OFF SEASON: CALGARY FLAMES

The Calgary Flames obviously have some work to do this offseason after their dismal first round lost to the Detroit Red Wings. In my opinion they need to re-sign Iggy and Kipper, that will lock up their two best players and fans wont even have to worry about next summer when they are set to become UFA's. Kipper is a no brainier, lock him up for 4-5 years and we will be set. Iggy is our Captain and probably one of the best in the leagues. He had a huge season last year and has said he is willing to take a pay-cut to stay here and win a Cup. Plus he is Canadian Captain, if you look back to the previous 9 of 10 Stanley Cup winners, they have been captained by Canadians. 14 of 30 NHL teams currently have Canadian captains and that is including Daniel Briere who is a co-captain and is a UFA and they dont all have the supporting cast(Adam Foote, Jason Smith, Shane Doan, Dallas Drake). So the Flames are in good shape so far. Getting Kipper and Iggy signed is good for Calgary since they have to also lock up Phaneuf in 08-09.

So what do the Flames lack the most, i think it is YOUTH and that is another reason the Nilson signing doesn't make sense to me. The Flames have a few prospects that can easily play on their fourth maybe third lines. The List includes:
1)Brandon Prust- Hard nose worker, would fit great on the fourth line, can bring the energy shift after shift, night after night and that is what the Flames need. He can also drop the gloves. I think he is a lock for next year.
2)Dustin Boyd- Now the signing of Marcus Nilson and if Sutter decides to re-sign Primeau, Amonte or Friesen(which i doubt) ties into Boyd to simply because of his position. Boyd will be given a shot of making the team for sure, he would fit in nicely on the third line since he can put the puck in the net. If not Boyd would be and excellent call-up through out the year, just like he proved last year. One more year of seasoning in the AHL would do wonders for him.
3)Andrei Taratuhkin- From what I have heard he was the most improved Flames prospect. i would love to see him play the fourth line, but he will be hard pressed to make the team just sense there are 4 regulars ahead of him(Langkow, Lombo, Conroy & Yelle). Look for him in 08-09, but could be good for depth next year.
4)Eric Nystrom- He will too be hard pressed to make the team, he is the biggest long shot. Coming off a injury riddled season definitely didn't help. I haven't heard great things from him just since he barely played. He probably needs for seasoning though.
5)Curtis McElhinney- Could vie for the back-up job, but I'm thinking Sutter will sign a back-up in the offseason.

Now the Flames current UFA's and RFA's, who should go and who should stay
UFA's:

GONE
Tony Amonte-Too old, he should be gone.
Jeff Friesen-Can score but has good speed, from his last comment he doesn't want to be here next year, he was complaining about ice time including powerplay time, like give me a break. So he should be gone too.
Byron Ritchie-Had one good stretch in the season but barley played after that and when he did he was just another player on the ice. He went off about his playing time after his good scoring stretch at the end of the season and for some weird reason thought he was a 20 goal scorer. So once again gone.
Darren McCarty-you read the name yourself, need I say more? GONE.
Brad Stuart/Roman Hamrlik-If I had my choose between the two to stay, I would pick Brad Stuart. He is more of a "Flames" type player, I know he made mistakes in the playoffs but I think if he were to re-sign here you would see a different Brad Stuart. He will get to learn the system and if you really think about it he was thrown into huge minutes in Calgary right away all most with Robyn Regehr being injured. I say give the guy a shot. Now the problem with him is that I hear he is asking for a lot of $$, so if that is the case, don't over pay him. Then that is where Hamrlik comes in. I loved this guy during the season but to me he doesn't seem like a playoff performer. With the acquisition of Adrian Aucoin, that puts Hamrlik out of a job with the Flames. Aucoin is a better defensemen(when healthy) than Hamrlik and Aucoin will fit in nicely with Dion Phaneuf. So Hamrlik is out because of Aucoin and Stuart is out because I think he will ask for too much money and I would like the Flames to sign someone else to replace him, so keep reading...

STAY
Wayne Primeau-I liked what he brought to the Flames, he worked hard and scored some goals. the re-signing of him would make way more sense to me than the signing of Marcus Nilson, but since the Flames did sign Nilson, i don't expect Primeau to be back next year.


RFA's:
This one is hard to comment on since lots of the players are prospects.
Obviously re-sign David Moss and Mark Giordano. Other guys that would be nice to see re-signed would be Richie Regher, David Hale, Curtis McElhinney, Eric Godard & Eric Nystrom.
The rest are the kind of players that come and go(Tomi Maki, Carsen Germyn).
The only player i would like to see go is our first round 9th overall pick, goalie Brent Krahn. Is anyone else sick of waiting and hearing if he will pan out or not. Let Leland Irving be our best and most talked about goalie prospect.

