[Trade] Flames acquire Mike Smith (25% retained) for Chad Johnson, Brandon Hickey, & cond 3rd

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

There were rumours that Hickey was never going to sign.

So its a 2nd for Smith at 75% of his salary (not making the playoffs is not an option). So this time next year we'll know if it was a good trade.

If Rittich or Gillies steals the job from him that's OK too.

There are similar rumors about every single college player. You are ascribing zero value to Hickey's rights. How does that make any sense?

[devo22]

Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko

Everyone on twitter is laughing at us.

oh no! The horror.

[Vox]

Originally Posted by 868904

Man that would be terrible if one of the prospects became a legitimate number 1 goalie AND we make the playoffs too!?!?!

That would be a disaster! Someone better call the Paw Patrol.

Thanked for the paw patrol.

[TheOnlyBilko]

Originally Posted by StrykerSteve

The entire list hasn't been leaked, but I believe it was Mackenzie that mentioned Calgary, specifically.

Don't know why Hrudey would bother talking to MAF then about Calgary if this a known fact? Besides what about the 2016 draft when MAF was offered up to us for our #1 pick? Why was the trade discussedif MAF had Calgary on his NMC? Don't make sense to me. Maybe we will have a deal with Las Vegas? They draft MAF then we flip Smith plus assets/picks to Vegas for MAF? That would be great

[TheOnlyBilko]

Originally Posted by devo22

oh no! The horror.

You will see. Remember my comments

[8sPOT]

Smith was my choice in the poll.

Love his intensity, love his puck handling ability. Will fit in nicely here.

Great trade, I think there will be many posters eating crow on this one.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko

Don't know why Hrudey would bother talking to MAF then about Calgary if this a known fact? Besides what about the 2016 draft when MAF was offered up to us for our #1 pick? Why was the trade discussedif MAF had Calgary on his NMC? Don't make sense to me. Maybe we will have a deal with Las Vegas? They draft MAF then we flip Smith plus assets/picks to Vegas for MAF? That would be great

You need to give it up. MAF doesn't want to come to Calgary. Its been extensively reported. It's not unusual. As for Hrudey, he was probably just talking - he doesn't necessarily know about MAF's list at the time and anyway, it probably wasn't a serious discussion.

[EVERLAST]

Really like this.

Hearing the rumblings before it happened and looking at the options of who else we could have gotten this isn't as horrible as people's reactions.

The overreactions to this are hilarious.

We weren't getting Bishop.....thank god.

I trust BRAD worked hard to make the best thing happen.

Having Maloney in on this decision makes me feel better. They know the guy well.

Wanting to cook Gillies and Parsons and make sure they are ready isn't so bad I guess.

I'd rather we tried Rittich first but who knows what the asking price was going to be for anyone else on the list in the poll.

Welcome to Calgary Mike.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

There are similar rumors about every single college player. You are ascribing zero value to Hickey's rights. How does that make any sense?

There is not way BT would trade Hickey for Smith. So to me that fact he was bundled off to ARI for Smith suggests the rumours were true.

[Mike F]

I'm pretty lukewarm on this trade. On the one hand, Mike Smith is a legitimate starting goalie with decent numbers and who handles the puck exceptionally well, which should help the Flames break out.

However, he is 35 years old with a history of injuries.

The Flames have had a neon TBD sign in the Long Term Goaltending Solution column since Kipper retired, and for the second off-season in a row Treliving has just slapped a Band-Aid on it. Maybe Gillies or Parsons will end up being that answer, but I'm of the opinion that until a goalie has actually shown he can play and win at the NHL level, he's nothing but magical beans, so for now the Long Term Goaltending Solution remains TBD. That isn't good enough, IMO, for a team that should be seeing itself on the cusp of being a legitimate contender.

[BruceCody]

Originally Posted by Atodaso

Bold Prediction.

Mike Smith breaks the Honda Center curse on his first attempt.

Most likely Hiller, Elliott before

[Biff]

Originally Posted by getbak

Sucks about Hickey, but he probably made it clear he'll be looking to go UFA next year, so it's not really a loss for the Flames at this point.

Nug

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Welp, Treliving got fleeced. I don't really understand how you manage to pay anything for Smith at 75%. At 50% he's a liability. Seriously, this is a replacement level goaltender that they're paying 4.5 million for. Why? Sign Curtis McElhinney for $1m and you've probably got a better goalie. Hell, sign Steve Mason and you're much better off, still for less money I'm sure.

This is stupid. That's the only word necessary to describe it.

[Finger Cookin]

Apologies if I'm reiterating a lot of what's already been said...

• I've never been much of a fan of Smith, even less so since he became a starting goalie in the league. His prima donna theatrics scream of a "me first" attitude, not a "team first" attitude.

• He had a couple of lower body injuries in late 2015 that really seemed to limit his games played in 15-16, but he bounced back to start regularly again last season.

• Other than his first stellar season with the Coyotes, he's hovered pretty close to his career save % of .916 in his six seasons with the Coyotes

• He's due to make $1.75M more per season over the next 2 seasons than what Elliott was paid on his expiring contract.

