Building The 2018/19 Flames Roster

[CF84]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

I meant replaceable as in I wouldn't be upset at all if he were moved, as 3rd line wingers are easily obtained through free agency and trade.

He's far from what you would hope for as a 4th overall pick, but he's certainly panned out better than other high draft picks like Yakupov and Dal Colle. If there's a deal to be had involving a young goaltender who's NHL ready and has starting potential I wouldn't think twice about pulling the trigger.

I remember Flames fans writing off and wanting to move Backlund because he was made of glass and not producing the way he was supposed to. I'm glad our GM doesn't lack patience with Bennett. He still has time to develop into a top 6 player. If his shooting % doesn't stay in the basement and he gains some much needed confidence I would be surprised if he didn't become a part of our top 6.

There is a GM up north who would probably trade Bennett for a second and then Bennett would go on to score 30/30...The second would probably play 37 games and maybe get two assists.

Bennett's value will most likely not dip any lower than it is now so it would be foolish to move a player like him without seeing how he develops.

[DallasFlamesFan]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

I think the keep stone. Worst case he can play 7th D and rotate in. Plus you know there will be an injury at some point

My thinking too. Stone, though overpaid, is a good guy to keep this year. He has experience and can step up in a pinch. If he get's passed over by Andersson, he's likely got enough trade value to get something in return. Though arguably there isn't there isn't much difference talent-wise between Stone and Kulak, I feel more comfortable with Andersson playing with someone like Stone, than Kulak (who is still figuring things out himself).

[GioforPM]

If you want a deep PO run you need defence depth. Has any finalist not used seven defencemen over the course of the POs?

[Nelson]

Try as I might, I still can’t feel good about the goaltending.

Smith was excellent in 47 GP before his injury last season, but afterwards, he was pretty bad in 8 GP. At age 36, I don’t think it’s borrowing trouble to say we should expect Smith will be injured at some point.


Rittich, the likely backup, had quality starts 62.5% of the time last season and I’ve been through his game by game save percentages. But I just don’t trust him. I don’t feel confident he could take the starter’s role and perform well for a big chunk of the season. I don’t feel confident Gillies or Parsons could do it either.


I feel reasonably confident the forwards are the best we’ve seen in a while and the defence can be fine despite the loss of Dougie Hamilton. But I just feel like goaltending could sink the season.

[Kipper_3434]

Originally Posted by Nelson

Try as I might, I still can’t feel good about the goaltending.

Smith was excellent in 47 GP before his injury last season, but afterwards, he was pretty bad in 8 GP. At age 36, I don’t think it’s borrowing trouble to say we should expect Smith will be injured at some point.


Rittich, the likely backup, had quality starts 62.5% of the time last season and I’ve been through his game by game save percentages. But I just don’t trust him. I don’t feel confident he could take the starter’s role and perform well for a big chunk of the season. I don’t feel confident Gillies or Parsons could do it either.


I feel reasonably confident the forwards are the best we’ve seen in a while and the defence can be fine despite the loss of Dougie Hamilton. But I just feel like goaltending could sink the season.

I agree that goaltending is the primary concern now that the core forwards and defence seem set for the near future. However, i dont want to see the flames spend any more assets on goaltending. I hope to see a slough of prospects with the occassional free agent signing in the next few years.

On the subject of Mike Smith health, i agree that Rittich isnt a starter but i love him as a backup, and while Gillies isnt a guy wom i trust to start for a full season, i do think he has the ability to catch lightning in a bottle and drive us into the playoffs. If/ when Mike Smith misses games, I hope Gillies is used as the starter and Rittich continues as backup.

#trusttheprocess

[djsFlames]

Gillies had strange moments, or hiccups you could call them. But what was encouraging was for large stretches of time sandwiching those he would shut the door. I think that, if anything, may be a sign of him having starter potential more so than recent kids we've had come through and fall short. The difference between his and Rittich's bad games down the stretch is his bad goals would come all at once when he seemed to lose focus whereas Rittich might let stinkers in all game when he wasn't on. Seems like Gillies just has to work a little more on keeping focus to cut down on those blips.

That's not to take away from Rittich's role as a backup where he was excellent. It was coming into the starter role officially where he sort of came off the rails.

