Seravalli: Mikael Backlund is also leaning toward not re-signing in Calgary

[Bond]

I agree that ownership meddled and the management group run by Benning and Weisbrod sucked. But we have to see with the new president and GM, how it will go. People here are judging this new management very quickly, its been like 1.5 year since Benning was fired and left a mess with the cap and not much prospect in the pipeline.

Oh I think the Flames and Canucks would be in a much better spot with new owners. I think they can step away for a bit and then they will meddle again lol

 

[Haatley]

I wrote a paragraph to discuss about why Players would play in Toronto and Vancouver and all you got from it is comparing Toronto and Vancouver fanbases?? This is like my dad talking about why the winds were blowing the wrong way in that Titanic scene where important discussion was going on and was part of the main storyline

Every team signs players. The Flames re-signed Gaudreau, Monahan and Tkachuk at one point. Last year they re-signed Huberdeau, Zadorov, Weegar, Kylington while signing Kadri for less money than he was offered elsewhere.

Don't give me this BS about how Toronto and Vancouver have fans everywhere so people want to play there. Wasn't Horvat the happiest guy in the world to get traded from the team he captained who drafted him?

 

[Double Dion]

That would be their undoing if they dont rebuild. They don't even have a number 1 center anymore once Lindholm goes out and they would be left with only Kadri as their legitimate top 6 Center and he is getting older too and not that young anymore. Best to blow it up and rebuild. People here keep crying about Canucks not wanting to rebuild but they have foundational pieces such as Pettersson, Hughes, Kuzmenko and Demko to build upon. Flames have absolutely no young elite forward, D or goalie in the age of 20-25 bracket. That would not be good for them if they keep delaying to rebuild and draft high.

If the best young goalie on the planet doesn't count as an elite piece I don't know what does. How you can call Demko a foundational piece and not Wolf is beyond me. The guy has won every award a goalie can for 4 seasons in a row.

 

[MNRube]

If the best young goalie on the planet doesn't count as an elite piece I don't know what does. How you can call Demko a foundational piece and not Wolf is beyond me. The guy has won every award a goalie can for 4 seasons in a row.

Neither is foundational but Demko has proven he can perform in the NHL in both the regular season and the playoffs. Wolf still has to do that and I’d argue most GMs would move him for Wallstedt or Askarov

 

[Double Dion]

Neither is foundational but Demko has proven he can perform in the NHL in both the regular season and the playoffs. Wolf still has to do that and I’d argue most GMs would move him for Wallstedt or Askarov

He's been better at everything at every level than Demko, Askarov or Wallstedt. So much better as to be an absurd debate. He won goalie of the year 4 straight seasons. AHL MVP. The best goalie numbers in the history of the WHL AND AHL. Demko put up a .901 and 3.16 last year and is 6 years older than Wolf.

 

[strattonius]

Every team signs players. The Flames re-signed Gaudreau, Monahan and Tkachuk at one point. Last year they re-signed Huberdeau, Zadorov, Weegar, Kylington while signing Kadri for less money than he was offered elsewhere.

Don't give me this BS about how Toronto and Vancouver have fans everywhere so people want to play there. Wasn't Horvat the happiest guy in the world to get traded from the team he captained who drafted him?

Jim Benning created a loser franchise that lasted an entire decade. Can't blame Horvat for wanting out.

Rutherford and Alvin are actually competent and seem to be turning things around. Maybe I'm too optimistic but I will say I haven't been this positive about the team moving forward in over 6 years.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Simple, Florida has to be a bottom 10 team in the league either this season or the next for Montreal to get a top 10 pick or unprotected 1st. In the unlikely scenario that Florida is a bottom 10 team in any of the next 2 seasons then things get complicated

Not that unlikely at all

 

[Ledge And Dairy]

Not that unlikely at all

Thats a hot take

 

[SwedishFire]

The 3c Oilers should go after.

 

[Play]

If not see what they can get retaining 50%.. he is a perfect 3C for any team

Canucks ?

 

[StewieP19]

Kadri, Huberdeau, and Weegar right now:

Probably front office meet these guy and tell what happened.
Some Players want to leave to win a Stanley Cup
Is the case in Backlund.
For Lindholm he seem affected the way Sutter coach him and he need to think is Calgary can win a Stanley cup in the next 3 - 4 years
For hanafin it seem an habit to ask a trade.

 

[Ignatius]

Kuzmenko did, and so did Hughes and Pettersson when they re-signed with the Canucks as well as Miller. I don't get why they wouldnt want to play in major cities like Toronto or Vancouver with fans everywhere? I guess everyone wants to play in the 5000 seat community center skating rink in Arizona and play for Coyotes while their owner is selling hotdogs outside to pay for the electric bill and the players need to take greyhound buses instead of private jets. Am sure its very good down there in some US cities eh?

Cool story bro, NHL Network radio on Sirius XM is talking about the exact thing I'm talking about right now and applying it to all Canadian city NHL markets. Perhaps you should call into one of those radio shows and argue with them instead of coming up with some argument from extremes with me?

 

[jackjohnson]

Cool story bro, NHL Network radio on Sirius XM is talking about the exact thing I'm talking about right now and applying it to all Canadian city NHL markets. Perhaps you should call into one of those radio shows and argue with them instead of coming up with some argument from extremes with me?

