Seravalli: Flames will be buyers at this year's deadline, they want the cup.

[TotalHomer]

The Flames really have no choice but to go all in. Their cup chances are slim but with the age of the core (Tanev, Markstrom, Kadri, Backlund and Markstrom) and the off season moves they need to at least try to get there.
Realistically though they are a long way from the Cup contenders even with a couple of moves.

They have a two year window max. All those guys you listed (Tanev, Backlund, Kadri and Markstrom) will be 35 by then and none are elite players who generally age better. Rest of the core isn't far behind. I mean even two years is optimistic, basically expecting no drop off from any one of those guys by then (Markstrom showing serious signs already).

 

[Ainsy01]

While the flames might not be a 50 win team this year, they definitely have a playoff team on paper. This team may be built to win games in the playoffs with their D first-gritty style. If they get A+ goaltending and some middle six hero's (mang,dube,toffoli) to put up some timely goals anything is possible.

Calgarys current window, as different as it may be from last years, is closing. The following players have one year left on their deals after this season:

Backlund
Lindholm
Toffoli
Hanifin
Zadorov
Tanev
Kylington
Dube

Of those 8 players, I'd say half are under paid and will need raises. Lindholm will get 8+

Like it or not, this is probably their last shot at a playoff run for a little while.

The kicker is that Treliving has been here for 9 years now and this may be his last shot, as his roster turns over one more time they will probably bring in someone else.

I cant see how he doesnt swing for the fences.

What are some of the "all-in" plays out there?

Meier would be at the absolute top, RW with speed and hits like a train.
Kane would be insane, dont see him waiving to come but would be insace.
I'd say Tarasenko but Friedman says CGY is not interested, and im not exactly surprised but whatever
Boeser, would fit perfect and the cost wouldnt make me puke
Monahan, as long as its not another first, and hes healthy why not?
Schenn, if packaged with Boeser, i think would be an amazing move. Even on his own would add a ton to the depth D.

Zary, Coronato, any recent 2nd round picks, 23' first and wolf should all be in play

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

Flames, Oilers and Avs are the only teams that I really think have the potential to be scary out of the West.

The current top teams are pretenders.

The West is wide open. Plus we haven’t unleashed the two secret weapons yet. Wolf and Kylington.

I’m open to a hockey trade like Markstrom for someone out there (F/D) that needs a change of scenery. Giving up picks would be pretty crazy and indicate that Treliving is trying to save his job.

there's not a single game breaker on the Flames that scares the opposition

 

[Double Dion]

Rushing a Darryl extension was definitely not the play and was really surprising to me. He's a very high demand coach and the team went through a lot of turmoil in the summer. Not to mention we have Mitch Love who's been coaching the AHL team with great success plus Kirk Muller as the current assistant coach.



Idk about the Sharks comparison I think we are more similar to the Jets with their commitment to Wheeler. Maybe somewhere in the middle of the Jets and Sharks. I can definitely see comparable draws with Huberdeau to the Karlsson contract, but I don't think we are committed to nearly as many locking contracts as them where they had to trade Burns with retention, buy out Jones, and terminate Kanes deal just to get some breathing room

Yes it's not as dramatic as the Sharks and not as quick turnaround as the Jets. Somewhere in the middle is fair. I agree on the coaching thing. Love has been very good in the AHL. I actually really like him. I have a quarter season ticket package for the Wranglers. They play a Darryl style system without the odd lineup and roster decisions. You can see players progressing from the beginning of the season and there isn't the weird media comments.

Huska is a great assistant too.

 

[Ainsy01]

Yes it's not as dramatic as the Sharks and not as quick turnaround as the Jets. Somewhere in the middle is fair. I agree on the coaching thing. Love has been very good in the AHL. I actually really like him. I have a quarter season ticket package for the Wranglers. They play a Darryl style system without the odd lineup and roster decisions. You can see players progressing from the beginning of the season and there isn't the weird media comments.

Huska is a great assistant too.

Rushing an extension on the coach of the year after some (relative) play off success is not a big deal, and a good idea at the time.

The thing about coaches is they can be fired and replaced in 24 hours with no cap ramifications.

Its probably one of the most low-risk contracts at the NHL level.

Edit: replied to the wrong one ^^

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

there's not a single game breaker on the Flames that scares the opposition

We know.... it doesn't matter how many you give up just how many you score right?

The Kings were a #8 seed when they won their cups. Defense wins championships and with Wolf or Vladar in net the Flames will be a threat in the playoffs with how weak the west is.

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

We know.... it doesn't matter how many you give up just how many you score right?

The Kings were a #8 seed when they won their cups. Defense wins championships and with Wolf or Vladar in net the Flames will be a threat in the playoffs with how weak the west is.

