Free agent period: successful or not?

[loosecannon3]

Now that the majority of the free agent period is over, how would you characterize the signings by the Flames...are you happy or not? Although getting Taylor Hall would have been great and I would have loved some lower cost, potentially bargain signings to fill in the roster, I feel the signing of a potentially great goaltender over the next few years trumps all else. What do other people think?

[dammage79]

I think it's successful. Markstrom is the biggest FA signing this team has likely ever made. That in of itself is enough for me. Putting to rest the goaltending circus post Kipprusoff.

Tanev to replace our outgoing FAs is a good move too, albeit a year too long on the deal but its survivable.

[calgaryred]

Im happy rather Flames work with the top 6 in trades. Not disappointed with the UFA signings on paper they fill in glaring holes that needed attention. If Markstrom can get us to the playoffs every year and the second round on his own back. I hope Trev can make the right trades in the top six to improve scoring especially in the playoffs.

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[ForeverFlameFan]

We weren't going to be able to fit Hall and Gaudreau on the same team, unless we were planning on gutting depth at forward or D. We wouldn't have been able to sign one of the top if not the top FA goalie currently and a top 4D at a reasonable contract. Bonus that we had gutted Vancouver pre-Schmidt acquisition. Plus, we can also go for Hall next season since he was at least smart enough to sign only a 1 year deal in Buffalo.

I'm happy giving the core one more go with a little more stability at net. It's also nice at the thought that we are going to have a nice d-core for upcoming years, assuming Valimaki continues the significant progress he is making despite his injury last season. I also think this opens up the door for Kylington to get some PP time. Let's see if that high risk/high reward pick in 2015 pays off with more playing time.

[Jbo]

Addressed two of three major needs. Feels pretty good.

[Robbob]

Successful. One of the hardest things to find is a number 1 goalie. Getting him at a reasonable AAV, puts the cherry on top.

[Doctorfever]

I had my sights set on Hall, then as free agency approached AP as well. The shiny, high end guys.
At the end of the day, I am very happy with Markstrom. I am hopeful that Tanev is an upgrade, or at the very least, straight across trade off for Brodie. I know they are not the same type of player, but just talking overall effectiveness.

I think solidifying the goaltender position was huge, so overall I am giving BT at plus.

I don’t think he is done making moves yet, but those might fall into more of ‘hockey trade’ category, depending on what the moves turn out to be.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Successful for sure.
The rest of the changes can be done before the season starts or even some trading during the season to get playoff ready.

The UFA work is only one tool for changing the lineup and it was done well, without doing anything stupid.

[Jiri Hrdina]

I give it a solid B - successful with some risk.
The Markstrom deal is huge in my opinion, and not something I saw coming initially. The deal is crucial to get the team a #1 goalie. We can agree that Talbot provided solid goaltending in the playoffs, but in the elimination game - the position let the team down. Hopefully this solves that. In addition, in signing him, you weakened one divisional rival and blocked him from going to another (Oilers). That's solid work

Tanev addresses a need and I've always liked the player but the term and $ aren't some great deal - they are the market rate and therefore there is risk, particularly if the player declines.

Thus the B overall.
Like others would like to see some changes to the top 6 forward group, but not just for the sake of it. If the trade market and forward market has cratered then wait for it to rebound.

[Vinny01]

Really hoped for Hall but very happy with Markstrom who I didn’t think would be available until Demko stepped in and stepped up against the Knights. I had hopes of getting Hall and Markstrom while getting futures for Gaudreau but that didn’t happen. End of the day getting one of the 4 top tier free agents is a win for this market and solidifying the goaltending was the right move in my opinion.

Tanev is not as ideal for me but he should be decent for a year or two and is an upgrade on Hamonic. Basically Tanev replaces Hamonic, Andersson replaces Brodie, and Valimaki takes the role Andersson had. The blueline is still solid just not as deep as it was last year.

End of the day I am voting yes to success because Markstrom is a huge pickup for the franchise and hopefully will be viewed as the best UFA signing in the history of the organization

[Enoch Root]

Signing Markstrom was huge. Number 1 goalies are at least as rare and valuable as #1 centers. And Markstrom was the single best player available in free agency IMO (some would say Pietrangelo, but I would much rather have Markstrom). If you acquired the best player available, and it was a position that you really needed to improve on, then free agency was a success. Period.

Then they also got a quality RH defensemen, which they also needed. That contract was a little more or longer than one would like, but that is the nature of free agency. I know that some are worried that Tanev might be another Brouwer/Neal, but that is silly IMO. When scoring wingers lose their ability to put up points, they become useless. That doesn't happen with defensive defensemen. They will eventually lose their foot speed of course, and will inevitably slide down the depth chart, but that typically takes years, it isn't a light switch turning off the way that forwards can be.

I am still hoping and expecting that they sign one or two more bargain players to finish off the roster, but I think it is already a big success.

Vegas - better? we'll see, they lost two good players and added one
Edmonton - I think they treaded water, basically the same team
Vancouver - overall, got worse (certainly not better)
San Jose - will be better this year, but not enough to catch the Flames
Arizona - big drop
Anaheim and LA - not relevant this year.

So looking at the division, I think we moved from being in the pack with EDM and VAN to being the clear #2 team in the division.

Again, that makes it a success.

[Hackey]

Markstrom is a big add and should really help the team if he can continue to play like he has. Tanev I'll take a wait and see approach. I'm cautiously optimistic about him. I think the backend looks reasonably strong though, especially if Valimaki jumps in and plays like we all hope.

I would still like to see something done about the forward group though. That could use a shake up. Hopefully guys like Mangiapane and Dube can make some strides to help. Hopefully a rookie cracking the bottom 6 can help as well. A new legit top 6 forward and I think the team looks good. To me that's the one missing piece from this off season but will obviously be tough to do.

