of the season was posted on the Athletic today. As always it's a good read. He comments on the different approaches of the Flames and the Flyers, and shares some interesting observations on teams that don't stay the course when things aren't going well. History will show us the outcome, but I like that the Flames have made significant changes without mortgaging the future. I am willing to be patient and see how it plays out. If it fails, there is a ton of flexibility to change it up next year.

What significant changes? We cycled out our useless depth for older, bigger, useless depth. Then we signed a non-NHL defenceman to $2M, retained a #8 defenceman, lost a #1 defenceman, traded a future asset for a bottom pairing defenceman, and signed a middle six winger. That middle six winger also has $5M attached to him for the next 6 years - well into the years when a player like Coleman drops off, that’s mortgaging the future to help today.

[dustygoon]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Lol.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1436440488177913862

Oh man. Yikes. Hard to negotiate down a contract for a depth player when your coach reaches out early in free agency and says he wants you and says “awesome” five times.