Gillies Staying in Providence for 3rd Year

[Gaskal]

Burke would probably aim higher than Reimer and if J-Mac walks, he'd probably go for a 1a 1b combo in Ramo and sign for someone like Jaroslav Halak. I can't see him going after any other goalies other than maaaaaaaybe Halak.

I don't think he wants to spend any assets on a goalie though especially when 1.) Ramo looks already like an upgrade on him and is arguably stealing games for us. And 2.) Why would I give up assets when we have to cap space to offer Halak or hell maybe even Thomas or Nabokov if we want to switch goalies around to give Ramo less of a workload.

[Flames Draft Watcher]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

Probably Cam Ward and his $6.7M contract.

Yeah Ward could help us reach the floor and give us a solid 1-2 punch in net. Definitely a possibility and we know Burke is a fan. If he can get him on the cheap then that'd be fine.

Not sure we want Ortio sitting on the bench behind Ramo so unless they plan on alternating them it might be best to have Ortio in the minors for one more year.

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by Flames Draft Watcher

Yeah Ward could help us reach the floor and give us a solid 1-2 punch in net. Definitely a possibility and we know Burke is a fan. If he can get him on the cheap then that'd be fine.

Not sure we want Ortio sitting on the bench behind Ramo so unless they plan on alternating them it might be best to have Ortio in the minors for one more year.

and when Ward gets injured, Ortio gets the call.

[formulate]

Really hope Gillies turns it up another notch next year and becomes the first Hobey goalie since Ryan Miller!

Not sure where people are getting the idea of him having a bad year from. Yes, he had a rough patch following the World Juniors, but 19-9-5, 4 SO, 2.16/.931 is rather good. Not Ryan Miller good (yet), but good.

As for Cam Ward and his 6.3 AAV for 2 more years, plus giving up assets to get him? Pass. I'd way rather sign a guy to a one-year backup deal in the 2 million range, who can play 25-30 games for us. Candidates:

Thomas Greiss
Justin Peters
Chad Johnson
Al Montoya
maybe Brian Elliot/Jonas Gustavsson
even Chris Nilstorp

[Vulcan]

I'm not sold on Cam Ward either but if Carolina wants to do a salary dump for little in return if not for negative value, I'm game.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Are we really going for a goalie in free agency? I would think we'd be going for a defenseman if Butler doesn't come back, but more importantly a forward that can finish, like Vanek or Vrbata would be nice.

[formulate]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Are we really going for a goalie in free agency? I would think we'd be going for a defenseman if Butler doesn't come back, but more importantly a forward that can finish, like Vanek or Vrbata would be nice.

Most likely yes. With Gillies staying in Providence and MacDonald likely done, we only have Ramo and Ortio taking up 2 of the 4 spots between the Flames and the Heat. Roy maybe an Abbotsford backup, but there's a good chance he isn't qualified. So, to me, it looks like we'll be signing an NHL backup and an AHL backup. Ortio continues to carry the load for the Heat, and would be on speed dial in case of an injury. In addition, we'll probably draft a goalie to recoup some depth in the system.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by formulate

Most likely yes. With Gillies staying in Providence and MacDonald likely done, we only have Ramo and Ortio taking up 2 of the 4 spots between the Flames and the Heat. Roy maybe an Abbotsford backup, but there's a good chance he isn't qualified. So, to me, it looks like we'll be signing an NHL backup and an AHL backup. Ortio continues to carry the load for the Heat, and would be on speed dial in case of an injury. In addition, we'll probably draft a goalie to recoup some depth in the system.

I thought Ortio would have been fine with 20, 25 games in the NHL, but another year in Abby playing a lot of games would probably be better for his development. With the cap, we of course have plenty of options on goalie.

Assuming we do go after one, my top 3 we go after (no particular order)

1. Halak - Overpay him if you want him badly... He always tends to be clutch when making the playoffs, I remember him in Montreal.
2. Emery - legitimate 1b that can play 30, 35 games. Can play if Ramo's injured.
3. Elliott - I would love to have this guy, he is a clutch backup, and does St Louis even have the room for him? Would totally overpay this guy to be with us, he's got good numbers granted he has a really good defense for him. But our defense isn't that bad, so I don't think his GAA would drop that bad. He's probably my number one goalie I would want. get him for 2 years, 2.5-3.5m. Only way to get him is the money.