travel_dude

Matt Murray for Gaudreau would be the worst trade in Flames history. You don't trade a player that factored in on 33% of your offense for a goalie or defenseman. It would have to be for a Giroux or Tarasenko.

You say that Gaudreau is not untouchable. I get the comment, since anyone can be traded. Why would say the opposite about Bennett and Monahan in intriguing, though. So, in two seasons with the Flames, Johnny has a 64 point season and 78 points (pending tonight's results). His first two seasons in the NHL. That's scream untouchable as a franchise player on any team. There's a very small list of players I would trade Johnny for. And I would question any of those player would make us a better team.

We will be getting a starter this coming season, so a rebound will happen. We won't be trading the core to do it, nor trading significant prospects to do it. So Gio/Brodie/Hamilton/Johnny/Mony/Bennett/Backlund/Frolik are not in any trade plans. Prospects such as Kylington, Andersson, Shink, Poirier, Janko are not in the trade picture either. I'm not sure of what could be used to make the trade, but there are some interesting goalies that teams will be forced to trade this season. Perhaps even Ortio could be used in a trade.

They also signed goalie Patrick Killeen to an ATO.

JJ - when was the last time you said anything positive about any other Flames goalie? You are always there pumping the tires of Ortio, but nobody is allowed to criticize him? People have trashed Ramo and Hiller all year, but somehow everybody is picking on Ortio? I'll pick some cherries here. You were trashing McDonald's selection over Demko here, but went on to say that after 4 games he deserved to get back to the NHL after strong games in the AHL. Ya know, I don't know why I bother responding to you about goaltending. You are so biased for Ortio that nothing else matters. One shutout and some strong performances this year. Some stinkers. Not much different than Ramo provided this year.

^^^^^^ Well said. I think I'm gonna stop posting in this thread, since we are just going in circles. I'll wait till I see any signings/trades this summer.

Wow, just wow. We both pointed out aspects of lousy goaltending and you turn it into a lynching of Ortio. He has a 6-9-5 record for the season. One shutout. He played a bad game. He had a good game against the Oilers. Last night he was on par with Hiller or Backstrom this season. Consistency is all you would expect of a backup goalie. I may be pointing it out to you, but BT is also looking at the same games. If he won 5 in a row, then it's a different discussion. But it's not.

Last night we saw a different Ortio. None of the goals let in were well defended. Very sub-par. Defense was non-existent at times, but he has to make those stops. Andreoff's was the weakest. Carter's should have been a easy stop. Lucic's were nothing that dangerous. Versteeg's was a matter of losing track and Ortio knocking it in himself. Two games against the Kings, 8 goals against. Whether that is a fluke, bad defense or poor effort, it can't continue next season if we want to win more than 50% of the games with a backup in nets.

I am not really worried about our prospects. The D will take time, and it's really hard to tell this early who will rise to the top 4. The most likely are Hickey, Kylington, and Andersson. Spoon and Ollas-Mattsson are outside chances. The forwards prospects include some possible to translate to top 6. Shinkaruk, Poirier, Mangiapane, Jankowski have the best chance right now. Possibly Klimchuk (too early to tell). The less likely, but still outside chance are Pollock and Karnaukhov.

Funny, I read it was either 3D+7F+1G or 8 skaters + 1 goalie. So the NTC players are protected, so you can;t expose Gio (foolish to do so anyway). Option 1: Gio + Brodie + Hamilton Monahan + Gaudreau + Backlund + Frolik + Bennett + Stajan + 1 other Newest goalie, unless Ortio steals #1 during next season. Option 2: Gio + Brodie + Hamilton + Monahan + Gaudreau + Backlund + Stajan + Bennett Newest goalie or Ortio I prefer option 1. Ortio would only be selected if he happened to win the starter job. There are far more experienced backup goalies that an expansion team would select.

So you want to expend a lot of assets to gain another top 4D, and possibly lose one to expansion? The other thing is you constantly talk about developing from within for goaltending, but you feel we have to go get a another defense? Defense takes potentially less time, plus we have a ton more possible candidates.