Add all that up, and throw in that we're losing Hickey, and I can't get on board with this deal. I hope he manages to help the team while he's here, but this deal seems like a real swing and a miss from Treliving IMO.

What it does point to is the possibility that it was easier/more affordable for Treliving to get a goalie to bridge a couple of seasons until we can expect either Gillies or Parsons to step up, instead of a young goalie around the same age as the rest of the core who could step right in and play the next 5-6 seasons.

[robaur]

My question for the bridge contract crowd waiting for Gillies/Parsons...

so what do you do if they both bust ?

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko

I'm just not impressed in the slightest. Everyone on twitter is laughing at us. I don't see us going anywhere with Smith. Well at least the 2018 draft has that superstar russian coming. Sergachevs younger brother I believe. Would be great to draft him in 2018

The sky is falling!
/wrists right?
You know someone is overreacting like a preteen when they think our new goalie will cause a playoff team that had bad goaltending for half the year to suddenly be a lottery team.

Grow up friend, you're embarrassing yourself

[Crumpy-Gunt]

Cheap flames. Management believes they can just go on bargain hunting and dumpster diving until they become a contender. Bollig. Colbourne. Johnson. Smith. Brouwer. Etc etc

Cant believe how many deluded, overly optimistic homer fans have a crush on treliving the 'wizard' who signed gio for a decade, gave brouwer basically 5 million. Signed hiller johnson and elliott. 2 of 3 are castaway last chance saloon goalies. Johnson had 1 half decent year in buffalo as a backup who came in due to injury.

The amount of times this ownership and management group has sold the fans snake oil is incredible. At the ebd of every season we are 1 or 2 pieces away. Every summer those 1 or 2 pieces are terrible additions. We are always stretching to sign some loser who isnt wanted by 95% of the league.

How ####ing hard is it to acquire youngish pre-apex players. Versteeg Brouwer Elliott was our attempt at solving our problems last off season.

We are off to a good start now shipping out a top ncaa d man for a 60 year old below average goalie on a big contract. We just love a project player. The underdog.


#### it lets re-rebuild. Unless you really think this team can build a contender with half of our cap space committed to useless 30 something year old bums who have never won anything in their lives.

The problem here is the market. We as fans want a good team every year. We go through goalies coaches gms defencemen forwards etc like nothing else. We are opposed to silently sucking for 3 or 4 years and collecting assets.

Id rather finish last for 5 years and have a good team than finish 14th for the next decade and watch a group of b list nhlers pretending to earn their huge salaries.

If were going to suck...lets suck. Lets be a cap floor team with top 5 picks.

We suck...but we are almost at the cap for the next 5 years. Ironically this management group has no intellectual honesty. Putting a cheap low quality product on the ice and billing the team as a playoff contender.

The worst part about it is the homers with the rose tinted glasses. Oh but at least we have johnny. Oh remember how cheap we got Hamilton? Monahan is toews. Parsons will be our goalie of the future. Backlund > crosby because advanced stats. The coaching staff is awesome. Trust me brouwer will be great for us, hes huge, strong and scores goals. Elliott is actually the best goalie in the league in the past 5 years during the regular season according to these random stats!

Theyve already started putting their stupid spin on things...smith is just holding the fort for 2 years untill our 5 goalie prospects are ready. Earned not given. Hickey wouldnt have signed.

The problem is the market. Great passionate fans can be a blessing and a curse. A blessing becauae they support the team really well no matter what. A curse because they can be tricked by management every season into thinking this is the season they sneak in as an 8 seed and win the stanley cup with giordano brouwer and elliott/smith.

Look at most of the good teams in the league. They quietly sucked for about a decade. Hawks. Pens. Blues. Caps. Etc etc. Canadian markets ruin hockey teams. Every year is our year. Every coach has to be fired. Every young player is a bust who needs to be traded. There is no patience. No long term goal. Just a short term goal of selling season tickets and merch, varely making the playoffs and being swept in the first or second round by a much better team. RINSE. REPEAT.

yaaay. GO FLAMES GO.

[oldschoolcalgary]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Welp, Treliving got fleeced. I don't really understand how you manage to pay anything for Smith at 75%. At 50% he's a liability. Seriously, this is a replacement level goaltender that they're paying 4.5 million for. Why? Sign Curtis McElhinney for $1m and you've probably got a better goalie. Hell, sign Steve Mason and you're much better off, still for less money I'm sure.

This is stupid. That's the only word necessary to describe it.

Hyperbole much?

seriously, if we went into the season with McE as number one, people would lose their minds... hell even chad as number one would be insane...

I am not a huge fan of the trade, but 'stupid' seems to be a very premature assessment...

[Roof-Daddy]

So many babies post here. LOL

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by TheOnlyBilko

Yup Flames and Treliving went DUMPSTER DIVING & pulled out Mike Smith. What a joke. We have a good core but we not going anywhere with MIKE SMITH. I just shake my head and kiss the season good bye. Not impressed. I honestly would rather have Chad Johnson.

I am going to enjoy bumping this thread next season and quoting some of these posts for hilarity.