bosn111

After tonight, Flames now will enter the draft lottery in 8-10 spot. Can only move up or down 1 spot with 2 games remaining. So top 10 pick unless a team outside of top 10 wins the lotto.

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/flames-excited-for-newcomer-ignatjew-s-potential Sigalet’s thoughts in the article.

1 year show us what you can do in North America deal? Likely spends most, if not all season with the Wranglers. I recall the Flames had a pretty good Finnish tendy before.

After tonight’s win, the Flames will go into the lottery somewhere in the 7 - 11 range. Only Seattle and Ottawa have a chance at passing the Flames in the standings, while Flames could catch NJ and Buffalo. Picture is becoming more clear on final standings. Edmonton is the only team with 3 games remaining, everyone else has 1 or 2. Jockeying for final seeding in playoffs/ draft is all that’s left for this week.

Not sure this is a needed trade right now. Calgary has almost 20 mil in cap space going into next season with only Kylington, Greer and Wolf looking for contracts. The Flames don’t need to move Kadri for cap space, and honestly would put the Flames around the cap floor. Moving any of Markstrom, Mangiapane, Kuzmenko, Andersson, Weegar, Backlund or Coleman without salary coming back would drop Calgary below the floor. The only good reason to spend well below the cap would be to use it in trades (retaining salary for other teams for example). Otherwise may as well use it on FAs. Should the Flames take a run at Reinhart, Guentzel, Necas, Middlestat or someone else? Would any of them likely be core pieces coming out of a rebuild in 3-5 years? Would any speed up the rebuild? Would they choose to be part of a rebuild? I’m not sure trading away cap (only real reason to move Kadri) is what the Flames need to do right now. Markstrom or Vladar to clear space for Wolf makes sense. Moving Mange from 3rd line to clear space for young guys like Pelletier or Coronato makes sense. Moving Anderson to clear space for prospects makes sense. Still need to add cap, but more reason than just clearing cap.

There is a lot of back and forth about the concept of keeping or trading certain players, and also whether trading established players for draft picks makes any sense. The easiest way to look at the discussion is like this: Who are players currently on the Flames roster who would be considered to be good mentors for young players? The answer will surprise a few people for sure one way or another. The argument for trading or keeping vets to mentor young guys should be based on the above. I know some fans want to stay loyal to players that have been with the team a while and have worked hard for the team (see Anderson, Backlund, Mangiapane). Loyalty is great when things are going well. Right now for the Flames, that is not the case. The Flames are in a major retool (maybe even rebuild) which isn’t even in question. So for a retool of this style, what do the Flames need? 1. Determine what the team identity will be. 2. Determine what players on the current roster fit and which don’t. 3. Determine what value any maybe players have for the team vs for another team. 4. Figure out what you have in prospects to know who is arriving on the big club, when, and what placeholders are needed to buy time. 5. Trade players who don’t match the identity and the players who are maybes but who are better value in trade than keep. I really like Anderson, he has done well and I never wanted him traded, but time is moving on. He is no longer under 25 and continuing to grow as a player. On many teams he is a top pair RD. The issue is that I have never heard or seen mentor as one of his strengths. If we are looking at what is best for the Flames in 3-5 years, I don’t see Ras at 33 years old + being a piece that works well, and value in trade will have gone down. This includes a new, higher contract. Weegar to me shows more mentor material. He is signed essentially to retirement and plays at a similar level to Ras. As a RD, Ras holds a high value in trade. Yes it would be a loss to move him, but getting a top 15 pick for him, or more in a package, holds more value in my opinion for down the road than keeping him. Mange has less value than Ras, alone not likely anything more than a 2nd, if that. Don’t dislike the player, but he is a stop gap in a retool, not a core piece. Vladar, Markstrom, Hanley, Greer, Rooney, even Kuzmenko fit in this category for me. Backlund as well as I think he retires as one of the last retool moves. Kadri and Huberdeau are sticking around a while due to contracts. They are complimentary pieces, not core. The current players I see as building blocks in the retool Weegar (veteran D mentor, good enough to play top pair another 5 years then slide down when passed until retirement). Coleman (Veteran middle 6, good mentor, re-sign to retirement contract in a couple years) Wolf (future 1 goalie) Miromanov, Pachal (likely both mid or bottom pair, but both seem good so far) Zary, Sharangovich (both stepping up at the right time) Any of the above could be considered core in the future, but that remains to be seen. Other possible pieces: (each on the list for different reasons) Kylington, Coronato, Pelletier, Pospisil, Poirier, Kuznetsov, Bruz, Solovyov, Grushnikov, Honzek. If the goal is to have competition to be the best lineup in 3-5 years, you need players who will be hitting their stride at that time, and enough options to choose the best. I see 3 F, 3D and 1 G as solid pieces moving forward with 2 F remaining due to contracts. Need another 8 F, 4 D and 1 G down the road. That’s why trading Anderson, Mange and Markstrom, even in package deals for high draft picks makes sense. More possibilities in 3-5 years. That’s my take anyway.