Wolf? He's not making an NHL impact this year. I think you meant to type Markstrom

 

[TotalHomer]

We know.... it doesn't matter how many you give up just how many you score right?

The Kings were a #8 seed when they won their cups. Defense wins championships and with Wolf or Vladar in net the Flames will be a threat in the playoffs with how weak the west is.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

We know.... it doesn't matter how many you give up just how many you score right?

except the Flames are middle of the pack in GA and 18th in GF

The Kings were a #8 seed when they won their cups. Defense wins championships and with Wolf or Vladar in net the Flames will be a threat in the playoffs with how weak the west is.

the Kings were the 2nd best defensive team in 2011-12 and added Jeff Carter at the deadline to a lineup that had a #1 center (Kopitar), a #1 d-man (Doughty) and a #1 goalie (Quick)

comparing the 2 teams makes no sense

 

[Double Dion]

Rushing an extension on the coach of the year after some (relative) play off success is not a big deal, and a good idea at the time.

The thing about coaches is they can be fired and replaced in 24 hours with no cap ramifications.

Its probably one of the most low-risk contracts at the NHL level.

Edit: replied to the wrong one ^^

I mean it depends. Signing a coach of the year who won't want to potentially be around for a rebuild when your team is potentially losing 2 100 point scorers commits you to a course. I liked the Tkachuk trade. It gave us 2 moveable assets and a 1st. Those assets would have returned good pieces. The problem was we locked them up before seeing them. Now neither player is an asset. We also shipped out a 1st to move Monahan and sign Kadri. I am not convinced this is a contending team. I think even though we are 17th in the NHL we are somewhere between the 12th and 15th best team in the league. That's a tough spot with no future stars coming and an aging core that all the good value contracts except one expire next year.

 

[CraigsList]

Varlamov + Mayfield + Parise all at 50% retained for Coronato and Wolf

CGY would still have enough space for a top six forward.

Terrible, terrible offer. Garbage for 2 top prospects.

 

[Yung Rotini]

Varlamov + Mayfield + Parise all at 50% retained for Coronato and Wolf

CGY would still have enough space for a top six forward.

But why?

 

[Ainsy01]

I mean it depends. Signing a coach of the year who won't want to potentially be around for a rebuild when your team is potentially losing 2 100 point scorers commits you to a course. I liked the Tkachuk trade. It gave us 2 moveable assets and a 1st. Those assets would have returned good pieces. The problem was we locked them up before seeing them. Now neither player is an asset. We also shipped out a 1st to move Monahan and sign Kadri. I am not convinced this is a contending team. I think even though we are 17th in the NHL we are somewhere between the 12th and 15th best team in the league. That's a tough spot with no future stars coming and an aging core that all the good value contracts except one expire next year.

That was a long way to take a short drink of water.
Point is, if Sutter doesnt like how the off season shakes out he resigns, and if he doesnt manage the new team to a winning record he is fired. There is no risk in extending a coach because u can fire/replace them any day of the week.

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

That was a long way to take a short drink of water.
Point is, if Sutter doesnt like how the off season shakes out he resigns, and if he doesnt manage the new team to a winning record he is fired. There is no risk in extending a coach because u can fire/replace them any day of the week.

Yes there is, money. If you weren't aware Calgary's owners are pretty cheap

 

[ManofSteel55]

Brock Boeser for wolf

People laugh, but it wouldn't shock me if Calgary emptied their prospect pool to make a push. It's obvious that their coach has no time for rookies, and their GM has little time at all.

 

[DJJones]

They have a two year window max. All those guys you listed (Tanev, Backlund, Kadri and Markstrom) will be 35 by then and none are elite players who generally age better. Rest of the core isn't far behind. I mean even two years is optimistic, basically expecting no drop off from any one of those guys by then (Markstrom showing serious signs already).

I don't see it being anywhere near that drastic. Think 4-5 years should be doable. Then it's a fire sale.

Think backlund will age beautifully. Been zero drop off so far. If anything he's kept improving. Give him the C in exchange for a low AAV deal haha.

At this point Vladar/Wolf may be an improvement on Markstrom so not too worried about goalies.

Tanev is the one who will hurt. He's not going to age well. Hoping he signs for 2-3 million so we can keep him as a PK and 3rd pairing guy. Getting Kylington back and Andersson and Zadorov keep getting better should negate that loss though.

After that it's just cap management and getting lucky on a few prospects. Need to hit a couple of Ruzicka/Pelletier/Coronato/Zary/whoever. Get two top 6 guys out of them and we're good.

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

People laugh, but it wouldn't shock me if Calgary emptied their prospect pool to make a push. It's obvious that their coach has no time for rookies, and their GM has little time at all.

