May 11 -
Calgary re-signs Stephane Yelle to a 2 year, $2.8 million contract.
Everyone knows Yelle is a Sutter favorite, due in no small part to his tireless work ethic and excellent defensive prowess. A fact clearly demostrated by the rapidity with which Sutter locked him up.
June 6 -
The only guy to get a hat trick in a Flames uniform last year scores a 2 year, $2.4 million deal. The challenge facing Charles Kobasew this coming season is to build on his 20 goals from last year while improving his defensive zone play. That, and not getting clobbered by opposing defensemen every shift.
June 24 -
The Big trade. Sutter sends Jordan Leopold and a 2nd rounder to Colorado for Alex Tanguay. Flames finally acquire another legitimate scoring threat to compliment Iggy. Subsequent analysis of the trade shows that Tanguay excels at ES scoring which was the Flames biggest weakness in 05/06. Wicked.
June 29 -
Rumors begin to surface that the Flames may sign Jeremy Roenick. It came out later that JR had narrowed the choices to Calgary or Phoenix before finally settling on the Coyotes for Family reasons (lived there previously). Whew. Course, should Roenick experience some kind of renaissance in the desert, we may be left lamenting that fact later. But I doubt it.
July 2 -
Sutter plugs the Leopold hole on the blueline by signing former first rounder Andrei Zyuzin to a 2 year, $2.8 million deal. Zyuzin played under Sutter during his days in San Jose and was hopeful Calgary would be one of the teams interested in his services. He reportedly told his agent to "get a deal done" should the Flames give him a call. Mission accomplished.July 3 -
Chris Pronger gets traded to Anaheim. Not necessarily Flames news, but...I like to rub salt in wounds.
July 5 -
Busy day. Sutter locks up Tanguay for 3 years @ $5.25 million/year and decides to get charitable by giving Friesen a 1 year, $1.6 million chance at redemption. There are some Flames fans arguing that both of these player will end up playing on the #1 scoring unit with Jarome, but Im guessing it will most likely be one over the other. Can you guess which one?
July 6 -
Popular back-up goaltender Jamie McLennan returns to Calgary for just over $500,000. Everyone was sad to see him go at the deadline back in '04, as much for his comical antics as for his play on the ice. He should be an ideal back-up for Kipper this year (jovial, friendly and able to play 10-15 games well and without complaint).
July 8 -
Sutter steps down from his head coaching duties in order to concentrate on his role as GM. Predictably, the reigns are handed over to assistant coach Jim Playfair. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on the team, though most Flames fans consider it a positive move.
July 12 -
The NHL releases the 06/07 schedule. Notable Flames matches include 3 games against the greasers (season opener, New Years Eve, season ending) as well dome visits from Alexander Ovechkin and the Stanley Cup Champion Carolina Hurricanes.
July 27 -
Sutter Signs blueline bruiser Brad Ference. I didn't like this signing much at the time and, in retrospect...I still don't. While Ference will probably be an injury fill-in during the season I still don't really see him exceling - even in that relatively limited role. Oh well. Maybe he'll prove me wrong.
August 4 -
Eric Godard becomes the Flame's next hired goon. Waste of money if you ask me. At least it's a two-way contract.
August 17 -
In what looks to be the final move of the Summer, Sutter and Lombardi finally come to terms. Lombo is re-upped for $1.6 million over the next two seasons. Cheap contract, good offensive potential, no complaints.
Quick-Reference Stuff -
Off-season Additions/Subtractions:
In
Alex Tanguay
Jeff Friesen
Andrei Zyuzin
Jamie McLennan
Brad Ference
Eric Godard
Out
Bryan Marchment (UFA)
Shean Donovan (Signed with Boston)
Cale Hulse (UFA)
Brian Boucher (UFA)
Chris Simon (Signed with NYI)
Craig MacDonald (Signed with Chicago)
Jordan Leopold (Traded for Alex Tanguay)
Current Cap Number - 41.603
Cap Space - 2.397
Number of Players signed - 23
Average Age of Players - 28.4
(numbers gleaned from cataloupehalves Salary Site. See link on the sideboard).
Depth Chart*:
Huselius - Tanguay - Iginla
Friesen - Langkow - Kobasew
Lombardi** - Lundmark - Amonte
Nilson - Yelle - McCarty
(Ritchie, Godard)
Phaneuf - Regehr
Zyuzin - Hamrlik
Warrener - A. Ference
(B. Ference)
Kiprusoff
McLennan
(Krahn)
*(Not meant to reflect potential line combinations)
**(Lombardi listed on left-wing thanks to Calgary's plethora of centers)
Overall, Im fairly pleased at where the team sits currently. Calgary has 2 decent offensive lines, a formidible blueline corps. and a Vezina winner in net. not to mention a bit of cap space to work with should the line-up need tweaking during the season. I could have lived without some of Sutter's signings this off-season (Godard, Ference), but I think the good far out-weighs the bad...
*EDIT - Lombardi numbers listed above are false. He was only re-signed for a single season ($800,000). My bad.
2 comments:
Does anyone have any thoughts on if our young Russian prospect can crack the line up? I haven't seen him play, but from what I have heard he is a talented offensive threat that could add more punch to recently bolstered but still under-powered offensive attack?
I'll assume you're talking about Tarathukin.
1.) It's still up in the air whether we can get him into North America or not. He's currently stuck in Russia thanks to the lack of a transfer agreement.
2.) While he was one of the few Russian players on the Olympic team who wasn't an NHL'er (which speaks to his overall ability), Tarathukin isn't really seen as especially offensively gifted. According to most scouting reports, he's a two-way center who has good vision and is willing to get his hands dirty.
3.) It's quesitonable whether he could crack the line-up even if he was here. Calgary is awash in 2nd/3rd line centers (Langkow, Lombardi, Lundmark, Yelle, Ritchie) which is where he'd most likely fit in the line-up. It would take some failures (Lundmark) and/or some injuries (Yelle) for him even to get a shot. Not that he'd be put in a top 6 roll then anyways (meaning not much offensive impact from his addition).
4.) I don't know if I share you sentiment that the Flames line-up is still under-powered, offense-wise. Course, every roster could always use more goal-scoring...
So, in conclusion...I think that Tart. will one day make the squad. However, I don't think it will happen this year and I don't think he'll ever put up big numbers when he does eventually make it.
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