The 2025 Offseason thread.

[CliffFletcher]

Bennett loves the sun-belt lifestyle. He’s the one who sold Tkachuk on going to Florida. I can’t see him coming back to Canada unless it’s to play in Toronto.

Doubt he goes to market anyway. The Panthers will have the money to sign him if they let Ekblad walk, which looks likely.

[keenan87]

I have a feeling Ekblad will come to Calgary. Andersson will be traded.

[Fan69]

Originally Posted by keenan87

I have a feeling Ekblad will come to Calgary. Andersson will be traded.

Crossed my mind to but it would go against most of what Conroy has stated. He is pretty much the same age as Anderson but a much better and consequently more expensive player.

What would Ekblad sign for? Max term would be involved. In three years you have to sign Parekh, possibly to star money.

Makes sense, could play the hard minutes, would make us more mobile, should be better on the power play.
Doesn’t make sense would he sign for anything less than max to play here? Would a no trade clause be involved? Probably.
Another post 30 player locked up long term? Yup. Would it take a nice chunk of cap? Also yup.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

Bennett loves the sun-belt lifestyle. He’s the one who sold Tkachuk on going to Florida. I can’t see him coming back to Canada unless it’s to play in Toronto.

Doubt he goes to market anyway. The Panthers will have the money to sign him if they let Ekblad walk, which looks likely.

Well the Flames ultimately decided where Tkachuk went. It could have easly been not sunny St. Louis

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Fan69

Crossed my mind to but it would go against most of what Conroy has stated. He is pretty much the same age as Anderson but a much better and consequently more expensive player.

What would Ekblad sign for? Max term would be involved. In three years you have to sign Parekh, possibly to star money.

Makes sense, could play the hard minutes, would make us more mobile, should be better on the power play.
Doesn’t make sense would he sign for anything less than max to play here? Would a no trade clause be involved? Probably.
Another post 30 player locked up long term? Yup. Would it take a nice chunk of cap? Also yup.

Trading a player for assets and getting a similar player back for nothing but cap space would be a smart move. I'm not sure Ekblad will be getting huge offers like the kind you are talking about it.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by keenan87

I have a feeling Ekblad will come to Calgary. Andersson will be traded.

Because Conroy is going draft style for BPA instead of organizational needs?

Parekh is on the team next year. It’s time for a rotation on D, I would think, not shopping, when the 3rd most anemic offense has an incoming game breaker on D and a dearth of game breakers on F

[gvitaly]

IMO durability has been an issue with Bennett and the style he plays. Are the Flames okay missing their #1/2 C for 10-15 games each season? Would fans still be happy with Bennett putting up 40 points, while playing at a 50-55 point pace, especially if he's making more than $7.5M...

Personally, I like Bennett's style, and his play with Huberdeau was dynamite.That said, I don't see him as being the guy that will generate offense when we need a goal, but a complimentary piece. I also don't see where Frost and Zary slot, or how Bennett fits this team's window. That's why I would rather the Flames went after the likes of Giroux or Duchene as a 2-3 year overpaid stopgap at C/RW.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by keenan87

I have a feeling Ekblad will come to Calgary. Andersson will be traded.

I doubt it.

On what level would that make sense? I’ve seen this thought trotted out there that the Flames will sign Ekblad to a three year deal, or so. That’s not happening. He’s a pending UFA, I’ll bet he gets six years min. The Flames should not be doing that, nor do I think they want to. I haven’t heard a single person close to the Flames suggest this as a possibility.

Further, why would Ekblad want to sign with the Flames? Because he has some buddies on the team? The NHL is basically a giant fraternity. He likely has buddies on most or all teams. Is he close to Conroy or Huska? Does he have family here? Is there anything, at all, that links him to Western Canada and/or Calgary?

The Flames would have to throw term and money at him, otherwise I’m not sure what the attraction would be. 2-3 years after that deal is signed your likely looking at moving him and his contract to have room for Parekh/Bruzstewic/Mews. RHS D is a position of strength for the Flames. They should be leveraging those pieces to fill holes elsewhere, not bringing in more. Especially UFA’s.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Well the Flames ultimately decided where Tkachuk went. It could have easly been not sunny St. Louis

The Flames did not get to decide where Tkachuk went, because he gave them a list of teams he’d sign an extension with. That list reportedly had six teams: Florida, Dallas, Nashville, Vegas, and Carolina are all sunbelt markets; St. Louis is Tkachuk’s hometown. And even St. Louis has a better climate than any Canadian market.