[Nelson]

Originally Posted by Kipper_3434

I agree that goaltending is the primary concern now that the core forwards and defence seem set for the near future. However, i dont want to see the flames spend any more assets on goaltending. I hope to see a slough of prospects with the occassional free agent signing in the next few years.

On the subject of Mike Smith health, i agree that Rittich isnt a starter but i love him as a backup, and while Gillies isnt a guy wom i trust to start for a full season, i do think he has the ability to catch lightning in a bottle and drive us into the playoffs. If/ when Mike Smith misses games, I hope Gillies is used as the starter and Rittich continues as backup.

#trusttheprocess

I don’t want them to trade any picks or prospects for goaltending either. I want the team to build through the draft.


Let’s hope Gillies or Rittich or Parsons has a stand out year.


Otherwise, what does the 2019 FA crop look like vis a vis goalies?

[sureLoss]

Originally Posted by Nelson

Otherwise, what does the 2019 FA crop look like vis a vis goalies?

Biggest names assuming they make it to FA.

Bobrovsky
Rinne
Varlamov

Full list:
https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/f...ll/goalies/ufa

[Vinny01]

I see there is a thread on HF speculating from a Reddit post that the Flames are looking at Sarros and other goalies (even potential number 1’s) before the season starts.

Apparently this reddit user has nailed a few things that happened in the days before they were announced so he seems to have some credibility

[Strange Brew]

With regards to goalies, what do Flames have left to trade other than next year’s first? Which I really don’t see them moving. Not with a year of Mike Smith left.

[Nelson]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I see there is a thread on HF speculating from a Reddit post that the Flames are looking at Sarros and other goalies (even potential number 1’s) before the season starts.

Apparently this reddit user has nailed a few things that happened in the days before they were announced so he seems to have some credibility

This kind of thing would make perfect sense. I fully believe they are looking into it because it is an issue. Whether something actually gets done or not is another matter entirely.

The Flames trading for Saros would be awesome. Unfortunately, that would probably entail the Flames sending back something big. If Poile trades Saros, the Preds have a 35-year-old starter and then 3 relatively unknown prospects. They would essentially be putting themselves in the same situation the Flames are currently in. So the Flames would have to make it worth Poile's while. What would the price be? I'm not sure, but it would be a lot.

If the Flames were to give up their 1st in 2019 (shudder/eww) for Saros, it would be a massive risk. Saros has never played more than 26 games in an NHL season. Moreover, Saros is used to playing behind the Predators' defencemen. Now, his NHL totals show him with a SV% of .923 and he has an excellent reputation. Maybe he could become a #1 but goaltenders are so hard to predict.

[Scroopy Noopers]

Saros might be one of the only untouchable goalies in the league. Crazy talk Nashville trading him.

[Poe969]

If Poile said he'd trade Saros, what would be the best offer? Bennett? Janko? Frolik +1st for maybe Saros+3rd?

I think I'd be willing to make one of those deals at this point.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I see there is a thread on HF speculating from a Reddit post that the Flames are looking at Sarros and other goalies (even potential number 1’s) before the season starts.

Apparently this reddit user has nailed a few things that happened in the days before they were announced so he seems to have some credibility

Rinne is nearly 36 years old with one year left on his deal. I can't think of one good reason Nashville would trade Sarros. Would he not be their no.1 2019-20? Do they have another blue chip goaltending prospect ready to step into the starters role next year?

If you're Nashville, what are you asking for? Valamaki? What hole would Nashville be looking to plug? Bare in mind, they likely have cup aspirations this season and presumably for the next few. They aren't going to move a key part of their team for a pick(s). They would almost assuredly want a young cost controlled asset that can step in and play now.

There's no trade here to be made involving the Flames and Sarros. This 'rumour' is a bit of rubbish.

[DazzlinDino]

Originally Posted by CF84

I remember Flames fans writing off and wanting to move Backlund because he was made of glass and not producing the way he was supposed to. I'm glad our GM doesn't lack patience with Bennett. He still has time to develop into a top 6 player. If his shooting % doesn't stay in the basement and he gains some much needed confidence I would be surprised if he didn't become a part of our top 6.

There is a GM up north who would probably trade Bennett for a second and then Bennett would go on to score 30/30...The second would probably play 37 games and maybe get two assists.