Now for the positions i think need filled and which players i think Calgary should acquire to fill them.
Fowards:
The Lines for last year. (E=extra)
1- HUSELIUS-LANGKOW-IGINLA
2- TANGUAY-CONROY-AMONTE
3- PRIMEAU-LOMBARDI-MOSS
4- FRIESEN-YELLE-NILSON
E- McCARTY-RITCHIE-GODARD
...players in white are the ones who I think will not be part of the Flames organization next year.
So my predicted Flames will have 2 LW spots open and a RW spot open in the starting line-up. They also need another C and LW for depth, every good team has good depth(good example the Ducks with Travis Moen, where was he during the season??)
RW:
Scott Hartnell(UFA), I think he would fit in that RW spot perfectly. He is gritty and that is exactly what we need. He can also put the puck in the net. Check out his stats from last year while playing with the Nashville Predators. GP64 G22 A17 P39. I think he could do even better playing on a line with Lombo and Tanguay. But now since those Philadelphia Flyers and their smart GM have acquired his rights and signed him before July 1st, I have to look for other players too.
J-P Dumont(NAS), I thought we should of got this guy last summer after Buffalo bought him out and he is the only other player who I could find that isn't a 5 million dollar player or more. He would fit in just as good as Hartnell would and plus he has had very good playoff success. We would have to trade for him but with Nashville's future be so uncertain, their GM David Poile could be willing to trade, I'm thinking we could get a 2nd round draft pick for him.
Marek Svatos(COL/RFA), The Flames would have to trade something for this guy but i dont think the asking price would be that high since he had a off year last year. He would have to play LW on the third line to fit in but I think this guy has a lot of potential and would fit in good with the Flames.
LW:
Brandon Prust, as i said before I think he is a perfect fit on Calgary's fourth line along side Yelle and Nilson. For more read above.
Dustin Boyd, Just like i said about Prust except he would fit better on a line with Conroy and Moss. But if a different player comes around for the right deal who fills the position better, I say let Boyd have another year in the AHL.For more read above.
Martin Gelinas, His name jumps out for me and probably every other Flames fan. But, i would rather go young than old like i have said all though my blog so far. If the right deal comes up though, he wouldn't be that bad. He could rotate in with injured players or players that aren't playing well. Always good to have an extra veteran presence on the team.
Ryan Malone(PITT), I like him, he is alot like Scott Hartnell, so maybe it wouldn't be so good to acquire two of the same types of players, i Like Hartnell better anyways. You would also have to trade for him, so a 2nd Round Draft pick or higher or a prospect who probably be the asking price, not sure if it is worth it. Just throwing his name out there as a possibility.
Ryane Clowe(SJ)-The asking price for this guy would be high, but once again he is worth a look. I like this guy and would fit on that 3rd Line beautifully. He has alot of potential.
...My pick for LW spot is Martin Gelinas. Scott Hartnell was the only guy who I thought was the right man for the job at RW but I will now pick J-P Dumont to take the spot.
DEPTH:
Depth is hard to predict because depth players cant prove themselves until they play but here are a few names that I think could do the job, all of them are UFA's. Jon Sim(ATL), Brad Isbister(NYR), Bates Battaglia(TOR), Jerred Smithson(NAS), Mark Smith(SJ) and Tom Kopstopoulos(LA).
...My pick for the players are, Dustin Boyd & Andrei Taratukhin

Defensemen:
Pairings from last year.(E=Extra)
1-HAMRLIK-PHANEUF
2-REGEHR-STUART
3-WARRENER-ZYUZIN(traded for Aucoin)
E-HALE-GIORDANO
...players in white are the ones who I think will not be part of the Flames organization next year.
I think the Flames need one more top 4 defensemen and there is only one guy I would like the Flames to sign.
Scott Hannan(UFA), I know he could be pricey but I think he is the right man for the job. I can see the Flames signing Roman Hamrlik before Brad Stuart just because of the money issue and i think Hamrlik will sign for less than his previous $3.5 mill. So the Flames should have some extra money. Even if they only sign Hannan for 1 or 2 years, i think it is a piece of the puzzle that is missing that will help them win the Stanley Cup. Also with Warrener on the down side of his career, we need another guy to help out.

The Flames also need one more guy for depth too, here are a few possibilities...
Richie Regehr(CGY/RFA), Ric Jackman(UFA), Jamie Heward(UFA), Greg Zanon(UFA), Shane Hnidy(UFA)
...My pick is Shane Hnidy
Goalies:
1-KIPRUSOFF
2-McLENNAN
...players in white are the ones who I think will not be part of the Flames organization next year.
The Flames need a back-up, but obviously not too big of a name, just a guy who can win and play more games then Jamie McLennan.
Mathieu Garon(UFA), Would be a good fit for the Flames, more skill then McLennan and I still think he has lots of potential.
Jocelyn Thibualt(UFA), Would also be a good fit for the Flames and has some leadership skills, the one that Sutter likes.
Jason Bacashihua(RFA), Like the potential in this guy, would have to sign him a offer sheet and give up a draft pick but St.Louis might give him up since they have lots of goaltending depth.
...My pick out of these guys is Mathieu Garon, might be a little pricey but I would say only sign him for one year.

The Lines for next year would then look as follows:
Fowards:
1-HUSELIUS-LANGKOW-IGINLA
2-TANGUAY-LOMBARDI-DUMONT
3-GELINAS-CONROY-MOSS
4-PRUST-YELLE-NILSON
E-BOYD-TARATUKHIN-GODARD
Defenseman:
1-AUCOIN-PHANEUF
2-REGEHR-HANNAN
3-WARRENER-GIORDANO
E-HALE-HNIDY
Goalies:
1-KIPRUSOFF
2-GARON
E-McELHINNEY

And that is my predicted Calgary Flames team for next year,not implying if either Iggy or Kipper re-negotiate new long term deals. The Flames would be looking at around 46-47 million dollars a year with those players, so Sutter would have some room to make some deadline deals or whatever he needs to do.