[Signing] Flames sign Deryk Engelland (3yrs, $2.9M AAV)

[Robo]

he played great last night saved a sure goal and scored 2 he earned us a point last night

[Enoch Root]

Everyone agreed that Engelland was overpaid - such is the nature of UFAs.

However, some of us argued that the overpayment was irrelevant because of their cap position, and that he was a useful addition to a very small and thin D core.

IMO, that is proving to be the case.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Everyone agreed that Engelland was overpaid - such is the nature of UFAs.

However, some of us argued that the overpayment was irrelevant because of their cap position, and that he was a useful addition to a very small and thin D core.

IMO, that is proving to be the case.

That's true. But I think many also don't remember that Eggs is a D, a potential RW (brutal, but supposedly reasonable on RW in a pinch which was far better than what we had forcasted in terms of talent for bottom pairing RW) and one of our "enforcers". He's a multi functional stop gap in more than one position. At least that's how I swallowed it easier. Luckily, we've only needed to use him for D and not RW, but the point still stands that he was a good choice to deal with more than one weakness if necessary.

I'd keep him over Smid because of how versatile he is. But I also hope greatly that Smid's career isn't in jeopardy due to injury. I keep hoping Smid takes a half a year or a year off to properly deal with the injury in terms of long term considerations for his career.

[Roof-Daddy]

Originally Posted by troutman

How close are we to Morrison and Rafikov?

Not as close as Wotherspoon IMO, I still don't understand why he didn't get into a game or two this season. I realize the Flames were out of the race last season when he got his 14 games, but I thought he looked good and was probably going to finish the year in Calgary had he not gotten injured.

6'2 210 lbs, can skate, move the puck and is smart.

Treliving obviously isn't interested in rushing any D men, that's for sure, but hopefully next season we can have a couple of the younger D force their way onto the roster like Brodie did.

Between:

Wotherspoon
Culkin
Kulak
Morrison

...hopefully at least one of them can force their way up.

[Hackey]

Engelland coming through in the clutch. Silencing the haters. Good for him.

[tvp2003]

At this time of year, salary means nothing. It's all about performance when the puck drops.

Funny thing is that when he was being announced during the starting lineups last night I had the distinct thought that we were lucky to have signed him. Can you imagine Smid or Diaz being pushed into the top 4 after Gio's injury?

Of course, the two goals were just icing on the cake; after the first one went in, the second time you thought, "nawwww, no way that one goes in too". Then, later in the game he had the puck again and people were yelling "shooooooot"

[heep223]

I was fully ready to chuck my favourite hat last night.

[GGG]

I think the Engelland signing looks pretty good. He filled in admirably with Gio out in the top 4. Definitely far better than I expected from him when was signed and panned as the worst free agent signing.

The last month he earned every penny.

[FlameZilla]

Only D man we have who can get in peoples' faces and clear the crease. Surprisingly mobile and effective enough in transition when he makes simple plays.

He's going to be leaned on pretty heavily in the playoffs. Shame we don't have another of him...

[GranteedEV]

He had a hell of a game today!

[Erick Estrada]

The challenge for him was to see if he could step up his play in Gio's absence and he's come through in flying colors. When you look at how he played down the stretch it's really all you could ask.

[JiriHrdina]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

The challenge for him was to see if he could step up his play in Gio's absence and he's come through in flying colors. When you look at how he played down the stretch it's really all you could ask.

He was similar in Pitt. Didn't play a lot consistently but when called upon, regardless of the role, he would step up.

[killer_carlson]

25 minutes in the biggest game of the season. Gelenais just complemented him in the post game show as well.

[mrdonkey]

Hated him for 3/4 of the season, but the way he stepped up in the last 1/4 made up for it.

He's all right by me.

[Gare Bear]

Enggy has been awesome down the stretch. I'm so glad he's on this team now that he's been pushed into bigger minutes. Potter looked terrible out there tonight...can we get anyone else in there?