If the Flames were to trade the following players / combos, I think they could get First round picks in the top 15 this season (from the right teams). What teams should we target with each player prior to or on draft day? Markstrom Andersson Mangiapane + (what would need to be added to get to that 1st?) I would look at using prospects or later picks if it helps move Mange for a top 15 pick in the draft. Are Coronato, Poirier, Honzek, Stromgren going to be made available? Would they be enough? Looking for input as I would love to speed up the rebuild by getting 4 top 15 picks in a single draft. Would that be a new record?

I don’t follow a lot of Junior, so no idea really who to take in the draft so I won’t wade in too much here. Currently the Flames have the 9th overall pick with 9 games to go. Closer to picking 5th than 14th points wise. They also have a late 1st from Vancouver. From the discussion I have seen on here, and looking at Button’s standings (didn’t like him as GM but he is good at evaluating prospects), there are some interesting young players to hope for. What do the Flames have on the roster or in the pipe that could be moved for another top 15 pick? Teams who might be interested (Islanders, Devils, Senators, Kraken, Canadiens). I would think only possible players that could get a first on their own (likely not top 10) would be Weegar, Markstrom, Andersson, Wolf, maybe Zary. My thoughts would be to move Markstrom and Andersson (didn’t think I would say this one, if rebuilding…) but that is just me. Without a Lotto win, having 2 or even 3 picks in the 8-14 range could add solid prospects for the near future. 2 or 3 of Lindström, Iginla, Yakemchuck, Silayev, Greentree and Jiricek would provide significant hope for a few years from now. Could be interesting.

Cap space will be interesting next season. Doubtful that both Mangiapane and Kuzmenko get kept, and a good possibility that either Vladar or Markstrom get moved. Any of these players will bring back at least 1 draft pick each. This also would add significant cap space. Not much for high end centremen in FA this year, so you are likely needing to trade for one or use Sharangovich or Zary at C on the top line. I think the draft could be very interesting for the Flames this year.

Mange does owe the team. He owes play that matches his almost 6 million a year contract. It is easy to argue that he is not currently doing that, (not necessarily his fault). It is not a dislike of the player that fans consider trading him, but rather a consideration for chemistry, cap hit, and team direction. Mange is one of 6 players on the Flames currently under 6 feet, Coleman and Hanley at 5’11 both play bigger than they are. Trying to figure out Kuzmenko, while Coronato and Pelletier are just starting their careers. Most of the adds from Conroy thus far have added either size, high skill or both. I just don’t know where Mange at 5.8 per fits on this team. Huberdeau Zary? Sharangovich Pelletier Kadri Coronato (Kuzmenko / Mange) Backlund Coleman Greer Rooney Pospisil There is really only room for either Kuzmenko or Mange, though may go younger even and put Pospisil there and move both the older players, bring up another young guy like Ciona for the 4th line. If the youth movement is really on, Mange and Kuz are both 27/28, and neither are really mentor personalities from what I have seen (good teammates and good team players just not leaders). It is about team direction and where individual players fit.

So in the summer, the Flames now have new contracts to negotiate with: RFA Pelletier (1.5x1 for still RFA) Okhotiuk (min raise) Schwindt (min raise or cut loose) Klapka (min raise) Damiani (min raise) Jones (min raise or cut loose) Kuznetsov (Small raise) Solovyov (Small raise) Lyle (min raise or cut loose) Wolf (Raise depends on summer goalie situation, likely modest similar to Pelletier) UFA: Kylington (Likely hold close, small raise) Gilbert (likely walks) Greer (small raise, 850k x 2) Osterle (likely walks) Poolman (likely walks) Pysyk (likely walks) Dansk (min raise) Next year is much more complex. Interesting to see what happens.

With all the conditions on draft picks, what is now the ideal playoff picture / Flames position to maximize draft picks? Unless the Flames go on an absolute tear, they likely don’t risk Montreal getting a shot at this year’s first (Need to be picking 20-32 for that condition). 2025 and 2026 1sts depend on next year’s results, so no idea about those yet. If Dallas makes cup final, Flames add a 3rd in 2026. If Vegas wins 1 round in playoffs, 3rd in 2025 becomes 2nd in 2025. If Canucks make conference finals, 4th becomes a 3rd this year. So we want Dallas to beat Vancouver in the conference finals, and Vegas to win 1 round. So no first round between any of the 3 lol.

Osterle, Lemieux, Cormier, Raanta, and DeAngelo all cleared waivers. Lagesson to the Ducks, Katchouk to the Sens, Bjornfot to the Panthers. DeAngelo and Raanta likely cleared for cap reasons. Same reason Kuznetsov cleared waivers but Carolina traded for him with retention. Likely means Gilbert sticking around too. Deadline is here, now waiting on last announcements to come out officially.

I think Weegar/Andersson have been good together overall. Pachal and Kylington started making good chemistry so I would guess Hanley with Miromanov, but try Miro on the point for PP with Kylington. Interesting however it works out.

Bunch of Players on waivers today including Osterle. Doubt he gets claimed over Lagesson, DeAngelo. Lemieux or Katchouk could be interesting if they were signed past the summer, but don’t really blow anyone away. Raanta never really found his footing and at 26, Cormier has no NHL games and only modest stats in the ECHL and AHL. I don’t see the team grabbing another player off waivers today.