I don't recommend it but you know ol' Bob. It's also a classy move IMHO.

Just throwing this out there.... Hiller is backup tonight, so I am guessing that he gets the next start. Hartley feels he owes him that. And I would also be surprised if Backstrom doesn't get the start against the Wild. Both guys had rough outings and Hartley has shown a tendency to reward hard work in practice as much as who played well. If this was do or die, I would question it. Right now, I think it's just about giving a player a proper send off.

I think that a one-year deal makes sense. He has all of 22 games at the NHL level. I think he will surprise once he gets in about 50 or so games. Easily more upside than Smid right now. Sign him to a deal, and if he becomes a valuable player, keep him. If he only is replacement level, then at least you can send him down or trade him elsewhere. One player I look forward to at the pro level is Ollas-Mattsson. I haven't seen enough games from him yet to form a true picture, but the limited viewings of him were good. A shame he lost this year to injury. Would have like to see him finish off the WJC tourney.

Available to the Flames next year are: Gillies McDonald RFA's Poulin Ortio Schneider is too young for the AHL, so he goes back to junior. Even if we were to sign Poulin, we still have Stockton and the ECHL to develop goalies. So, I also can't see anything blocking development of goalies. So, we could have the following: NHL - Starter/Ortio AHL - Gillies/Poulin ECHL - McDonald Alternatively, you don't have to sign Poulin, so you have Gillies and McDonald in the AHL.

I would argue that Brodie is in fact #1 on the Flames. He doesn't (yet) have the elite scoring, but he is getting better each year. His positioning is elite. He makes the odd mistake, but who doesn't. With Nakladal, I have no problem with playing him as a 5/6 d-man; he's already doing that and performing well. With Joki, I think he has the potential to grow into a 3/4. He is getting that opportunity right now, and is playing up to that level. He still has some work to do, but I see the combination of offensive sense and defensive ability already. He should only get better. With the last few games, I don't see why we aren't evaluating Nakladal at the top 4 level. Play him with Gio and Brodie with Hamilton. Joki with Engelland. Roll them almost evenly, so you get a sense of what they can do in a situation you will likely encounter next season (injury, penalty/suspension).

And all I was getting at was starting strong is imperative, assuming he gets signed as a backup. Whether that is game 1, 5, 10 or 15, he has to be ready to put forth a string effort. There is no room for this team to go 3-7 to start the season again.

With Calgary Flames goaltending situation at a turning point, Ortio’s time may be coming If there’s one thing for certain, the Calgary Flames goaltending situation will change before next season. Karri Ramo, done for the year with a blown knee, will see his one-year deal expire. The two-year contract of Jonas Hiller, who has been relegated to mostly back-up duties for the latter part of the 2015-16 campaign, is also finished. Niklas Backstrom, a trade deadline day salary absorption (in the David Jones deal), is probably bound overseas. And Joni Ortio, the local heir apparent, is a restricted free agent this summer. This season, Calgary’s goaltending turned into one of the biggest sources of fan grief, complaints, and hot button topics in this city. As of Sunday afternoon, they still had league-worst goals allowed per game (3.14). They have three remaining games left plus a day of autopsies and player reviews (fondly known as Garbage Bag Day) before they hit the golf courses, beach resorts, and eventually begin training again. But the future is on everyone’s mind. “Like a lot of things, we’re going to get to the end of the year and start to evaluate where we go from here,” said Flames GM Brad Treliving. “Our plan is to get through to the end right now and we’ll get a chance to let the emotions subside and take a deep breath and go from there.” That applies to making a decision on Ortio who, out of the four netminders, is the most logical candidate to remain a Flame next season. “We’re going to see,” Treliving said. “He’s a restricted free agent and needs a new contract. But, like I said, he’s still a young guy. And I like him. I think he’s really competitive and, to me, he’s got a bit of that swagger back in his game. “To me, he’s a confident guy … but we want a chance think clearly here.” Calgary’s sixth-round pick from 2009 was poised for big things this season, his third full year playing pro hockey in North America and second (and final) year of a two-year dal worth an AAV of $600,000. But the Flames started the campaign with an odd three-man system because of one-way contracts and it threw everyone off, including Hiller and Ramo. Ortio only started twice and played four games before he was demoted to the American Hockey League. He was challenged by the Flames’ management when his practise habits and general commitment to developing in the minors were being questioned. To his credit, he improved and earned another recall. In Saturday’s 5-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers — his first shut-out of the year — he was impressive and, in recent outings, he’s looked like an NHL-er again. “That’s how it goes sometimes,” Treliving said of Ortio’s year and battle to stay in the NHL. “You look at the body of work since he’s been back, for the most part he’s been real solid. He’s given us a chance on most nights. There’s a lot of encouraging signs with Joni. “We’ll have to go through the whole de-brief and talk with our staff (regarding next season). But he’s shown really good glimpses.” In 20 games this season (and 17 starts), he’s gone 6-9-4 and owns a 2.62 goals against average plus a 0.908 save percentage. Sixteen of those games came during his second recall in February. Ortio, who indicated that his agent has “talked” with Calgary (“but nothing major”), wants to be part of the future. “It’s a great spot to play hockey,” he said. “We’ve got great fans, the best in the NHL. It’s a hockey town. I’ve enjoyed my time here. So, that’s where I’m at. I don’t want to get ahead of myself … that’s something we’re going to look at after the season. “But it’s wide open for next year.” Just providing this in case you weren't sure how BT feels about the goalie or what Ortio thinks about coming back.

