[Trade] Mark Stone (8yrs, $9.5mil AAV) to Vegas for Erik Brannstrom, Lindberg, 2020 2nd

[FireGilbert]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1100149618824773632

The Sens are such a tire fire organisation. Definitely turning into the Oilers of the East. How bad does your franchise have to be for a player to sign an 8 year contract yet would rather play on a completely new team and live in a completely new city.

[Mickey76]

It obviously doesn’t matter now but I am torn on this whole Mark Stone situation. On the one hand I really don’t mind gambling when you have a chance, and in general I would rather take a Stone caliber player over virtually any prospect. I mean how much better than Stone are any of our prospects going to be. So it comes down to the contract and there of course 9.5 seems too much especially over 8 years when it would seem at least two of those years will be a huge overpayment. And with our cap situation it doesn’t work. But are we seriously in the era of 10 million a season for a point a game guy who isn’t a great skater? This is is what I find most aggravating about this whole affair. Can even a good team be built anymore that can stay together for longer than a few years? At 9.5 over 8 for the Mark Stones of the world it is going to be very tough. You are going to have to overpay by price and term after the first contract and hope their development trajectory is better than expected.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

https://twitter.com/user/status/1100149618824773632

It's gotta suck being Bobby Ryan. He's there for life. Mind you, he can take comfort in being highly overpaid.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

https://twitter.com/user/status/1100149618824773632...

Incredible. The Hawaiian shirts for retired players is a nice touch.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

https://twitter.com/user/status/1100149618824773632

The Sens are such a tire fire organisation. Definitely turning into the Oilers of the West. How bad does your franchise have to be for a player to sign an 8 year contract yet would rather play on a completely new team and live in a completely new city.

Players become UFA's all the time and sign to play in a different city.

[FireGilbert]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Players become UFA's all the time and sign to play in a different city.

Yeah I guess this isn't much different from a UFA situation. Stone just had to make his decision much faster than a real UFA.

Still this proves how much of a disaster the Sens have become. Sign and trades almost never happen as upcoming UFAs usually choose one of two options: re-sign or go to free agency. Because the Sens are so bad Stone took a rarely used 3rd option.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

The onus is now on Neal or Bennett to perform at a top 6 level in the playoffs

Or Czarnik or Mangiapane. Or Frolik or Jankowski. Or some combination of all of them.

Depth scoring doesn't have to be one guy in particular. It can be a village of them

[Enoch Root]

Names that are gone (in 2 years) include:

Erik Karlsson
Kyle Turris
Ryan Dzingel
Derrick Brassard
Mark Methot
Tommy Wingels
Mike Hoffman, and
Mark Stone

That is a better core than the Oilers can boast.

[Enoch Root]

^ and that doesn't include Duchene.

And to top it all off, they don't have their 1st round pick this summer.

[mrdonkey]

Honest question, what is it about Valimaki that makes him so untouchable? He’s a nice prospect but is he really that much of a blue-chipper that you don’t even consider moving him for a 26-year-old player who’s already an established star? The way he’s talked about you’d think he was lighting the AHL on fire.

For all we know he tops out as a 2nd pairing dman or becomes the next Tim Erixon. Which is far more likely than becoming the heir apparent to a Norris-caliber defenseman.

Not meaning this as a slight against the player, just not understanding the level of hype and value he seems to carry with him.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

Honest question, what is it about Valimaki that makes him so untouchable? He’s a nice prospect but is he really that much of a blue-chipper that you don’t even consider moving him for a 26-year-old player who’s already an established star? The way he’s talked about you’d think he was lighting the AHL on fire.

For all we know he tops out as a 2nd pairing dman or becomes the next Tim Erixon. Which is far more likely than becoming the heir apparent to a Norris-caliber defenseman.

Not meaning this as a slight against the player, just not understanding the level of hype and value he seems to carry with him.

If the team projected him to be just another Tom Erixon then indeed they would have easily given him up in the deal.
All teams have to be able to look ahead and project where players are. Certainly in their post draft years those projections start to become more firm.
And in the Flames mind, they clearly view him as a core piece. Probably projecting him to be a top pairing guy, perhaps the heir to Gio's throne eventually.

And I would agree that he is the most likely to attain that level - more than Andersson or Kylington, or even Hanifin.

It's not hype. It's the organizations projections.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

The way he’s talked about you’d think he was lighting the AHL on fire.

So far in the AHL he has 8 points in 11 games and is a Plus 5 at the age of 20 coming off a high ankle sprain.