[transplant99]

Pretty solid work by BT IMO.

I think many undervalue what Tanev will bring to this club. Beyond his defensive prowess he is a huge character guy and a leader in the room. That matters and it may matter more on this team than many others. There is a void there with the way the F's shrunk when things got hard against the Stars. He will be a guy to speak up and address that when required. He is also the goaltenders best friend as he makes their jobs a whole lot easier when he is on the ice. Yeah its a year too long likely, but thats what happens in free agency. Dollar amount is fine as well.

Markstrom was a good signing as well and may end up being a great one. A clear weakness on this team for years now. Hopefully he can play to the dollar level for at least 5 of the 6 years and outperform it the first 3.

I don't believe for a second that either Hall or Pieterangelo were ever realistic options. AP was simply way way too much money at a position they have a good chunk invested already. Hall never ever made sense to be here. That would have been 3 1st line LW's on the club along with a 5+M 4th line LW. Obviously people assumed JG would have been dealt in that scenario but you make that deal before ever pulling the trigger on the signing, and when that didnt happen at/before the draft, it was never going to.

This team is still desperately short RS players and that has to be addressed. Lack of cap space prevented that which is all on BT and his construction of the roster and its costs to this point, so there is no one to blame but himself.

There will be a trade at some point to try and equal this thing out a bit but it may take some time and patience to wait out other clubs who may be forced to trade a guy they dont want too. If he nails that then the UFA period is a solid A, if not its a tepid B+.

[DoubleK]

B+ in my books.

Markstrom addressed the largest organizational need. Domingue adds depth at the position. I think having three NHL goalies is good insurance against injury in a condensed season.

Avoiding arbitration with Eat Bread is a win.

Avoiding paying TJ Brodie a big number is a win.

Will be interesting to see how the Tanev contract ages.

Was kinda hoping for Jesper Fast, but not at the AAV he ended up going for.

If Vatanen can be signed to a reasonable contract, Tre should jump on it.

[Roof-Daddy]

On paper it was successful. We signed two players that each fill a specific need on the roster, especially Markstrom.

It remains to be seen how it'll play out on the ice.

I'm cautiously optimistic, but I was happy with the Neal signing at the time as well.

[Heavy Jack]

Still plenty of time too to add some veteran presence to the forward groupings. Granlund still seems like he could be a big win if we could get him on a low AAV 1 year deal like we have seen. I still think Granlund at least gets a couple Mill though so ideally we still see a player like Ryan moved to allow us to dip in to the remaining UFA market. Perry and Granlund would be amazing IMO.

As it sits right now to add a solid stay at home Righty who was a leader for a long time on a divisional rival and to also add a clear #1 from that same divisional rival while blocking your main divisional rival makes this one of the better UFA periods for Treliving on paper. Still need to see them play and let that dictate the true grading but I’m a happy fan overall so far this off season.

[1qqaaz]

The draft was great, and I would give it an A (I liked every pick except Jake Boltmann). But I think free agency was a disaster, and I would give it an F.

This year's free agency had only 4 contracts that were 4+ years long and were given to players over 30. 2 of them were by the Flames. Defensive defensemen almost never age well. Especially when the player has already regressed for 3 years.
Markstrom has a career 91% and had one pretty good season. He got 36 million dollars for an above-average 43 game stretch. Gaudreau is up soon. Tkachuk will need to be qualified at 9+ mill. All while the cap is still flat. With Giordano aging, the Flames pretty much have no offensive defensemen.

However, the main reason I think free agency was a failure is the loss in other opportunities.
Hall signed a reasonable 1 year deal. Barrie signed cheap. Brodie went for a reasonable price. Toffoli too. Hoffman and Dadonov as well (probably). Flames could have had good value on Haula, Grandlund, and others.

Also, Binnington, Anderssen and Grubaur might be UFAs next year. The 2022 free agency might be the strongest ever.

The Flames had over 100 points worth in players walk away. And they had about 20 points worth (Tanev) come in.

I think the Flames will make the playoffs this year. They might even have home ice in the playoffs. Tanev might be good for a year. Markstrom might be good for a few years.
But I'm not looking forward to having two more old guys on the roster in 3-6 years. I hope I'm wrong, but I am 95% sure I won't be. I've been right about almost every free agent signing since 2005 - I argued with many of you about the Brouwer and Neal signings. If I were a GM, I would never, under any circumstances, give long deals to players over 30.

[CaptainYooh]

For perspective, Neal and Brouwer signings have been widely viewed as successful here. "Successful" is a wrong term for evaluating FA signing immediately after the deadline. We can know if this was successful only after the signed FA's finish their tenure here.

I doubt anyone here seriously considered Pietrangelo and Hall as realistic acquisition targets, so there's that. On the basis of filling gaping holes, Treliving was able to sign the best available goaltender and replace a lost top-4 defenseman with a similar quality defenseman.

Treliving was not able to add the best realistically available top-line right winger in Toffoli, who signed a reasonable contract elsewhere. But we don't know the real story here, so it's impossible to judge. If Toffoli would have signed here for the same contract, then I would say Treliving had missed a good opportunity. However; if Toffoli was offered a similar deal but simply didn't want to come here given a choice, then Treliving did well by not offering him more.

So, two out of three in terms of strategic signings. 66%overall.

[GreenLantern2814]

Brad had to leave free agency with a true #1 goalie and he got the best one on the market.

And he kept said goalie from going to the Oilers to boot.

Yes, it’s a success.

[flambers]

As others mentioned, signing a top goalie is a really good move.

Tanev contract is risky, however they required a top 4 right handed dman. This addresses that requirement.

However, the forward group is a work in progress. At this point its the weakness of the team.