[News] UPD: Flames officially buyout Troy Brouwer

[Hot_Flatus]

Originally Posted by Angelino

Hopefully Smith can go a full season without a major injury. Need one of the backups to breakout as well. Still worried about the goaltending position on this team.

Provided this staff isn't dense enough to run a 37 year old goalie with an injury history to the point of exhaustion like last season, the team will be fine in net. If neither Gillies or Rittich appear ready to provide 20-25 starts this year you've got to look into a trade as it is the only real question mark at this point.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

Brouwer and Raymond have been the two contracts I hated the most under Treliving and it was instant hate. I kinda hated Engelland at first but he won me over, I knew nothing about him at the time so it was an uninformed hate.

The other two I knew would never work out unfortunately but no GM is perfect.

Funny I see Bouma as the biggest screw up.

The Flames under Treliving looked like a rebuild that needed to find good people to fill out the team and get them to the cap floor at the time. Adding Engelland, Hiller and Raymond made sense. They're weren't huge in term or dollars and they fit what they were trying to limp along doing.

Engelland turned out way better than just a locker room guy, Hiller was good for one year. Raymond did a face plant. But they all made sense.

Brouwer was a mistake but it made sense when you think of the lack of RWs and the fact that they wanted to add to the room and experience. If the Flames didn't give him 4 years $18M I'm guessing some other team would have been pretty close.

The Bouma over pay off of a career year was a head scratcher. Made my skin crawl that day. He got "Backlunded"

[FlameX]

Wouldn't surprise me if Brouwer signed with Van or the Yotes.

[theslymonkey]

Originally Posted by FlameX

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl_Y0SuF...d=cebtzo7dfu25
Someone had to do it.

Not really.

[Cali Panthers Fan]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Funny I see Bouma as the biggest screw up.

The Flames under Treliving looked like a rebuild that needed to find good people to fill out the team and get them to the cap floor at the time. Adding Engelland, Hiller and Raymond made sense. They're weren't huge in term or dollars and they fit what they were trying to limp along doing.

Engelland turned out way better than just a locker room guy, Hiller was good for one year. Raymond did a face plant. But they all made sense.

Brouwer was a mistake but it made sense when you think of the lack of RWs and the fact that they wanted to add to the room and experience. If the Flames didn't give him 4 years $18M I'm guessing some other team would have been pretty close.

The Bouma over pay off of a career year was a head scratcher. Made my skin crawl that day. He got "Backlunded"

IIRC wasn't it an arbitration case?

Nevermind, found it. It followed an arbitration hearing, but rather than wait for the settlement, Treliving signed him to a deal. It was probably to head off a 1 year deal that was more expensive than the $2.2 million Bouma received.

This writer had the deal pegged when it was signed though...

https://thehockeywriters.com/lance-b...gree-to-terms/

[Geeoff]

I wonder what % of Hanifin jerseys at the Dome will be spelled wrong

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Angelino

Hopefully Smith can go a full season without a major injury. Need one of the backups to breakout as well. Still worried about the goaltending position on this team.

That's why we have to keep his starts under 60. Hopefully under the title of backup Rittich can continue to do good things and handle 20+. If the team is poised for playoffs then we want Smith as fresh as he can possibly be.

[shadowlord]

I'm going to put my conspiracy theory hat on and say this buyout was (also) a negotiating tactic with Hanafin by Tre.

"Look, we really want to get a long-term deal with you done, so we got bought-out Brouwer to give up $2.5M in cap space that we're giving to you instead of a bridge deal. The max cap we have available is $4.7/yr for a 6 year deal.*"

* substitute the actual/correct numbers where required.

[Plaedo]

Originally Posted by Hockey Fan #751

Buyout now isn't a bad idea. You save $3 million this season and $3 million next season. Then you lose $1.5 million in cap hit in 20-21 but that's probably a lockout year. After that, it's just one more year of losing cap hit.

Plus, if you present value the years 3 and 4 based on an expected growth in the salary cap, it is actually even less significant in those years.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by shadowlord

I'm going to put my conspiracy theory hat on and say this buyout was (also) a negotiating tactic with Hanafin by Tre.

"Look, we really want to get a long-term deal with you done, so we got bought-out Brouwer to give up $2.5M in cap space that we're giving to you instead of a bridge deal. The max cap we have available is $4.7/yr for a 6 year deal.*"

* substitute the actual/correct numbers where required.

I don't think it was even a conspiracy.