13/14 great start. Last two years, including this year, not good. NHL start this year - not good. I think he will be fine as a backup, assuming he can translate this end of season to training camp to whenever he gets his first start next season. He has Hartley's faith right now, so he has to keep it through those events.

If you are going to talk about pre-season, at least get the number of games right. That was the first paragraph in response to your talking only about the pre-season shutout. What was he like in his first 10 starts in the AHL this year? Last year? If you care to, please provide his game starts over the last three seasons in the AHL. If it proves your point, well that is great. I take it back about him starting slow.

You must be forgetting a few pre-season games. He played part of the game against EDM (12 saves, 1 GA), all of the shutout game against the AVS, and the loss to Winnipeg (23 saves, 3 GA). The knock has always been a slow start. This year after going in cold ten games into the season for his first actual start. His start in Stockton this season. Last season in Addy. He's kind of like Kipper, in that he starts off bad and gets better later. That is the concern.

I agree with needing a starter. 4 top D-men? Are you suggesting adding one or needing 4? I don't think we really even need one. Could use? Sure. Engelland is not a top 4, so I would think that one of Nakladal or Jokipakka has shown enough to fill that need; both have improved of late and could have that ceiling. Next up - 2 RW? What is Frolik? I can see adding one to the top line, but we have at least one in development. The 2nd could be added in trade or UFA. We are not talking about a $6m player at this point, just a top 9 player. After that - 2 LW? I can see one more top 6 LW, but not a huge priority right now. Scoring has not been an issue. Can solve this after this next season when money is available. Or by development of other farm kids. Backup goalie looks like we have a solution, assuming Ortio can start the season different than his last two years. Being a backup means you have to come in cold and perform. He hasn't done that consistently yet.

First sentence is just so wrong. They have the makings of a contender. They have a deadly top 3 on defense. They went from playoffs to basement due to bottom of the league goaltending. In all honesty, it takes more than one season to turn a backup into a starter. Look at Bernier and Reimer. Neither are that great in a starter role yet. Ortio is no better than they were as backups. He could take the reins by the end of this coming season if he has a great start to the season. But that would take a miracle. The last sentence is probably true. Elliott or Anderssen are probably the best available in trade, but the cost may be too high.

I am all for adding him to the pool. I'm not suggesting he is NHL ready or even close. If anything, he is at about the same level as Gillies. That's just my opinion based on his stats. He has one year less of NCAA hockey, but Gillies missed the year due to injury. We absolutely have to find a starter this year. Maybe Ortio can be the backup and even be a 1b goalie, but that remains to be seen. Picking up a prospect without using a draft pick works for me.

Good April Fools joke. If it wasn't JJ's head would literally explode.