How would you rate the Flames' first day of free agency?

[TheScorpion]

Free Agent Frenzy day was today, and boy, was it a frenzy. Records were shattered in both total money dispersed and total players signed. Some of the deals look like steals. Others... not so much.

The Flames made two signings today:

RW Troy Brouwer | 4 years, $18 million
G Chad Johnson | 1 year, $1.7 million

The Flames lost three players today:

C/RW Joe Colborne | 2 years, $5 million (Colorado)
RW Turner Elson | 1 year, $575k (Colorado)
LW Kenneth Agostino | terms unknown (St. Louis)

Factoring in these moves, how would you judge the Flames' first day of free agency?

[IamNotKenKing]

I give a B-, at midterms.
Didn't do great, but didn't do anything stupid.
I do wish they kept Colborne, but am happy with Brouwer, esp. at only 4 years.
Johnny and Mony's contracts will determine the final grade.

[oldschoolcalgary]

A-

Calgary needed another RW
Calgary targeted Brouwer.
Put Colborne on the shelf as a fallback plan (imo)
Signed Brouwer to a slightly high contract, but pretty reasonable term at 4 years.
Let Colborne walk.

Calgary needed a backup goalie. Everyone knew it since the didn't qualify Ortio
Signed a guy that could take on 30 games in Johnson, filling the one question mark with Elliot... on just a 1 year contract.

Left 14.9 million in cap space to tackle the Monahan, Gaudreau contracts... plus enough hopefully to sign Nakladal and Wotherspoon.

Solid day's work, nothing they'll regret next year or 3 years later.

[Caged Great]

In terms of the whole week including the draft to include Elliott, I'd give it a B+.

In terms of today only, probably a C+ or B- and I like both signings a lot.

They did a good job addressing a pair of needs, but the team is still lacking a decent quality RW.

Because of that they will have to do one of three things.

1) Swap Tkachuk over and have him play either on Backlund's line and shoehorn Frolik or Brouwer onto the first line, where they are not quite good enough options or put Tkachuk on the first line right off the bat.

2) Have Frolik and Brouwer as the first two line's RW and have Chiasson and Hathaway or some other farm hand take the 3rd and fourth line roles. That's the worst case scenario as it screws up the entire lineup by pushing up players into roles they aren't suited for.

3) Find some money to sign or trade for another RW that can be viable in any of the top 3 lines. If the Flames are able to deal Wideman, which is likely due to his having only one year and the lack of offensively talented UFA D-men, they can sign one of the available RW or get one in exchange for Wideman. A Wideman for Yakupov trade would make some sense for both teams.

If the Flames can add that secondary RW, then the offseason gets an A+ from me. If they go in without one and have to find another solution it'll be a B/B+. The team needs depth in case of injuries and having 3 NHL RW is a concern, even though they have 5-6 LW and C that can play.

[TheScorpion]

Originally Posted by Caged Great

3) Find some money to sign or trade for another RW that can be viable in any of the top 3 lines.

Could Hudler be that guy? I could really see it happening now that he's gone unsigned. 1/2 year(s), $1.5 million per?

[Caged Great]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Could Hudler be that guy? I could really see it happening now that he's gone unsigned. 1/2 year(s), $1.5 million per?

Even if it was for 2.5 million, that would be acceptable. I'm not a huge Hudler fan, but the Flames need someone else to stick on one of the top 3 lines and he does have some skill. He may even be able to re-find his abilities from 2 years ago.

Versteeg or possibly even Vrbata may be decent filler buy low options that could potentially work. There are no high quality options in UFA remaining, just those three.

Brandon Pirri is another name, but unfortunately he shoots left. He could be put on the right side I guess. Not a lot left really.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

Could Hudler be that guy? I could really see it happening now that he's gone unsigned. 1/2 year(s), $1.5 million per?

Sure, he could... but does it work with BT's "process"?

bringing on an older player on the decline versus opening up that spot for a young kid working his way up the mountain?

All things being equal, as part of an organization's development strategy, i think you need to choose the latter, simply to incentivize the roster... Hartley was famous for his mantra, earned never given, but on a lot of nights, my lying eyes were telling me differently.