[memphusk]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

IMO durability has been an issue with Bennett and the style he plays. Are the Flames okay missing their #1/2 C for 10-15 games each season? Would fans still be happy with Bennett putting up 40 points, while playing at a 50-55 point pace, especially if he's making more than $7.5M...

Personally, I like Bennett's style, and his play with Huberdeau was dynamite.That said, I don't see him as being the guy that will generate offense when we need a goal, but a complimentary piece. I also don't see where Frost and Zary slot, or how Bennett fits this team's window. That's why I would rather the Flames went after the likes of Giroux or Duchene as a 2-3 year overpaid stopgap at C/RW.

Well they are missing every C for that many games a season now.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

The Flames did not get to decide where Tkachuk went, because he gave them a list of teams he’d sign an extension with. That list reportedly had six teams: Florida, Dallas, Nashville, Vegas, and Carolina are all sunbelt markets; St. Louis is Tkachuk’s hometown. And even St. Louis has a better climate than any Canadian market.

Correct. And the Flames were incredibly lucky he gave them a list of 6 teams. It created some sort of bidding war for an elite player.

[Groot]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Correct. And the Flames were incredibly lucky he gave them a list of 6 teams. It created some sort of bidding war for an elite player.

Not correct. Pierre LeBrun reported that the final 3 teams in the Tkachuk trade, along with the supposed trade offers, were Carolina, Florida, and St. Louis, so St. Louis was on his list.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/451...rade-panthers/

And Dino is correct, the Flames ultimately did decide because they could have easily preferred the St. Louis offer and Tkachuk would be on the Blues.

[CFO]

Do we know what St Louis or Carolina was offering?

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by CFO

Do we know what St Louis or Carolina was offering?

More futures/prospects based was the Rumor. Rumor also that Necas was included in the Carolina deal.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by memphusk

Well they are missing every C for that many games a season now.

That's true. It's just that most of us here make fun of how terrible the Lindholm contract is, and his 47 points at $7.75M. That's why I could see fans quickly turning on a 40-45 point Bennett making $7M+.

[Jiri Hrdina]

The blues offer was trash: Tarasenko, Scandella and a first

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Groot

Not correct. Pierre LeBrun reported that the final 3 teams in the Tkachuk trade, along with the supposed trade offers, were Carolina, Florida, and St. Louis, so St. Louis was on his list.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/451...rade-panthers/

And Dino is correct, the Flames ultimately did decide because they could have easily preferred the St. Louis offer and Tkachuk would be on the Blues.

Not correct?

The original poster said he gave them a list of 6 teams, and Carolina, Florida and St Louis were on that 6 team list? You may have misread his post, St Louis was the 6th team.

Easily preferred? Only if it wasn't some much worse LOL.

[Bonded]

Why’d Ekblad even sign in Calgary?

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Why’d Ekblad even sign in Calgary?

He most likely doesn't, but here are a few reasons: Huberdeau, Weegar, Lombo. Then you have a potential franchise goalie that will cover up a lot of mistakes. Moreover the Flames will have a new building, and have a pretty good locker room.

Finally, the Flames might offer him more term/money. I don't see him signing a 3 year deal though, probably something similar to Skjei. The analytics community, and JFresh in particular thinks that his new team is going to regret that contract.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Groot

Not correct. Pierre LeBrun reported that the final 3 teams in the Tkachuk trade, along with the supposed trade offers, were Carolina, Florida, and St. Louis, so St. Louis was on his list.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/451...rade-panthers/

And Dino is correct, the Flames ultimately did decide because they could have easily preferred the St. Louis offer and Tkachuk would be on the Blues.

???

Nobody said St. Louis wasn’t on the list. Tkachuk would only extend for a handful of teams. He chose those destinations, not the Flames. Five of the six were sunbelt teams. Tkachuk loves going to the rink wearing flip flops and hanging out at the pool on his off-days. He’s also said even before he went to Florida, Bennet gushed about how great the lifestyle was. But he would have been happy to go the Blues as well because it’s his hometown.

Tkachuk wasn’t going to wind up anywhere he didn’t want to live.