Hey guys, I've been researching what our team might look like next season, and this is what I've come up with...
Iginla, Jarome R 7,000,000
Tanguay, Alex L 5,250,000
Kiprusoff, Miikka G 3,333,333
Langkow, Daymond C 2,442,000
Warrener, Rhett D 2,350,000
Regehr, Robyn D 1,874,667
Huselius, Kristian L 1,400,000
Yelle, Stephane C 1,400,000
Zyuzin, Andrei D 1,400,000
Ference, Andrew D 1,400,000
Kobasew, Chuck R 1,200,000
Phaneuf, Dion D 785,333
Taratukhin, Andrei C 825,000 (2 way)
Boyd, Dustin C 741,667 (2 way)
Prust, Brandon C 663,333 (2 way)
----------------------------------------------
32,065,333
RFA's (with my estimated salary.. these estimates could be way off, but I needed #s)
Lombardi, Matthew C 2,000,000
Nystrom, Eric L 1,000,000 (could be a 2 way)
Giordano, Mark D 700,000
McElhinney, Curtis G 600,000 (likely 2 way)
Moss, David L 600,000 (could be a 2 way)
Lundmark, Jamie C 600,000
Regehr, Richie D 500,000 (likely 2 way)
Godard, Eric R 500,000 (likely 2 way)
---------------------------------------
6,500,000
So, all together, our salary would be at pretty much 39,000,000 if we have 23 guys on our roster... Sutter has proven that he likes to keep as few guys on the roster as possible to conserve cap space, so I'm gonna give us a cap of 38,000,000 for next year if we don't sign any UFA's...
If the cap is at $45,000,000 next season, then we will probably want to be at about $42,500,000 next season... That leaves us about 5 million to sign a key guy (I'm adding an extra $500,000 because if we sign a guy, we will be able to send down one of our 2way contracts, which means that if we choose to sign two guys, we would have more like 5.5 million, three guys 6 million etc.) I'd really like to see Hamrlik resigned, and I can't see him asking for more than $5million at this point... although you can never really predict what might happen if he goes to the open market. It would be nice if Sutter would give him a one-year extension right now. I'm not sure if Hamrlik would even be interested... maybe he wants to test the market, but I'd just like to see him signed... any other ideas of what we might do with the cap space for next season?
By the way... here are a list of the UFAs that we will lose at the end of the season if we don't re-sign them...
Roman Hamrlik
Tony Amonte
Byron Ritchie
Jeff Friesen
Marcus Nilson
Jamie Mclennan
Darren McCarty
Brad Ference
Brent Krahn
Carsen Germyn
Also, here are some possible lines if we don't sign any UFAs...
Also, for those who are interested... I won't go into as much detail as to how I came up with this team, but our biggest rivals team next year would cost them about $36 million dollars in my opinion... this is what it would look like if they didn't sign any UFAs...
Are you sure Eric Nystrom's contract is up this summer? I thought he had one more year left.
Other than that, I like everything you've posted...thanks for all your effort in putting this together.
I agree with most of the board, I wouldn't qualify Jamie Lundmark. I'd definitely try to re-sign Byron Ritchie, and Roman Hamrlik as well, though he may price himself out of our market. I wouldn't mind seeing McLennan, Amonte, or Nilson come back as UFA's if the price was right. Right now, guys like Moss, Boyd and Prust are going to be trying their best to make those pending UFA's expendable. Whether they succeed or not, having players compete like that all year is definitely a good thing, I think.
[QUOTE=JayByrd;7685728]Are you sure Eric Nystrom's contract is up this summer? I thought he had one more year left. [QUOTE]
I have only heard that his contract is up... I haven't heard anything to the contrary... if you know of a site that says his contract is up, please let me know, and I will adjust my list appropriately... I was pretty sure that he and Giordano signed two year contracts coming out of the lock out, but I could be wrong... please let me know if I am.
I only assume that Nystrom's got a year left, because most rookies (especially ones that are considered good prospects) sign three-year deals. I haven't actually heard anything either way. If he is indeed an RFA, I can't imagine other teams are going to be jumping all over him, and after two years (one filled with injuries) I think it's too soon to give up on him.
I only assume that Nystrom's got a year left, because most rookies (especially ones that are considered good prospects) sign three-year deals. I haven't actually heard anything either way. If he is indeed an RFA, I can't imagine other teams are going to be jumping all over him, and after two years (one filled with injuries) I think it's too soon to give up on him.
