[Signing] Flames re-sign Stone (3 yrs, $3.5 mil AAV)

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Mony

Well, what's done is done. If this works out for the better I will gladly eat pubes.

Careful man, pube bets are expected to be honored here (hence why I never make them).

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Parallex

Careful man, pube bets are expected to be honored here (hence why I never make them).

Yeah but welching on bets is also a time honoured CP tradition.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Stanley

..."to fill a relatively unimportant role". Dude. in a 7 game series, that;s a vital freakin role.

It's less important than others where the money could be spent to address an area of weakness (e.g. the top six), either through trade or free agency. Hence why I said "relatively".

If your number 5 defenceman is why you lost a playoff series, some other stuff has probably gone wrong first.

[bubbsy]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

It's not "love", but he's better than Stone and probably won't make much more money (he might even make less). You think Stone's better defensively, but Franson allowed the lowest rate of shots against on a bad Buffalo team last year, while Stone allowed the highest rate of any Flames defenseman - to be fair a bunch of that is because he was with Arizona, but it didn't get much better in Calgary and for ####'s sake, his most frequent partners last season were Alex Goligoski and TJ Brodie. Not exactly garbage heap players.

And strategically, Franson would be a better fit for a team that doesn't need to play its bottom pairing much, and would be better suited to have a good 2nd unit PP quarterback in one of the 5-6 slots. Which is what I thought they were taking a flyer on with the Lack / Murphy trade - Murphy has a hell of a shot, and if he can stick in the lineup he'd fill that role on the cheap. Thereby allowing the 2.5+ difference to be spent elsewhere. It's just a waste of cap space to sign a guy to fill a relatively unimportant role.

Are you suggesting you would prefer franson at this price tag? Do you think franson gets more on the open market?

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Mony

Well, what's done is done. If this works out for the better I will gladly eat pubes.

Michael stays and the Michael Club stays intact. Maybe we can see him with Kulak or Andersson or another prospect (disregarding handedness, can't remember who shoots what at the moment)

Might as well quote this to keep you honest.

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Mony

Well, what's done is done. If this works out for the better I will gladly eat pubes.

Michael stays and the Michael Club stays intact. Maybe we can see him with Kulak or Andersson or another prospect (disregarding handedness, can't remember who shoots what at the moment)

CP take note. We have our latest pube bet!

I see a plate of curlies in your future.

[devo22]

The Rangers just gave Brendan Smith 4 x 4.35m and the Oilers gave Kris Russell 4 x 4m.

In comparison, this already looks a decent signing ... and by the time tomorrow this will look even better. The whining by a select few in here is amazing.

[Mony]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

CP take note. We have our latest pube bet!

I see a plate of curlies in your future.

Fry 'em up and give me that good ranch

[Reggie Dunlop]

Lots of opportunity for the youngsters to make the squad.

One spot is wide-open and the other is beating out Matt Bartkowski (who also played in the AHL last year).

[Stanley]

Originally Posted by devo22

The Rangers just gave Brendan Smith 4 x 4.35m and the Oilers gave Kris Russell 4 x 4m.

In comparison, this already looks a decent signing ... and by the time tomorrow this will look even better. The whining by a select few in here is amazing.

Yea but those guys are waaaay better players than Michael Stone!!

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by d_phaneuf

a comma is missing, Stone has the history of struggling

Brodie is a top pairing defenseman IMO, last years struggles can be explained easily based on what he went through

Stone when he hasn't been with Brodie or OEL hasn't even been very good

Lets put some perspective into your argument. OEL didn't have a very good season last year by his standards and that happens when you play on one of the worst teams in the league. You can't ignore that the moment Stone arrived and replaced Wideman for good that the team immediately improved for the duration of the season. Stone is a better player in Calgary by default because the Flames aren't terrible like the Coyotes.

[Stay Golden]

Stone 25-28 at 3.5m x 3 years sounds a hell of a lot better than Russell 30-34 4m x 4 years.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by 8sPOT

I don't get why some are so against this?

We've got a 6'3" 210lb, right hand shot, 27 year old dman, who can shoot, pass, and skate, and play in all situations for 3 years at $3.5M.

You don't like that? Are you ####ing kidding me?

The only reason not to like this deal is opportunity cost. Signing Stone forces either Andersson or Kulak back to Stockton - since the Flames likely won't want either eating popcorn as the 7th guy. For myself, and as much as I like both of those kids, they are both relatively unproven. I like having the extra veteran presence of Stone.

A two year deal would have been nice, but I can't get too mad at the extra year, even if $3.5 million is pricey for a third pair guy.

[howard_the_duck]

I think bringing in a 5th guy who arguably could play in the top 4 is an indictment on the bottom pairing last year, particularly in the playoffs.

Pretty clear that Tre saw the need to fill all 3 pairs with quality defencemen rather than play Gio/Brodie 25 min+ each.

As we saw with Pittsburgh, the new NHL means depth and that's on forward and defence. The modern 3rd/4th lines are guys that can skate and you need your defence depth to match up accordingly.

[codynw]

Originally Posted by Ashasx

The biggest reason why I don't like this is it blocks the path for somebody like Andersson.

The thing is though, if Andersson (or whoever) forces his way onto the team, I think this Stone deal is very tradeable. I'm not worried about it.

[sa226]

He's also 27 years old with some injury struggles.

Its possible that he continually gets better over the next 3 years.

Unless they are elite, NHL defencemen don't usually round out until 26 to 28 years of age.

Sent from my SM-G920W8 using Tapatalk

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by devo22

and the Oilers gave Kris Russell 4 x 4m.

Sure, but pointing out a bad contract doesn't make a less bad contract good.

[SportsJunky]

My first instinct is that it's a good signing. I get why some here are upset but looking at that top 5...I mean wow. Mike Smith is about to have a career year.

[colbym72]

Was Stone better in previous years? He hit 30+ points before...How much was he affected by injury last year too?

[Strange Brew]

So this highlights just how bad the defense corps was before Stone and Bartkowski came in.