[Signing] Flames Sign Dustin Wolf (7 years, 7.5M aav)

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Locke

He was indeed, not the 'Real Deal.'

He was the 'Real Deal', we just didn't understand what 'The Deal' was.

[DionTheDman]

Originally Posted by TrentCrimmIndependent

He's much, much better than Stuart Skinner.

That's like saying a pot of gold is better than chronic herpes.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Huberdeau does not need to be a 90 point player to be a fair deal and tradeable. Cap escalation hasn't fully hit yet. There are a few big time RFAs that have not signed yet and there are a ton of big UFA and RFAs for summer 2026 that have not signed early.

McDavid
Eichel
Kaprizov
Panarin
K Connor
Necas


These 3 will reset the bar. Wild owner is already saying Kap will be north of Draisaitl. Eichel has not signed and no way I see him leaving Vegas. My guess is he wants to see what Kap and or McDavid get.

Bedard
Carlsson
Fantilli
Hutson
Harley
Cooley
Robertson

RFAs this season
McTavish
L Hughes

Most of these guys will be north of Huberdeau, some of the kids might be close to Huberdeau on a short term deal.

Everyone of these players can re-sign now, most probably will stay with their team too and yet none of signed. Numbers will be going way up once the first domino falls

Huberdeau sticks around 25-30 goals and gets 65-70 points and his contract is not bad in a $104M cap

The Flames are a scrappy team that struggled to score. Parekh and other young players can contribute to Huberdeau's future success.

Even if his goals slip, if healthy 70 points is not a massive increase for what he has done in Calgary and still well below what we expected when he came here.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Future is set in goal for the short and long term now. No sense in paying a lot for a backup. Cooley or Prosvetov in the short term, then develop one of the Russian kids. Kirill Zarubin is reputably the most promising in the system currently.

Lots of options ahead.

[Icantwhisper]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Not as bad for sure.

But his contract is buyout proof, so that adds risk.

Sticks around 25-30 goals? His career average per 80 games is 23. His average with Calagry is 18.

He has averages 56 points with Calagry, with a high of 62 last year, when he shots a very career high above 18%.

He's at the age when most players start declining, and he's got 6 years left on that contract.

He was better last year for sure, but he's still quite a bit overpaid and a will likley start decling as he ages.

As our team gets better and more competitive, we should start spending closer to cap in the next 2-3 years. Once we have to start optimizing contract space, the Huberdeau contract will become more of a problem.
The narrative that it'll be an okay contract once cap goes up is wrong, it's still 3-4 million per year of wasted room you could use somewhere else on your roster. (This contract is on the Oilers or Canucks and we'd be ruthless)
Conceivable that we have to make tough decisions on players and possibly lose them because of this contract.

[FlamesAreOne]

This deal gets better the more I look at it. A+ work Conroy!

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Not as bad for sure.

But his contract is buyout proof, so that adds risk.

Sticks around 25-30 goals? His career average per 80 games is 23. His average with Calagry is 18.

He has averages 56 points with Calagry, with a high of 62 last year, when he shots a very career high above 18%.

He's at the age when most players start declining, and he's got 6 years left on that contract.

He was better last year for sure, but he's still quite a bit overpaid and a will likley start decling as he ages.

I have been thinking about this after the Price trade. I actually think there might be value in, well less negative value, with this contract when the cap goes up over 100M. When it gets to 113M in 27-28 the floor will be 85M. There could be value in his contract after in 28-29 season if the cap continues to rise. After his signing bonus he is paid on July 1st 2028, he is due 11M in real dollars over the last 2 seasons. That could be a contract someone is wiling to take on to get that 10.5M cap hit those last 2 seasons.

With that in mind, you still need to get through 4 season before the above could be considered.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Robbob

I have been thinking about this after the Price trade. I actually think there might be value in, well less negative value, with this contract when the cap goes up over 100M. When it gets to 113M in 27-28 the floor will be 85M. There could be value in his contract after in 28-29 season if the cap continues to rise. After his signing bonus he is paid on July 1st 2028, he is due 11M in real dollars over the last 2 seasons. That could be a contract someone is wiling to take on to get that 10.5M cap hit those last 2 seasons.

With that in mind, you still need to get through 4 season before the above could be considered.

To get some value I think it takes at least 2 years, probably 4.

But tradeable is not getting value, all I care is can they at some point in the next 2 years trade him if he wants to move on. Taking back a lessor term bad deal and even a mid pick going with him is worth moving on from his contract. $10.5 for a 70 point guy with Josh Anderson coming back might be doable next summer. I doubt Conroy does it then as I think Kadri will be the guy on the move next summer, but the following summer there could be teams that are interested if the Flames take a bad deal back.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Buff

He was the 'Real Deal', we just didn't understand what 'The Deal' was.

He was like a Trumpian Deal...everyone got screwed on that one.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Robbob

I have been thinking about this after the Price trade. I actually think there might be value in, well less negative value, with this contract when the cap goes up over 100M. When it gets to 113M in 27-28 the floor will be 85M. There could be value in his contract after in 28-29 season if the cap continues to rise. After his signing bonus he is paid on July 1st 2028, he is due 11M in real dollars over the last 2 seasons. That could be a contract someone is wiling to take on to get that 10.5M cap hit those last 2 seasons.

With that in mind, you still need to get through 4 season before the above could be considered.

Possibly, for sure.

But the value of his contract is not that he gives value for the dollars paid, but in the cap hit per dollar spent.

But there are usually guys on LTIR where you get cap with little money spent.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

To get some value I think it takes at least 2 years, probably 4.

But tradeable is not getting value, all I care is can they at some point in the next 2 years trade him if he wants to move on. Taking back a lessor term bad deal and even a mid pick going with him is worth moving on from his contract. $10.5 for a 70 point guy with Josh Anderson coming back might be doable next summer. I doubt Conroy does it then as I think Kadri will be the guy on the move next summer, but the following summer there could be teams that are interested if the Flames take a bad deal back.

I think the value is this scenario is clearing or moving that 10.5M so it can be used. Getting a late round pick is a cherry on top.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

The Flames are a scrappy team that struggled to score. Parekh and other young players can contribute to Huberdeau's future success.

Even if his goals slip, if healthy 70 points is not a massive increase for what he has done in Calgary and still well below what we expected when he came here.

70 points is likely a large increase when he's averaged 56 points with Calagry and he's only getting older. he;'s likley a better bet to get back into the 50's that reaching 70.

And you assume he'll continue to get premium ices time and 1st PP time.

Hopefully some of our propsects will start to erode into that premium time. We better hope so or we'll be stuck in bubble land for eternity. I assume the hope is that some of our better prospects start taking over for our older players.

Let's say he does get 70 points next year. It's certainly not impossible, based on his efforts to date.

He's got 5 years left at over $50M owing. That's a lot to take on for an aging player with a buyout proof contract.