Just talk to Hanifin's agent and at some point say look ... we have room for a bridge, but if you move to this we will buy Brouwer out and lock him up.

Having to actually buy out a player makes the process a lot more sticky than just saying you have no more room.

[puckedoff]

Originally Posted by shadowlord

I'm going to put my conspiracy theory hat on and say this buyout was (also) a negotiating tactic with Hanafin by Tre.

"Look, we really want to get a long-term deal with you done, so we got bought-out Brouwer to give up $2.5M in cap space that we're giving to you instead of a bridge deal. The max cap we have available is $4.7/yr for a 6 year deal.*"

* substitute the actual/correct numbers where required.

^ Careful, I put my conspiracy theory hat on one time without realizing that the lizard people had washed it at night (and dried on high heat) and it had shrunk so tight, I haven't been able to remove it.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

That's why we have to keep his starts under 60. Hopefully under the title of backup Rittich can continue to do good things and handle 20+. If the team is poised for playoffs then we want Smith as fresh as he can possibly be.

Smith has played 60+ twice in the last eight years. Between Rittich and Gillies, they need to play at least 30 if Calgary is to make the playoffs.

[The Boy Wonder]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

Smith has played 60+ twice in the last eight years. Between Rittich and Gillies, they need to play at least 30 if Calgary is to make the playoffs.

Smith is our only weak link in this roster at this point. Mediocre goalie will likely be the reason flames don't win the division.

Either Rittich or Gilles needs to bottle lightning if this team is going deep

[Macindoc]

Originally Posted by The Boy Wonder

Smith is our only weak link in this roster at this point. Mediocre goalie will likely be the reason flames don't win the division.

Either Rittich or Gilles needs to bottle lightning if this team is going deep

You're right, I can't find any other weakness either. Now Smith might not be getting as much work per game played, as I suspect that this lineup will be possession monsters.

I'd like to give at least every 2nd home game to whoever wins the backup role. Smith seems more comfortable on the road, so give him all the road dates that aren't back to back.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Hot_Flatus

Provided this staff isn't dense enough to run a 37 year old goalie with an injury history to the point of exhaustion like last season, the team will be fine in net. If neither Gillies or Rittich appear ready to provide 20-25 starts this year you've got to look into a trade as it is the only real question mark at this point.

I'm not so sure they did.

I think the Flames were iffy early and Smith was dominant so they rode him. Lack was scaring the hell out of them in practice so they were stuck. But when Rittich got his footing I think they were pretty good on the rotation.

Dude tweaked his hip on a routine play, not sure it had anything to do with minutes.

[activeStick]

The posters who continuously harp that the Flames never give their youth opportunities need to look at this move (along with other things the Flames have done in the past) and stop with that view.

They literally are going to pay a player to not play for the team to make room for other players to compete for a spot. Still up to the players to win the spot but the team is certainly leaving doors open.

[HockeyKhan]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

This is really easy.

Three captains:

C - Giordano
A - Monahan
A - Backlund

Four captains:

A - Tkachuk

Five captains:

A - Neal

Done.

I've never thought about this until now but why is it that Gaudreau is never in the conversation for a letter?

[Stanley]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I'm not so sure they did.

I think the Flames were iffy early and Smith was dominant so they rode him. Lack was scaring the hell out of them in practice so they were stuck. But when Rittich got his footing I think they were pretty good on the rotation.

Dude tweaked his hip on a routine play, not sure it had anything to do with minutes.

Man, acquiring Lack was my least favourite move by Tre. Sure, there wasn't any cap implications like a Brouwer, it was low risk, but man was that a complete waste of time and energy. One of the most useless acquisitions I can think of in recent memory.

[Superfraggle]

Originally Posted by HockeyKhan

I've never thought about this until now but why is it that Gaudreau is never in the conversation for a letter?

Part of the reason I wouldn't really consider him is that he and Monahan play together all the time. Part of the practical function of the letters is to designate which players get to talk to the referees, so you generally want them to not always be on at the same time.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I'm not so sure they did.

I think the Flames were iffy early and Smith was dominant so they rode him. Lack was scaring the hell out of them in practice so they were stuck. But when Rittich got his footing I think they were pretty good on the rotation.

Dude tweaked his hip on a routine play, not sure it had anything to do with minutes.

Such a crazy play. Going from a missed empty to the play coming down and the goalie getting injured with barely any time on the clock. Just a weird series of events where the hockey gods were messing with flames fans.