I think the good prospects usually get signed to three year deals because they are 18 or 19 when they sign... in Nystrom's case, he was a bit older... maybe 21? I don't know exactly how old, but he was older than most good prospects are when they sign, so that made him eligible to have one less year on his entry level deal.
For the past 30 games or so, Huselius has been an awesome bargain... I keep waiting for him to quit doing the little things that have made him succesful, and start playing crappy because for the first 6 months of his flames career we saw him play this way for three games, and then play terrible for three games... plus, I'm pretty sure Florida got tired of him for exactly the same reason... so it makes me a little bit worried that he won't continue his playt. He just doesn't give it his full all the time. However, over the past thirty games, Huselius has been awesome, and if he keeps it up, and doesn't just quit doing the little things, then he will be extremely valuable over the next couple of seasons, just as he has been over the past couple months... whether he will do that or not remains to be seen, but he's shown over the past few months that he has it in him... here's hoping he keeps it up
For the past 30 games or so, Huselius has been an awesome bargain... I keep waiting for him to quit doing the little things that have made him succesful, and start playing crappy because for the first 6 months of his flames career we saw him play this way for three games, and then play terrible for three games... plus, I'm pretty sure Florida got tired of him for exactly the same reason... so it makes me a little bit worried that he won't continue his playt. He just doesn't give it his full all the time. However, over the past thirty games, Huselius has been awesome, and if he keeps it up, and doesn't just quit doing the little things, then he will be extremely valuable over the next couple of seasons, just as he has been over the past couple months... whether he will do that or not remains to be seen, but he's shown over the past few months that he has it in him... here's hoping he keeps it up
Seems like getting benched for that one game earlier this season really lit a fire under his ***. He's been responding and playing consistantly ever since. His patience and puck handling really amazes me. He's definately been a bargain for us this season. The only downside to Huselius is that he's not a tough guy at all, and it shows when he's playing the boards.
Roman Hamrlik
Tony Amonte
Byron Ritchie
Jeff Friesen
Marcus Nilson
Jamie Mclennan
Darren McCarty
Brad Ference
Brent Krahn
Carsen Germyn
The only one on that list, who's not easy to replace is Hamrlik. Everybody's pleased with his play, but one thing must be kept in mind. He isn't in the exact role was projected to be when he was first signed (i.e. running the PP). Phaneuf's offensive output, last season, was beyond expectations. If the organization had anticipated it, they might've taken a different route. No doubt, Hamrlik's presense does a lot for Phaneuf's confidence, but sooner or later, he'll need to walk out of that shadow.
Without question, there will be a huge influx of players of less than one full year of NHL experience. Some predictions:
Moss replaces Amonte. Moss deserves the chance.
Boyd replaces Ritchie. Ditto.
Nystrom replaces Nilson. Nystrom would improve on the checking line with Yelle.
Krahn replaces McLennan. Not sure about McElihenney's contract status, but he could be a solid AHL starter/occasional NHL backup, like Dany Sabourin.
Godard replaces McCarty. Ditch the no toughguy nonsense the league office has been peddling.
Taratukhin replaces Lundmark. Couldn't be more obvious.
If Hamrlik bolts, the best possible replacement would be trying to acquire someone like Mathias Norstrom, whose salary is about the same (although the likelihood of that is highly suspect). With more massive player movement, there would be some viable options. So, it's not a doomsday scenario, but Sutter had better get an accurate read on Hamrlik's intentions. Those are still big skates to fill.
If Zyuzin could be traded, give Giordano those minutes. Giordano will be prone to lapses in his own end, which can be addressed with experience and learning from the veterans.
i wouldn't mind seeing amonte back either. But would it be worth spending the extra million bucks over putting a youngster in making the league minimum? Not in my eyes.
I would like to sign a cheap vet that can play or sit in the PB and have him split time with guys like Taratukhin, Nystrom and Prust (depeding on who has earned it) or any young guy who steps up next year really. I would also like to ditch Zyuzin but I guess that can wait a year, the Flames need to resign Richie Regehr though IMO, and give him a bigger NHL role next year. As for the cheap vet to sign, could be a resign or getting someone from out of the org, but if they are from out of the org, hopefully someone with a lot of PO and Cup winning experience.