[DJones]

Why is there no news about Grant.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Hudler for cheap would be great. Let's assume Gulutzan can motivate the troops and put people in a position to succeed

[OzSome]

Just glad that the Flames did not overspend today. In the last few weeks they signed a couple of RW in Chiasson and Brouwer. Not a typical top 6 forwards but they were both borderline 2nd to 3rd liner winger. They also filled out the needed position in starting goaltender in Brian Elliot and backup Chad Johnson, both are stop-gap until they future starter Jon Gillies and maybe one of McDonald, Parson or even that Czech goalie they just signed are ready to take over. Losing Colborne for nothing kind of sucks but at least that opens a spot to young guys to fight for the spot this season. Not too happy about losing Agostino and Arnold also because I feel that he didn't really get a chance to show what they can do in the NHL. Overall I think Flames did well today.

[Parallex]

It's a C.

They got two things they needed. But they paid too much for too long on one of them and the other was a backup goalie.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by DJones

Why is there no news about Grant.

Because journalists don't ask about fringe NHL'ers so we don't get updates about them.

[Hatter]

I would love to see Hudler back. He has obvious holes in his game but the guy is good for 50 points regardless. If he could be had for cheap there would be a place for him on the roster.

[dammage79]

After last season RW:

Frolik
Colborne
Jooris
Hathaway
Everything but the kitchen sink

After today:
Brouwer
Frolik
Chiasson
Hathaway?

Thats as heavy a RW stack as you're going to get and in the pacific, bonus.There's skill there, there's grit, speed, size. Everything everyone from fans to management recognizing it needed to be fixed and I feel it's been fixed. Not top tier insane super star fixed but thats a bunch of competent people they've brought in.

Grade: A-.

Goaltending last season:

8.5 million of:


After today and the draft:
4.2 million of awesome.
A+++

I loved that Tree acknowledge that were too many kids on the roster and not enough men. I think he found the right balance to get these kids to the next level. He's done his job, I cannot wait for camp.

Maybe Trelving has two exta details to touch up besides the wunder kids contacts, that's fire Wideman off to wherever and bring back Nakladal.

[Monahan For Mayor]

B-

Made moves to address needs. Johnson signings was great. Brouwer was very average.

[jlh2640]

C+

[Calgary4LIfe]

B+

Johnson was a very good move. I like the one year deal, as it leaves time to evaluate him in Calgary, as well as evaluate how close other goalies are to stepping up. You never want to commit term to a backup unless said backup has #1 upside.

Brouwer was needed on the team. Size, skill, 2-way play, net-front presence, great on the boards and provides additional leadership. Plus, it is a guy that wants to be here. All solid things.

Just a bit expensive for my liking for his role, and a bit too much term. I don't think there is really a way around it, however, as first-day UFA signings are usually expensive and come with term. What it definitely isn't is bad. This won't hurt Calgary. Brouwer is versatile enough that even if his game slips a bit, he should still be useful.

I'm happy going into the season with the current roster. Holes I think will be filled by guys stepping up, or can be addressed through trades as the season progresses, or even through the waiver-wire as teams are trying to sneak guys down. I don't see the top-line RW spot as a glaring need, as I subscribe to the notion that you need two really good guys on a line, and one good support player.

What was Calgary's needs? It wasn't scoring. It was size/physicality, possession and keeping the damn puck out of the net. I think Calgary is a better squad this year than last year, and by a long shot.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Cs? hmmm tough crowd...

out of all the UFAs, since the thread is about UFAs, I am curious what signings people wished calgary had done instead of that of Brouwer and Johnson?

i see a lot of inflated 6-7 year contracts that aren't going to look too pretty in 4 years...and not a lot of backup goalies available to address our needs. Johnson was probably one of the best with Hutton, and probably signed for a little less cause of the hometown connection

[Stay Golden]

Solid B+ addressed 2 areas of need.

[Scornfire]

Originally Posted by dammage79

After last season RW:

Frolik
Colborne
Jooris
Hathaway
Everything but the kitchen sink

After today:
Brouwer
Frolik
Chiasson
Hathaway?

Just as an aside, I can see Pribyl pulling second line duty