[Rumour] Dailyfaceoff: Flames might go big game hunting this summer

[Samonadreau]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Funny that Marner has 4 more points than Benett these playoffs. Wonder why guys go play down south .

How is that Funny? Marner makes 10.9M, Bennet makes 4.4M.

You maen its Funny Marner only has 4 more points?

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Funny that Marner has 4 more points than Benett these playoffs. Wonder why guys go play down south .

And makes 6.5 million more a season. Might be slightly different expectations…

[Saqe]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

How is that Funny? Marner makes 10.9M, Bennet makes 4.4M.

You maen its Funny Marner only has 4 more points?

Bennett also has four more goals than Marner.

[Calgary4LIfe]

There is nothing wrong with Marner, and I think his post-season issues is dramatically overblown - he is fine in the playoffs.


I just also think that Bennett is a 'playoff beast'. He may be average in the regular season, but he is a playoff beast. That's a positive, not a negative.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Groot

Absolutely no to Bennett. I dont understand why anyone would want to. Sure, he elevates to a respectful ~0.75ppg in the playoffs (0.818 this playoffs, 0.736 last, 0.75 3 season ago) but he still hasn't cracked 60 points in the regular season, or even been on pace to do so given he misses a decent chunk of games each season.

He plays a hard game and takes a lot of penalties. There isn't any room on the Flames roster right now, and we can find better options for 2C (or hopefully 1C pushing Kadri to 2C)

He's cracked 50 points one time, is turning 29, and about to receive a huge contract.

The Flames need skill and should stay far away from Bennett.

Bennett is the kind of playoff contributor you love when he's on a reasonable contract. When he's getting paid top line money, aging, and not producing, it's a nightmare.

This gives Brouwer or Neal vibes.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by blankall

He's cracked 50 points one time, is turning 29, and about to receive a huge contract.

The Flames need skill and should stay far away from Bennett.

He’s perfect for a team like Florida who expects to go deep in the playoffs every year. He’s the guy you add to the ‘21-‘22 Flames (oh, the irony), not the ‘25-‘26 edition.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

That's how I see it too. I don't think the plan is to pivot just based on one unexpectedly solid season, especially when they have been playing in the margins all year long. On top of this, Conroy had a front-row view to the 2015 team, and that one saw (arguably) the rebuild being sped up. At least during that season, it was being driven mostly by the youth on the team.


This past year, Wolf (and Vladar) were impactful, but most of the push came from the older players. Does Conroy add to this now? Or does he stick with the original plan and just focus on the draft? Does that mean taking out another peg or two?


If there is ever a 'window' to pick high for a few years from, it is now. Building is a few years out, and Mckenna-Dupont-Maddox(?) is a pretty good window. Are the owners ok with this window? Or do they force Conroy to get back into the playoff picture?


I guess we will find out this off-season based on his moves. Until then, I am not sure what the real direction is here.

The flames aren't going to be bad enough to draft the high. The Flames, in terms of high end talent, will have to settle for a Calder nominee and a top 5 prospect in Parekh. That's actually better than most teams would get, on average, from 4 years of tanking.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by edslunch

He’s perfect for a team like Florida who expects to go deep in the playoffs every year. He’s the guy you add to the ‘21-‘22 Flames (oh, the irony), not the ‘25-‘26 edition.

Bennett is going to seem less perfect when he's making over twice as much money.

[dino7c]

Bennett police are alive and well I see...Marner also had over double during the season.

The point was that Marner is basically the worst playoff performer of all time according to the Canadian media as he sits 6th in playoff scoring an neat ppg for his career.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Saqe

Bennett also has four more goals than Marner.

This was always the Gaudreau argument, Marner is a playmaker first. Points are points.

He steals the puck and sets up Marner for the winner...its at least half his goal he made 2 plays.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by blankall

The flames aren't going to be bad enough to draft the high. The Flames, in terms of high end talent, will have to settle for a Calder nominee and a top 5 prospect in Parekh. That's actually better than most teams would get, on average, from 4 years of tanking.

Maybe.

Not sure I'm 100% sold on that.

I think Huberdeau has found a new way to play that's sustainable. I think Kadri will age well.

But if Andersson is traded and we see any slip at all from Wolf next year (or team defending down a top four defenseman) then this team is what it is ... near the bottom in expected goals and shooting percentage.

That spells many more losses than we saw this year.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Bennett police are alive and well I see...Marner also had over double during the season.

The point was that Marner is basically the worst playoff performer of all time according to the Canadian media as he sits 6th in playoff scoring an neat ppg for his career.

I don't think there's any doubt that Bennett will be very sought after if he makes it to Ufa status. Great player. Going to get overpaid though and isn't the ideal pickup for Calgary, who needs more skill.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

That's how I see it too. I don't think the plan is to pivot just based on one unexpectedly solid season, especially when they have been playing in the margins all year long. On top of this, Conroy had a front-row view to the 2015 team, and that one saw (arguably) the rebuild being sped up. At least during that season, it was being driven mostly by the youth on the team.


This past year, Wolf (and Vladar) were impactful, but most of the push came from the older players. Does Conroy add to this now? Or does he stick with the original plan and just focus on the draft? Does that mean taking out another peg or two?


If there is ever a 'window' to pick high for a few years from, it is now. Building is a few years out, and Mckenna-Dupont-Maddox(?) is a pretty good window. Are the owners ok with this window? Or do they force Conroy to get back into the playoff picture?


