[Signing] Calgary signs college prospect Kenney Morrison to 2yr ELC and ATO to play in ADK

[Reggie Dunlop]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Waitasec - we are all too excited. I just read on the HF Oiler board that this guy is no big deal.

Note - read only the last few pages of the thread for that opinion.

Ahh... but here's the rub:

Forum devoted to discussing NO GOOD is, by extension, also NO GOOD.

[killer_carlson]

Interview from Fan 960:

http://www.sportsnet.ca/960/calgary-...was-too-great/

Pat Steinberg did a great job with this one as Morrison wasn't overly talkative at the start. Steinberg got him through.

I found it interesting that he said he went to Western Michigan because of Andy Murray, and that Andy Murray prepared all the players to move on after college. Sounds like it was a great experience.

[heep223]

Funny rationalization happening on HF Oilers about this.

Went from being a good prospect with a booming shot that was going to be fed by RNH and Yakupov (?) on the PP, to a meh prospect that will get buried in the AHL and only chose the Flames because the Oilers are so deep.

Never change oilers.

[CaptainCrunch]

I look at the Oilers blueline prospect depth and outside of Nurse who I believe is going to need a year at least in the AHL because while he has some really good physical tools needs to work on his instincts for the position. And Marincin who's not great.

They have a whole bunch of meh on their prospects depth chart.

Simpson is interesting

But after that they have meh.

Musil is fairly high on their prospect depth chart but he's a bust waiting to happen.

Outside of that I see a bunch of bottom pairings at best. I don't see where they have a great future on the blueline outside of Nurse.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Outside of that I see a bunch of bottom pairings at best. I don't see where they have a great future on the blueline outside of Nurse.

I think you're forgetting future Norris Trophy winner, Justin Schultz. It's not a question of "if" he wins, but "when", and "how many".

[SuperMatt18]

It wouldn't be bad if they could develop players.

Klefbom
Marincin
Nurse
Schultz

That is decent depth to start.

They also seem to really like that Laleggia kid who just won a bunch of awards.

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/p...php?pid=122191

Get a top 3 pick and add Hanifin to that and they are in decent shape.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

I look at the Oilers blueline prospect depth and outside of Nurse who I believe is going to need a year at least in the AHL because while he has some really good physical tools needs to work on his instincts for the position. And Marincin who's not great.

They have a whole bunch of meh on their prospects depth chart.

Simpson is interesting

But after that they have meh.

Musil is fairly high on their prospect depth chart but he's a bust waiting to happen.

Outside of that I see a bunch of bottom pairings at best. I don't see where they have a great future on the blueline outside of Nurse.

Some of their comments assumed they have Hanifin. Which is funny in several ways.

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Now lets go out and get Casey Bailey from Penn State who was at our dev camp this summer and Austin Matthews from the USNTDP.

That would be amazing. I seriously doubt Matthews comes here because he is a center but I think we have a good shot at Casey Bailey. One of the top scorers in college this season and hes a big strong RWer who can score. I'd love it.

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

Now lets go out and get Casey Bailey from Penn State who was at our dev camp this summer and Austin Matthews from the USNTDP.

That would be amazing. I seriously doubt Matthews comes here because he is a center but I think we have a good shot at Casey Bailey. One of the top scorers in college this season and hes a big strong RWer who can score. I'd love it.

Austin Matthews is the early favourite for 1st OA in the 2016 draft. You can't just sign him. The Oilers can try but they are the Oilers.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by Crumpy-Gunt

Now lets go out and get Casey Bailey from Penn State who was at our dev camp this summer and Austin Matthews from the USNTDP.

That would be amazing. I seriously doubt Matthews comes here because he is a center but I think we have a good shot at Casey Bailey. One of the top scorers in college this season and hes a big strong RWer who can score. I'd love it.

Mac-T, is that you?

[Resolute 14]

One thing that helps us in this regard is the number of college guys we have drafted, traded for or signed in recent years. These guys talk to each other, and they know how organizations treat people.

[JohnnySkittles]

From all reports Casey Bailey is Buffalo's to lose, at this point. However we are also in the running.

[Fighting Banana Slug]

Are the Flames in good shape with regard to the contract limit? Love signing these free assets, but are we getting close to 50?

[devo22]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Are the Flames in good shape with regard to the contract limit? Love signing these free assets, but are we getting close to 50?

we haven't signed a guy for this season. Morrisons deal starts next season and Yemenko only signed an ATO in Adirondack. We're at 44 contracts right now I believe ... nhlnumbers have 48 contracts listed, and 4 contracts are sliding (Bennett, Poirier, Klimchuk and Kanzig).

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Are the Flames in good shape with regard to the contract limit? Love signing these free assets, but are we getting close to 50?

Believe they are at 44, assuming all the ELCs that can slide slide.

Morrison's contract does not start until next season so it doesn't count til next season.

Yevenko doesn't even have a contract.

[David Struch]

Originally Posted by Fighting Banana Slug

Are the Flames in good shape with regard to the contract limit?

Lots of room...

27 current contracts on the books for next year... plus 8 likely RFA's only puts us at 35 contracts.

