Duhatschek runs a mock expansion draft...bye bye Bennett?

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

I can’t imagine Seattle taking Gio even if he’s available. A 38 year old D with one year left who’s the captain of the team he spent his whole career with? He’s as likely to retire as report.

I disagree completely. I don’t see why he would retire considering he is still playing at a high level.

He is by far the best Dman on the Flames and would still be the best Dman on many teams in the league.

Seattle adding a leader of his ability to help create a positive culture makes sense why they would claim him. In addition he could be used as a rental at the deadline to a contending team and likely bring back a 1st+.

He goes to Seattle for one year and comes back for a year or two and finishes his career as a Flame.

[kurwamac]

I like how in the trade rumour thread, everyone's building the roster with Hall as a lock, and even Lefrenier.. then you come to this thread.. we're leaving Hall exposed..


As for Lucic - he said in an interview he was thinking of "hanging up his skates". Retirement's on his mind, wouldn't he be off the books if he retires early?

[Strange Brew]

So this list assumes assumes the Flames will only have 5 NHL defensemen, and that’s if you include Kylington and Valimaki.

If Kylington is actually proving himself to be an NHLer by that point, you’d have to think he is primed to be claimed. If he isn’t, the Flames will have other players signed on the back end that will need to be considered.

Or maybe so little hockey will have been played between now and then that we’ll have no idea who is any good.

[SeanCharles]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I disagree completely. I don’t see why he would retire considering he is still playing at a high level.

He is by far the best Dman on the Flames and would still be the best Dman on many teams in the league.

Seattle adding a leader of his ability to help create a positive culture makes sense why they would claim him. In addition he could be used as a rental at the deadline to a contending team and likely bring back a 1st+.

He goes to Seattle for one year and comes back for a year or two and finishes his career as a Flame.

Even tho I talk about it I don’t think there is any way Calgary doesn’t protect Gio, barring any unforeseen trades to bolster our top 4.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by kurwamac

As for Lucic - he said in an interview he was thinking of "hanging up his skates". Retirement's on his mind, wouldn't he be off the books if he retires early?

lol wouldn't that be an unbelievably fortunate turn of events.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by SeanCharles

I feel like I’m one of the the only ones who thinks Kylington can develop into a really good dman if given the opportunity.

I like the idea of throwing him out on the PP next season to see what he can do.

He’s been very conservative so he can earn the coaches trust and I still can notice his on ice vision and heads-up offensive plays.

You are correct that you are in the Minority.... Flames management went out and got Forbort and Gustafsson and played Stone rather than giving Kylington ice time when Gio and Hamonic were hurt.

He is not ready and Flames coaches/management doesn't trust him to grow into a role.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Man. To just let the highest pick in Calgary Flames history walk? For nothing? Does not seem right. Regardless if he's worked out or not.

Sunk cost. Doesn’t matter

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

The only thing that is not similar to the Engelland deal is that the Knights could have delayed signing UFA Engelland until after the expansion draft and picked another player from the Flames exposed list. The Flames did not have any player exposed that Vegas wanted.

Correct. But I don't think this difference will prompt the Flames under any circumstance to include Derek Ryan on their protected- players list.

This time all things being even, Seattle would take a chance on Kylington or Bennett or Dube were Bennett protected.

As things stand now, that is how I see it. But it is rather silly to think that today's Flames roster will look all that similar to the one they will enter the expansion draft with:

· The Flames blue line will be overhauled this summer
· There is a lot of informed speculation that they will sign Taylor Hall as a UFA
· There is a realistic chance they will make a core-change to the forward group—possibly in the form of a trade around Gaudreau

These factors are going to pretty dramatically change the appearance of the entire roster. I am guessing that the actual protection list will end up bearing only a marginal resemblance to any one of the above proposals.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I disagree completely. I don’t see why he would retire considering he is still playing at a high level.

He is by far the best Dman on the Flames and would still be the best Dman on many teams in the league.

Seattle adding a leader of his ability to help create a positive culture makes sense why they would claim him. In addition he could be used as a rental at the deadline to a contending team and likely bring back a 1st+.

He goes to Seattle for one year and comes back for a year or two and finishes his career as a Flame.

So now Gio is playing for three teams in 18 months?

I don’t see it. Maybe he goes ring chasing after his deal expires, but he’s not going to be a Seattle Sockeye. Even if there were some hockey scenario where it was possible, Edwards and co wouldn’t allow it.

[CSharp]

Originally Posted by Poe969

Maybe it's just me but I would expose Backlund and Gio.