Bennett's value will most likely not dip any lower than it is now so it would be foolish to move a player like him without seeing how he develops.

If I recall some people were pretty harsh writing Backlund off. They had no patience at all and probably no real experience outside of an unbridled opinion. We just listened to a whole bunch of experts on here telling us how bad Vegas was going to be and how the GM had done a terrible job! They sounded like experts at the time but for those who had to listen, it was terribly misleading and ended up being completely wrong. I don't have a lot of confidence in the posters telling us how bad Bennett is. I would rather the Flames give Bennett opportunities to succeed. I think if Tkachuck was converted to a center we would be seeing the same sorts of confidence issues. The adjustment itself is enough that Tkachuck likely wouldn't have been able to be effective as an agitator and pest.


My assessment is converting Bennett to center impacted his ability to play his game and then putting him with players that didn't complement his skill further eroded his confidence. I would love to see Bennett take on some of Tkachuk's agitating qualities, I think this would help his identity and get people off his back. He would then be seen more of an impact player and not judged on solely goals or points. Chances are the key to helping Bennett along is identifying his skill and attributes and exploiting them. If he can be put with players who complement his qualities he might do a lot better. Johnny might have even struggled playing with poor line-mates.

[TheScorpion]

I remember when Backlund was gonna be traded to Carolina for maybe a second-round pick, or maybe Philadelphia for Michael Raffl and a 4th. Pretty glad neither of those materialized.

[ricardodw]

Originally Posted by TOfan

Rinne is nearly 36 years old with one year left on his deal. I can't think of one good reason Nashville would trade Sarros. Would he not be their no.1 2019-20? Do they have another blue chip goaltending prospect ready to step into the starters role next year?

If you're Nashville, what are you asking for? Valamaki? What hole would Nashville be looking to plug? Bare in mind, they likely have cup aspirations this season and presumably for the next few. They aren't going to move a key part of their team for a pick(s). They would almost assuredly want a young cost controlled asset that can step in and play now.

There's no trade here to be made involving the Flames and Sarros. This 'rumour' is a bit of rubbish.

It would make more sense to have the Flames get Rinnie.

Rinnie is a UFA at the end of the year and was a shaky against the Avs and maybe even a bit shell shocked against the Jets. The Predators are likely getting close to having Sarros as their #1 guy in the playoffs. If Rinnie does not fit into their long term plans it would be a lot easier for them to split Sarros/ Smith 50% rather than Rennie/Sarros 50-50.

Rinnie has a list of 10 teams he can't be moved to. Maybe there are 10 teams that would be less appealing than Calgary.

Rinnie for Smith and a player. The Preds youngest D-man is Ellis (27)..

Andersen Kulak or maybe Bennett now that he has been moved down the Flames depth chart.

The Preds have the long term cap room that they could take Backlund as a replacement for Mike Fisher

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by ricardodw

It would make more sense to have the Flames get Rinnie.

Rinnie is a UFA at the end of the year and was a shaky against the Avs and maybe even a bit shell shocked against the Jets. The Predators are likely getting close to having Sarros as their #1 guy in the playoffs. If Rinnie does not fit into their long term plans it would be a lot easier for them to split Sarros/ Smith 50% rather than Rennie/Sarros 50-50.

Rinnie has a list of 10 teams he can't be moved to. Maybe there are 10 teams that would be less appealing than Calgary.

Rinnie for Smith and a player. The Preds youngest D-man is Ellis (27)..

Andersen Kulak or maybe Bennett now that he has been moved down the Flames depth chart.

The Preds have the long term cap room that they could take Backlund as a replacement for Mike Fisher

Did I just read a post suggesting the Flames trade Smith+Bennett/Andersen/Backlund for 35 year old pending UFA Pekka ****ing Rinne? Or did I forget to take my pills this morning?

[Poe969]

That deal may not look good but in actuality it's a steal, Rinne's GRIT level is out of this world!

[Scroopy Noopers]

Originally Posted by mrdonkey

Did I just read a post suggesting the Flames trade Smith+Bennett/Andersen/Backlund for 35 year old pending UFA Pekka ****ing Rinne? Or did I forget to take my pills this morning?

No thanks, but we should do that for the #1 cop on the force and sign him.