I guess we will find out this off-season based on his moves. Until then, I am not sure what the real direction is here.

The vets had good seasons for sure.

But they also had a young goalie take the #1 job, a relatively young defenseman take the 2/3 spot on the blueline, and a young forward emerge as the team's best shooter and offensive threat.

Don't think Huberdeau, Weegar, Kadri and Andersson could get that done without Wolf, Bahl and Coronato.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by blankall

The flames aren't going to be bad enough to draft the high. The Flames, in terms of high end talent, will have to settle for a Calder nominee and a top 5 prospect in Parekh. That's actually better than most teams would get, on average, from 4 years of tanking.

I think we agree to disagree here.



Boston and Nashville. Both better-constructed teams with great goaltending, both in the bottom 5 this year.


Anything can happen, and my point is exactly this - take a peg or two off this roster, and there will be a bottom 5 finish. Add a peg or two, and you probably get playoffs. I don't subscribe at all to the 'not gonna happen' definitive statements that people throw around. We will have a better idea of what is more likely to happen based on the moves that Conroy makes.



Plus, how many teams are going to be 'bad' this year? Which teams are actively tanking? Which ones are trying to get better or seemingly coming out of their rebuilds? There will be less 'easy points' this year. Chicago is even desperate to bring in established players to insulate Bedard, who apparently isn't happy in Chicago. San Jose won't be a powerhouse, but they will be better to 'x' degree at least. Nashville and Boston won't be that bad again. Anaheim is rising from their ashes. Columbus is definitely tracking well.


Philadelphia is a wildcard to me. Pittsburgh is somewhat, if Crosby ends up leaving Pittsburgh to chase a cup. Vancouver maybe, if the realize that they need to move on from Hughes this season to maximize their return, but I think it is more likely that they try for one more season at least before that happens. At this point in time, there are not a lot of teams actively tanking, or even regressing. Their improvements means less points to go around.


I guess we argue from two different points of view here. My point is that last season was an outlier, rather than a baseline. You are probably seeing last season as a baseline, rather than an outlier. I don't think it matters what point of view we see it from really. I guess whatever moves Conroy makes is what will be the basis for which direction the Flames go towards, and how far. That's my point in a nutshell.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Bingo

The vets had good seasons for sure.

But they also had a young goalie take the #1 job, a relatively young defenseman take the 2/3 spot on the blueline, and a young forward emerge as the team's best shooter and offensive threat.

Don't think Huberdeau, Weegar, Kadri and Andersson could get that done without Wolf, Bahl and Coronato.

True, and I don't mean to discount the youth at all.



If it was that cut and dry, we wouldn't have a discussion about it. I think it is likely that a move or two can send this team to the bottom of the standings, and a move or two can send this team into the playoffs. A lot went right last season, but there was still things that went wrong that we can expect improvement on as well - like Sharangovich's scoring to improve.



If there are no moves made this off-season (which is unlikely, granted), does this team take a step forward or a step back? Do the aging vets + what went right normalizing outweigh the improving youth and what went wrong normalizing? I guess this is what Conroy is being paid to decide. I do agree with you in that there are two plausible outcomes. I am leaning more to the Flames regressing than surging, all things being equal, and if moves are made on that side of the equation, then I think ti is a top 5 pick next draft. However, a few moves can be made to get this team into the playoffs next season too.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Major Major

He probably will, but it makes lots of sense to take a shorter term higher AAV for him if his goal is to max out his career earnings.

Sure, there is risk, but Bennett hitting UFA again at age 33 with a rising cap probably gets another 4 year deal at good money.

With the way Bennett plays, he could easily get injured with a short-term deal, minimizing his opportunity to get another pay day.

He revitalized his career in Florida. If he stays with them, I could see an 8-year, 6.25m AAV deal to remain as the middle 6 center that brings it come playoff time. It's no secret they've had great success with him there, and the Panthers have the advantage of offering the extra year to Bennett. It would be an age 29-37 deal though, so tough to do nonetheless.

[kehatch]

In the unlikely event we managed to get Marner then we could be a pretty good team for the next few years. If nobody drops off, Parekh has an impact right away, and we manage to keep Andersson then we could even be a really good team.

Its not the right decision though. We don't have the pipeline to replace the aging vets and age is going to catch up to us pretty quickly. Its also a big gamble to expect an overachieving team to keep overachieving. Plus, that is a quarter of the cap on two wingers.

It would be fun though.

[GreenLantern2814]

I’d be way more interested giving John Tavares 4/$40M before paying whatever it’ll cost to sign Marner or Bennett.

The dude is a reliable PPG centre who doesn’t miss games, and if he has to go on LTIR in a few years, so be it.

[BigThief]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I think Kadri will age well.

Kadri is again well, not many players 34+ on the 30 goal list last year. Ovi, Crosby, Kadri, Tavaras.. couple guys just younger than him on the list.

35 is a big age though, that game could drop off at any moment. Love Kadri for his ability to use his speed in strong burts to push back defenders but I worry about his game when that explosiveness is gone. Four years is alot of term but I'm hoping the Flames can find a deal for him.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Funny that Marner has 4 more points than Benett these playoffs. Wonder why guys go play down south .

He also makes almost 7 million dollars more per year lol. Whoops was behind a page.

I still think the Flames could slide pretty hard. The 2015 team did and I think they were better.