Maybe Gio, but Backlund? C'mon - don't make me assume that you want to expose Backlund for the sake of protecting Bennett. Backlund just got his contract renewed and for a decent price. It's not like the Flames have great centermen depth either.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Geeoff

Personally, if I'm Brad I just keep trying to improve the team. Protect who we can protect and lose only 1 piece to Seattle. The more options Seattle has to choose from, the more likely it is that Seattle will make a mistake rather than us.



Don't:
-make dumb trades to reduce Seattle's options
-give up Jakob Pelletier to save Travis Hamonic or something and then also lose another player

Agreed. We're thinking too hard, let them make the hard decision.

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by CSharp

Maybe Gio, but Backlund? C'mon - don't make me assume that you want to expose Backlund for the sake of protecting Bennett. Backlund just got his contract renewed and for a decent price. It's not like the Flames have great centermen depth either.

I think exposing Backlund is something that could be considered. A lot can change in a year and at the time of the draft he will be 32 years old with three years left on that deal it may be something they look at depending on where the state of his game is at that time. I get that the media needs stuff to write about right now but it's futile trying to come to any conclusions a year ahead of a draft like this as so much can change from year to year.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

So now Gio is playing for three teams in 18 months?

I don’t see it. Maybe he goes ring chasing after his deal expires, but he’s not going to be a Seattle Sockeye. Even if there were some hockey scenario where it was possible, Edwards and co wouldn’t allow it.

Your argument was Seattle wouldn’t take Gio if he was available and I disagreed with that. You could be right about ownership saying they need to protect him.

My thoughts are if the Flames decide to leave Gio unprotected he will be the Flame selected by Seattle

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

So now Gio is playing for three teams in 18 months?

I don’t see it. Maybe he goes ring chasing after his deal expires, but he’s not going to be a Seattle Sockeye. Even if there were some hockey scenario where it was possible, Edwards and co wouldn’t allow it.

I would hope Edwards and co learned their lesson trying to have Iggy play entire career as a flame . Having a player play whole career for same team should be way down on the list of priorities.

[dammage79]

I believe Gio will be left unprotected. Getting claimed is another can of worms all together. Flames have a promising collection of young prime D men and I can see them protecting as many of them as they can. The risk exposing Gio to expansion claim would be minimal given the few arguments made here. Age, Cap, length of contract remaining and availability of other options left unprotected.

[CsInMyBlood]

Originally Posted by dammage79

I believe Gio will be left unprotected. Getting claimed is another can of worms all together. Flames have a promising collection of young prime D men and I can see them protecting as many of them as they can. The risk exposing Gio to expansion claim would be minimal given the few arguments made here. Age, Cap, length of contract remaining and availability of other options left unprotected.

Yet Mark Giordano has constantly surprised and proven people wrong his entire career. With his fitness level and dedication to the game he may be one of those guys that is able to play at a high level way into his 40's. Thats not even mentioning what he brings off the ice to this organization in leadership, community and being a guy that young guys can look up to.

He is our captain and best defenseman by far. I can't see him being left unprotected and if he is I can't see Seattle not swiping him up and slapping that C on him.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by CsInMyBlood

Yet Mark Giordano has constantly surprised and proven people wrong his entire career. With his fitness level and dedication to the game he may be one of those guys that is able to play at a high level way into his 40's. Thats not even mentioning what he brings off the ice to this organization in leadership, community and being a guy that young guys can look up to...

We see this mentioned here a lot, and I would tend to concede that it won't surprise me if Giordano is still playing at a high level when he is 40-years-old. The thing is, this is such a rarity to begin with, and I think it is probably just as likely to see him suffer a precipitous drop from one year to the next before that time.

[SeanCharles]

All I know is I’ll be extremely elated if Valimaki ends up being exempt and we can protect Andersson, Valimaki, Hanifin and Gio.

I would only leave Gio exposed if there was no way for him to get picked or Kylington took a massive step.

I wouldn’t want to lose him as I think he will be a top 4 dman until he is ready to retire.

[kurwamac]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

I would hope Edwards and co learned their lesson trying to have Iggy play entire career as a flame . Having a player play whole career for same team should be way down on the list of priorities.

It depends how much care and attention the owners have towards the Flames. Sadly Harley and King passed away recently, while you're absolutely right about Iggy - if the older owners have more say, they could be selfish and even pull a Columbus by signing Hall & holding onto Gaudreau.. they could be conservative with assets, or say heck I'm not getting younger let's go for it..

[Sylvanfan]

One and a half years before the previous expansion draft I thought Frolik could be a guy that the Flames could expose due his age and contract. By the time the draft came...he was quite clearly one of the teams 6 best forwards. I expect Backlund will be the same. His contract has risk, but I do not see him being pushed down the depth chart. If he is.. awesome. But I don't see that happening.