Is that not lighting it on fire?

Plus that's on top of making the team out of training camp on his 20th birthday, and looking pretty good in his 22 games on the Flames in the NHL.

[TheScorpion]

For context, here are the Flames from 2016-17. Bolded are the players who remain.

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Micheal Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Alex Chiasson
Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Troy Brouwer
Curtis Lazar/Garnet Hathaway/Freddie Hamilton

Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Michael Stone
Matt Bartkowski - Deryk Engelland
Dennis Wideman/Jyrki Jokipakka/Brett Kulak

Brian Elliott
Chad Johnson

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

So far in the AHL he has 8 points in 11 games and is a Plus 5 at the age of 20 coming off a high ankle sprain.

Is that not lighting it on fire?...

Valimaki is second among AHL rookie defensemen in point/GP behind only Christian Wolanin who is about to turn 24-years-old.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

For context, here are the Flames from 2016-17. Bolded are the players who remain.

Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Micheal Ferland
Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik
Kris Versteeg - Sam Bennett - Alex Chiasson
Lance Bouma - Matt Stajan - Troy Brouwer
Curtis Lazar/Garnet Hathaway/Freddie Hamilton

Mark Giordano - Dougie Hamilton
T.J. Brodie - Michael Stone
Matt Bartkowski - Deryk Engelland
Dennis Wideman/Jyrki Jokipakka/Brett Kulak

Brian Elliott
Chad Johnson

The glaring difference being that it is all of the good ones that remain.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

Honest question, what is it about Valimaki that makes him so untouchable? He’s a nice prospect but is he really that much of a blue-chipper that you don’t even consider moving him for a 26-year-old player who’s already an established star? The way he’s talked about you’d think he was lighting the AHL on fire.

For all we know he tops out as a 2nd pairing dman or becomes the next Tim Erixon. Which is far more likely than becoming the heir apparent to a Norris-caliber defenseman.

Not meaning this as a slight against the player, just not understanding the level of hype and value he seems to carry with him.

It's a fair question. And the bottom line is that nothing is guaranteed, ever. But his attributes are pretty solid:

1) great skater
2) great offensive instincts
3) great defensive instincts
4) leader
5) poise (highly under-rated as a skill for D men)
6) size
7) progression

He continues to show, every year, great progression and pretty elite skills at every level. He was taking a regular shift as a 20 year old in the NHL, without AHL time. Usually, the only guys doing that at this age or younger, end up being top pairing guys at a very young age.

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

Honest question, what is it about Valimaki that makes him so untouchable? He’s a nice prospect but is he really that much of a blue-chipper that you don’t even consider moving him for a 26-year-old player who’s already an established star? The way he’s talked about you’d think he was lighting the AHL on fire.

For all we know he tops out as a 2nd pairing dman or becomes the next Tim Erixon. Which is far more likely than becoming the heir apparent to a Norris-caliber defenseman.

Not meaning this as a slight against the player, just not understanding the level of hype and value he seems to carry with him.

I mean there’s more than enough game tape and scouting reports on him that you can figure that out yourself. He was a dominant player last year during the WHL playoffs, had 17 pts in 12 games I believe. I’ve seen him play live numerous times when he was in Tri-City and he very much has high end offensive abilities, he is a modern day 2 way Dman that the game is gearing towards, he has great poise all over the ice and can already handle himself in his own end in the NHL as a 20 year old Dman. He also has great physical tools. After the flames picked him and I went to watch him for the first time he looked way bigger than I expected. When he gets a head of steam he really can fly as well. He also has had a great start in Stockton posting 8 pts in 11 games. He’s legit and if he was let’s say, a leafs prospect, he would be on many more top prospects lists.

He’s the best D prospect the Flames have had in quite some time

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[djsFlames]

Quickly going from underrated to overrated.

Vegas thinks he's going to be their McDavid.

[Flamenspiel]

These pending free agents are like house shopping, it seems like the one you missed on is a one of a kind, then another better one at a better price comes along.

The Flames have to be planning on bringing Taylor Hall back home in 2020 and he is a "franchise" player, not a faux internet one. It would be the ultimate troll job on the Oilers to have Hall come to Calgary and be instrumental in winning a cup. I doubt he signs at much more than 9.5.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

https://twitter.com/user/status/1100149618824773632

The Sens are such a tire fire organisation. Definitely turning into the Oilers of the East. How bad does your franchise have to be for a player to sign an 8 year contract yet would rather play on a completely new team and live in a completely new city.

Hahaha at Chris Neil in that picture.