Just because you listen to NHL network which has the same idea as you, it doesn't really make it true. The only reason an NHL player would not want to play in Canada would maybe be due to higher taxes. Other factors like management and team being competetive is more important to players aside from the salary factor. But the factors such as the city being too cold, or too boring or too bland is a bit of a BS excuse for major cities like Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. The only reason Calgary is experiencing mass exodus is due to their terrible management not due to cold weather, or taxes or players finding out the city is boring just now like they couldnt figure it out years ago when they signed with the team. NHL network sensationalizes things and you eat it up like it's reality lol

 

[jackjohnson]

Cool story bro, NHL Network radio on Sirius XM is talking about the exact thing I'm talking about right now and applying it to all Canadian city NHL markets. Perhaps you should call into one of those radio shows and argue with them instead of coming up with some argument from extremes with me?

Again I want to know why Pettersson and Hughes signed? Why Miller signed long term? Why Kuzmenko who was a free agent and could have gone to any US city decided to sign in Vancouver? Give me a reason to believe your dumb theory of nobody wanting to play in any Canadian city BS? I could also bring up people that don't like to live in US and want to live in Canada due to safety reasons and the fact Canada has higher migration than US. For example, why are rents so expensive in Vancouver and Toronto, being $3000 per month yet it's $500 in Dallas? Last time I checked, cities with higher immigration and fast populating areas would be the ones with higher rent while areas that aren't desirable have much lower rents. Yet you come here talking about no one wants to live in Canada lol.

 

[HockeyVirus]

Thats a hot take

Not really. They only made the playoffs after a crazy hot streak to end the year AND with luck of the Penguins losing to 2 bottom 3 teams the last 2 games.

And then you have significant injuries to guys like Ekblad and Tkachuk who won't be able to train properly this offseason. You have Bob who hasn't been any good 99% of his contract I don't see why that doesn't change. There are lots of reasons they could easily be bottom 10

 

[Some Other Flame]

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

No way Calgary is a playoff team anymore, especially with vets and some of their good players like Lindholm, Backlund, Toffoli etc. wanting out. Calgary doesnt even have much of a prospect pool to trade from or build from to replace those guys and free agents wouldn't choose Calgary unless they are overpaid. So Calgary is in a really bad place. Am not even mentioning the fact that they are in the division where they need to compete against Vegas, Edmonton, Seattle, LA and possibly an improved Vancouver team to make the playoffs just in their own division. Calgary will be similar to SJ and Anaheim, bottom feeders and likely will be there for a long while.

Flames actually have a great prospect pool as far as depth goes. Their issue is outside of Wolf, no star prospects. But as we've seen with Vegas and Seattle, depth matters the most. That being said yes, the Flames do need a star player.

 

[Petes2424]

Calgary is a hockey dumpster fire right now. No one wants to play there. Yikes

Which sucks because Calgary is a great city to play in. So it’s not the city, and definitely not the fans. I honestly believe there’s players not happy with Huska being named HC.

All this garbage started as soon as he was hired. Not sure if the Conroy hire would have such an effect on guys but Calgary really did the “Good Old Boys” hiring this off-season. Meaning kept everything in-house.

Players were wanting changes and this was the least amount of “change in direction” a team could make hiring a new coach and manager.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Winnipeg fans might be bumping this thread pretty hard tonight. Time to make light of some other misery...

 

[MOGlLNY]

That’s certainly not a great answer IE him staying

 

[crazyfisherman]

No issue with backs wanting to leave, hes 35 and wants to win. Id be willing to take slightly lesser assets to send him to an actual contender. Hes better than toffoli

Not really. They only made the playoffs after a crazy hot streak to end the year AND with luck of the Penguins losing to 2 bottom 3 teams the last 2 games.

And then you have significant injuries to guys like Ekblad and Tkachuk who won't be able to train properly this offseason. You have Bob who hasn't been any good 99% of his contract I don't see why that doesn't change. There are lots of reasons they could easily be bottom 10

They were still 11 pts away from being the 10 seed

 

[quietbruinfan]

I have always liked Backlund. I think he makes a very good under he radar acquisition for the Bruins.

 

[StewieP19]

Backlund got a 10 team no-trade list.
What is a decent return for Calgary for a 34 years old who average 45 pts per season (17G-28A) ?
Without retention due to Philadelphia situation (Want to trade everyone) and all players who are on market downgrade value, it worth a late 1st with retention. calgary should waiting @ TDL to trade him he will got more than this

 

[CgyFlamesftw]

Backlund got a 10 team no-trade list.
What is a decent return for Calgary for a 34 years old who average 45 pts per season (17G-28A) ?
Without retention due to Philadelphia situation (Want to trade everyone) and all players who are on market downgrade value, it worth a late 1st with retention. calgary should waiting @ TDL to trade him he will got more than this

I’d hope for a 1st. Backlund is criminally under rated defensively. He was just 6th in selke voting while playing a 3c role last year. On a good contending team he could push a team over the top.

 

[Double Dion]

I’d hope for a 1st. Backlund is criminally under rated defensively. He was just 6th in selke voting while playing a 3c role last year. On a good contending team he could push a team over the top.

Everyone knows Backlund is one of the top defensive centers in the game. What they don't know is he's a top 30 ES offensive C over the last 5 seasons. Like you, they often call him a 3C despite being a top 5 defensive C (analytically #2 in the league) and a top 30 ES offensive C. He's closer to a 1C than he is to a 3C.