All in all, I think the Flames can ice a roster like this for ~42/43 million dollars.
in all honesty i expect Regehr & Kobasew to be moved this off-season for a top 6 forward and a 3-4 defenseman... we will call these new guys "Winger A" and "Defenseman B"
so i think the lineup will look something like this...
This leaves one playing spot and and PB spot or two to switch in from open for young guys like Boyd, Taratukhin and Nystrom (and Godard, though he is not a young guy)
This means Nilson and Friesen walk and McCarty likely retires, Nilson or Friesen could be retained and let Amonte walk, but I would personally prefer Amonte at a reduced rate.
This could all be done for ~45 million I think. Depends what the cap goes up to and what Sutter is willing to spend I guess.
This leaves one playing spot and and PB spot or two to switch in from open for young guys like Boyd, Taratukhin and Nystrom (and Godard, though he is not a young guy)
This means Nilson and Friesen walk and McCarty likely retires, Nilson or Friesen could be retained and let Amonte walk, but I would personally prefer Amonte at a reduced rate.
Take it a step further. Definitely give opportunities to Boyd, Taratukhin, Nystrom and Godard. They replace Amonte, Nilson, Friesen, and McCarty. Losing Ritchie wouldn't sink the franchise either. More than a few fans wouldn't mind seeing Amonte back, if at a discounted rate. With what he brings to the table now, there's already a cheaper option to give an expanded role to a rookie. So, something like this:
You automatically have a younger, more aggressive and less expensive lineup. More changes are likely between now and next fall anyway. Think of it this way: during the broadcast, the Roger Millions said that there were only 9 players left from when Conroy was last in Calgary. That's significant turnover, in a relatively short span of time. It's also the norm these days. So, expecting rosters to look 90%+ similar to the previous season's is not realistic.
*controversy alert*
Moss ====> Kobasew
Kobasew would have decent trade value. Just once it'd be nice to see Sutter move up in the first round. Maybe packaging Kobasew and the Flames's 1st could entice one of the weaker teams to sacrifice a premium pick in the top 10?
Take it a step further. Definitely give opportunities to Boyd, Taratukhin, Nystrom and Godard. They replace Amonte, Nilson, Friesen, and McCarty. Losing Ritchie wouldn't sink the franchise either. More than a few fans wouldn't mind seeing Amonte back, if at a discounted rate. With what he brings to the table now, there's already a cheaper option to give an expanded role to a rookie. So, something like this:
You automatically have a younger, more aggressive and less expensive lineup. More changes are likely between now and next fall anyway. Think of it this way: during the broadcast, the Roger Millions said that there were only 9 players left from when Conroy was last in Calgary. That's significant turnover, in a relatively short span of time. It's also the norm these days. So, expecting rosters to look 90%+ similar to the previous season's is not realistic.
*controversy alert*
Moss ====> Kobasew
Kobasew would have decent trade value. Just once it'd be nice to see Sutter move up in the first round. Maybe packaging Kobasew and the Flames's 1st could entice one of the weaker teams to sacrifice a premium pick in the top 10?
Good points, I would prefer for Calgary not to go too young next year though, I am guessing it will be a last gasp before they have to lose a player or two to UFA-dom though having some young hungry players might be a good way to re-energize the team for another run. Also arguments can certainly be made for needing to break in some young guys so the loss of a player or two can be absorbed more easily. Should be interesting to see what happens, and I am sure something will happen between now and the beginning of next season, Sutter is not the kind of guy to sit around too long without trying to improve the team it seems.
I think Kobasew would have some decent value as well, but I would still like to keep him around, though the idea of moving up in the first round is definitely interesting (and different for a change) but I am not sure (depending of course on where Calgary picks) if Kobasew and a first is enough to grab a top ten spot, could be.
Losing Ritchie wouldn't sink the franchise either. More than a few fans wouldn't mind seeing Amonte back, if at a discounted rate. With what he brings to the table now, there's already a cheaper option to give an expanded role to a rookie.
I hope they don't trade Byron Ritchie. I like that kid, he plays with a lot of heart and grit. I would sooner keep Ritchie over Amonte. I like Amonte and would like to keep him if we could keep him for a reasonable price, but in the long run, I think Ritchie would be more useful to us, because of his age, he comes for a cheaper price and the fact that he's got more years left in him than Amonte.
The only key acquisition we would need and we would be able to spend about $4 million + is a top four defenceman. I bet that Hamrlik will resign for about $4 - 5 million for a one year contract.
