What NHL teams have done and need to do over the offseason: Calgary Flames
Now that it is the offseason and most teams had more time than others to focus on the tasks at hand, they should be more prepared for next season than those who had to fight through a tough time in the 2011 National Hockey League (NHL) playoffs.
Calgary Flames is one of those franchises in the NHL that truly has the potential to become national champions. With a line-up consisting of some of the greatest NHL players in history including captain Jarome Iginla, goalie Miikka Kiprusoff along with a
number of others, they should be able to mutually win the Stanley Cup every season, if not that, then at least make the playoffs.
Flames struggled to make the postseason last time around, even though they had a great run near the end, but due to a worst-case scenario, they faced some tough teams at the time when winning was most important.
Ending their regular season April 9, 2011, by losing to Vancouver Canucks at home, Calgary was only three points shy of tying it for eighth place with 2010 Stanley Cup winners, Chicago Blackhawks.
Throughout the previous season, Flames went back and forth from the Western Conference’s top eight list, at one moment being number five, while the next way out and down.
The Canadian franchise lost Robyn Regehr, a Flames player for 19 seasons, over the free agency by trading him to the Buffalo Sabres.
General Manager Jay Feaster was ecstatic at the occasion, but Regehr was more reluctant to waive his no-trade clause on his contract.
“We had something with Buffalo that we were very interested in”, Feaster said during the trade process. “On Wednesday, I contacted him and asked him if he would waive. He initially indicated that he would not. He has since indicated through his agent that
he is reconsidering that”.
Eventually the deal played out and Calgary gave away their veteran player, who was the second player on the team, other than Jarome Iginla, to have remained the longest.
It was later found out that the deal had been done to clear up salary cap space to re-sign 69 point scorer, forward Alex Tanguay to a five-year, $17.5 million contract.
Flames also re-signed their key defenseman, Anton Babchuk, on July 4, 2011, retaining him with a two-year contract worth $5 million.
Along with that, they also signed their first-round draft pick, Sven Baertschi, to a three-year, entry level contract which would pay him a minimum of $925,000 per season.
Now the Flames can nearly end the re-signing process, but still have three free agents in the market and by the looks of it, so far have no intentions of signing them back on.
The three include restricted free agent, Chris Butler, and two unrestricted free agents, Brenden Morrison and Freddy Modin.
Out of the three, Brenden Morrison should be re-signed as soon as possible. Putting up 43 points (9 goals, 34 assists) last season was truly important for Calgary, and retaining him would put them in the best possible position from their current stand.
Calgary still has $7.566 million in salary cap space and utilising it for a defenseman could be their best option at the moment, considering the remaining free agents in the market.
At the moment, there are still a number of defensive players waiting to be signed by teams which include Nick Boynton, Bryan McCabe, Scott Hannan, their own Steve Staios, Brent Sopel, Shane O’Brien, Craig Rivet, Karlis Skrastins and Steve Eminger.
The new upcoming season will prove intense for Calgary due to their lower impact on this year’s free agency and team turnaround, but nevertheless, they certainly are capable of handling the pressure.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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