1. Hudler
2. Jones
3. Raymond
4. Stajan
5. Gaudreau
6. Monahan
7. Bennett
8. Colborne
9. Bollig
10. Granlund
11. Poirier
12. Klimchuk
13. Van Brabant
14. Wideman
15. Giordano
16. Smid
17. Engelland
18. Russell
19. Brodie
20. Morrison
21. Wotherspoon
22. Sieloff
23. Kanzig
24. Kulak
25. Culkin
26. Hiller
27. Ortio

Likely RFA's to be signed

1. Backlund
2. Jooris
3. Bouma
4. Byron
5. Ferland
6. Shore
7. Wolf
8. Arnold

Probably still up in the air if Calgary re-signs the following UFA's & RFA's...

Ramo
Diaz
Schlemko
Potter

Reinhart
Agostino
Hanowski
Elson
Ramage
Cundari
Acolatse

Hathaway could be in line for a contract according to some too!

[Azhouse]

Originally Posted by heep223

Funny rationalization happening on HF Oilers about this.

Went from being a good prospect with a booming shot that was going to be fed by RNH and Yakupov (?) on the PP, to a meh prospect that will get buried in the AHL and only chose the Flames because the Oilers are so deep.

Never change oilers.

I was looking at HF as well. Some pretty funny stuff going on over there. They are convinced that a Colorado type collapse is inevitable for the Flames next year.

I think it is great that these young prospects are jumping on board. These kids (and their advisors) can see an organization that is headed in the right direction.

[Textcritic]

^
I also read through all of that on HF, and found myself puzzling, "who cares?" There are several posters over there that are clinging to the hope that the Flames regress next season—as if that has some sort of bearing on the Oilers' future.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I have come to terms with the possibility of that occurring, and have concluded that it doesn't at all matter. Even if the Flames stumble next year (and I am not convinced about this happening), they still have an incredibly bright future...

· They still have two budding star forwards Monahan and Gaudreau already playing in the NHL
· They still have a couple of great surprise prospects who have already exceeded expectations by a country mile in Jooris and Bouma
· They still have underrated players in the mid-20s age bracket in Brodie and Backlund
· They still have a handful of young prospects that are on the cusp of making the team in Granlund, Ferland, Shore, Poirier, and with more in the pipeline in the next couple of years in Arnold and Klimchuk
· They still have a drafted phenom in Bennett, who looks like he could end up being the best player on the team when all is said and done
· They still have NHL calibre goaltenders and defensemen heading into next season

Who the hell cares that much about what happens next year, in the light of everything else that is happening? I laugh.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Azhouse

I was looking at HF as well. Some pretty funny stuff going on over there. They are convinced that a Colorado type collapse is inevitable for the Flames next year.

I think it is great that these young prospects are jumping on board. These kids (and their advisors) can see an organization that is headed in the right direction.

The Colorado example has always been a bad one because they completely relied on goaltending. He won the vezina trophy for god's sake. If he can play that well again than any team is dangerous but their eggs are in one basket.

The Flames are still dead center with a .911 save percentage. The epitome of average goaltending. The only playoff teams behind Calgary in terms of goaltending are the Islanders, Canucks and Ducks.

Calgary is shooting percentage and shot blocks.

The shooting percentage thing: if you take out Calgary's top line they are actually under the NHL average in shooting percentage. Hudler has had a career of a higher than average shooting percentage so he's proven, and therefore sustainable for next year. Monahan has done it in both seasons in the NHL, but sample size lacks the foundation to suggest it's a given. Gaudreau is a rookie but certainly the type of player that you'd expect to have a high shooting percentage. Other than that others are high, but every team has high shooting percentage players or we wouldn't have an average.

So that handles PDO

The Corsi/Fenwick battle will be interesting because the Flames seem to play a style that breaks outside the conventional wisdom of how to win hockey games. Yielding the perimeter and racking up blocked shots is certainly giving up possession, but time will tell if its calculated and a new way to win, or if it's playing with fire (100 game sample) and heading to disaster.

I'm starting to think the Flames don't fit well in the advanced stats categories because of this, and they'll end up doing a version of it again next season.

Biggest fear for me isn't the style of play, but the gumption it takes to keep doing it. If they lose that effort it won't work.

I'm guessing it's a great way to stop gap a team until your young talent takes over.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by Textcritic

I don't know about the rest of you, but I think I have come to terms with the possibility of that occurring, and have concluded that it doesn't at all matter. Even if the Flames stumble next year (and I am not convinced about this happening), they still have an incredibly bright future...

(...)

Who the hell cares that much about what happens next year, in the light of everything else that is happening? I laugh.

Couldn't agree more with your thoughts here. I can't imagine there are many Flames fans who haven't acknowledged the possibility that they might take a step back next year as this year's success largely came out of nowhere. I mean, I know that they had really improved at the end of last season but it would have been reasonable to assume that was due to a young team playing better with less pressure on them.

To great extent, (almost) everything has gone right for the Flames this year and I'm probably missing something but the only major thing that's gone against them has been the injury to Giordano. The list of things that have gone right is very long. I mean, you have to laugh/shake your head at the combination of losing your captain and best player for the season, and doing a rebuilding-type move in sending out Glencross, all the while maintaining the same pace from earlier in the season.

Either way, no matter what happens this season and next, I love watching this team. It's been an absolute blast.