I agree but the Flames aren't in a situation where there's slam dunk options out there. Whether they trade for a backup from another team in hopes he's a 1A/B, go with Gillies/Rittich, or Smith/Rittich, etc all the scenarios require a bit of hope that it works out.
Jon Gillies is now on a one-way deal in the last year of his contract. Is it conceivable that he backs up BSD? And if he falters, the Flames call up Zagidulin?
I have less confidence in Rittich long term than I did last off-season. If the plan is to keep him, giving him another tandem partner isn’t ideal to his confidence, as he still gets rattled I think more than Peters likes. If Smith wasn’t the age he was, a no brainer to keep him and maybe keep him over Rittich as the backup IMO.
I golfed in Edmonton yesterday with a fairly connected guy. I told him there was some interest in Calgary looking at Talbot. He told me that it’s not a bad idea. Said Talbot had some personal stuff going on that was affecting his on-ice performance. I don’t know if that’s been dealt with or not.
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Jon Gillies is now on a one-way deal in the last year of his contract. Is it conceivable that he backs up BSD? And if he falters, the Flames call up Zagidulin?
Maybe the Flames aren't shopping for a backup?
I'm higher on Gillies than most here, I thought he looked better than Rittich in the pre-season.
I think Gillies gets moved to give him a shot elsewhere though, no room for him in the organization unless they have him in the NHL. Already tight with Parsons, Schneider and Zagidulin in the AHL, and I'm not sure about any of those three going to the ECHL
I'm higher on Gillies than most here, I thought he looked better than Rittich in the pre-season.
I think Gillies gets moved to give him a shot elsewhere though, no room for him in the organization unless they have him in the NHL. Already tight with Parsons, Schneider and Zagidulin in the AHL, and I'm not sure about any of those three going to the ECHL
Gillies
Parsons
Zagidullin
Schneider
Mcdonald
Flames have 5 minor league goalies and only 2 nets.
Haven't seen much talk about it in this thread, but to me it looked very much like Mike Smith was pretty peeved about the whole season, the Flames, how he was basically benched at times in favor of Rittich... his interviews on TV at the very end of the season were pretty salty, I thought. He was indifferent (or maybe worse) about coming back to the Flames next year when asked, I thought his face was pretty plain, and the look was "No f-in way."
So I think thoughts of Smith being back here are wrong. I think he was pissy about not being "the man" even though he was playing totally awful - I just don't think he saw his season that way. Very prideful guy, and my read on those interviews was that he felt really snubbed by the Flames.
Leafs ideally want a $750k cap hit goalie as a backup with their cap issues. They are shopping him because they aren't sure they can rely on him again.