People laugh because
1. Boeser is maybe at most worth a 2nd
2. Wolf is worth more than a 2nd
3. Calgary can't afford Boeser next season

Would Calgary possibly trade prospects for win now players? Sure, it makes sense if they can start making traction. But they aren't going to go full stupid and trade everything for players they then have to pay to dump in the summer

 

[iCanada]

We know.... it doesn't matter how many you give up just how many you score right?

The Kings were a #8 seed when they won their cups. Defense wins championships and with Wolf or Vladar in net the Flames will be a threat in the playoffs with how weak the west is.

Not quite the same.

Doughty would be the Flames best defenseman by a country mile, arguably the best in the league.

Quick was elite in a way Markstrom can't compare to.

And that Kings team was loaded with depth in a way that the Flames just aren't; between Brown Kopitar Williams Penner Gagne Richard and Carter... they literally had 7 top line proven ppg quality players in a league where only 10 guys were ppg players. And then they also had a 2-way guy as good as our better than Backlund in Stoll and the best 4th line in the league.

Most Flames game I watched this year you had Lucic or Lewis on your top line.

Idk, I guess maybe you could replace Anderson with Makar, Markstrom with Shesterkin and acquire 2-3 top 6 forwards at the deadline. I doubt it though. Although i doubted you'd be able to salvage the off-season too, so what do I know.

 

[Bond]

Not quite the same.

Doughty would be the Flames best defenseman by a country mile, arguably the best in the league.

Quick was elite in a way Markstrom can't compare to.

And that Kings team was loaded with depth in a way that the Flames just aren't; between Brown Kopitar Williams Penner Gagne Richard and Carter... they literally had 7 top line proven ppg quality players in a league where only 10 guys were ppg players. And then they also had a 2-way guy as good as our better than Backlund in Stoll and the best 4th line in the league.

Most Flames game I watched this year you had Lucic or Lewis on your top line.

Idk, I guess maybe you could replace Anderson with Makar, Markstrom with Shesterkin and acquire 2-3 top 6 forwards at the deadline. I doubt it though. Although i doubted you'd be able to salvage the off-season too, so what do I know.

Not that I expect a cup win but I see the Flames more like the Blues when they won the cup. Vladar or Markstrom would need to go on a heck of a tear and the team would have to score with grit and depth. I don’t really trust either Markstrom or Vladar but goalies are voodoo

 

[Double Dion]

That was a long way to take a short drink of water.
Point is, if Sutter doesnt like how the off season shakes out he resigns, and if he doesnt manage the new team to a winning record he is fired. There is no risk in extending a coach because u can fire/replace them any day of the week.

There's a pretty big hole in that line of thinking. Murray Edwards doesn't like wasting money. He got tax breaks so he left Alberta for England. He has paid coaches less than almost every owner in the league. He is also very close personally with Darryl. He won't "just fire" him and flush that money and relationship. If half a paragraph is too much for you to read that points to a bigger issue.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

except the Flames are middle of the pack in GA and 18th in GF


the Kings were the 2nd best defensive team in 2011-12 and added Jeff Carter at the deadline to a lineup that had a #1 center (Kopitar), a #1 d-man (Doughty) and a #1 goalie (Quick)

comparing the 2 teams makes no sense

Wolf is elite. If he plays it will be Ken Dryden all over again. I’ve never been a Markstrom fan and said we should have traded him this off-season because I felt Wolf was the best goalie in the system. Nothing about him dominating the AHL like we haven’t seen a 20/21 year old do in like a decade leads me to think otherwise.

The Flames have a great d. We may not have Doughty. But we have 4 of the top 40 D in the league. Then we have the best 3rd pair D in the league in Zadorov. And Oliver Kylington could come back. The flames D is elite.

At C we have 3 solid two way players in Backlund, Kadri, and Lindholm. We are finally playing Jake Pelletier which is the missing piece to our top 9.

We are near the top of the league in most advanced stats etc. most of our losses are against bottom feeders.

If they can get a save for once and Huberdeau gets back to his form the Flames are just as much of a threat as anyone not named Colorado.

 

[Hunter Gathers]

I am a buyer for a new car.

I have no money, though.

Please give car.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

there's not a single game breaker on the Flames that scares the opposition

Kadri every playoffs he has been a part of brings it.

Suspensions though has been a problem.

 

[Deen]

Flames are going to be screwed when Lindholm wants over $8 million a year.

 

[Ainsy01]

There's a pretty big hole in that line of thinking. Murray Edwards doesn't like wasting money. He got tax breaks so he left Alberta for England. He has paid coaches less than almost every owner in the league. He is also very close personally with Darryl. He won't "just fire" him and flush that money and relationship. If half a paragraph is too much for you to read that points to a bigger issue.

I just don't think having Sutter behind the bench for a couple years probably at 2.5 mill dictates whether or not you post-pone a rebuild. You look at the roster first and foremost. He also doesnt need to fire him, if hes not into a rebuild he can quit and then the problem kinda solves itself doesnt it