kehatch

Both guys were pending RFAs with their teams backed into a corner. They still got comparable returns. Lindholm was a 27 year old C a year removed from a 42 goal selke caliber season, and he was on one of the best contracts in the NHL. The Flames had the option to retain salary increasing his value even further. I get the market was tight due to cap constraints. But in this case that should have increased Lindholms value as he was a top 6 C available for 3m in cap space. Conroy was trying to sign him which is why he didn't trade him. Again, the return was fine. It just wasn't the home run you hope it is when trading your top C.

I have been pretty clear in my opinion that Conroy waited to long to trade his best pieces. If he traded Lindholm in the summer we would likely have received more value and not be facing another middle of the road draft pick. That said, I think the return is decent. It's just not as much as you would like when trading your top center. Especially one that was recently a 30 goal scorer and Selke finalist.

This was a decent trade. The standard template for a high profile player is a first, a great prospect, and a decent NHL player. Conroy got the first. I am not high on Kuzmenko, but he fills a need and is someone we may be able to flip for another asset. The prospect is decent. If that was it I would say the trade was just okay. But adding another mid pick and prospect improves things. I don't think this is a home run like some are suggesting. But given Lindholm's play this year it's a very decent return.

I am okay with swapping Mangiapane and Huberdeau. I would have preferred they try Huberdeau with Kadri / Zary as it just hasn't worked with Lindholm and I think Zary is the right kind of player for Huberdeau. But maybe the emergence of Sharangovich makes it work with Lindholm.

There are too many players underachieving in their current spots. Pospisil has 2 points in December despite being on the offensive line. Not his fault, he just isn't that type of player. Huberdeau is miscast on a defensive line. Mangiapane has 1 goal in December and has been borderline invisible. Try Huberdeau with Kadri and Zary. He has looked great with Zary in a limited sample. Move Mangiapane back with Backlund and Coleman. That's two simple and obvious solutions. The Lindholm line is a harder nut to crack. Keep Sharongovich there as he has looked decent. For the third either call up someone (Kerins, Coranato, Petersen) or try one of the depth guys. Greer or Pospisil gives you some grit. Ruzicka could surprise. The rest are on your fourth line. Except for Dube. Scratch him. Waive him. Something. He has no points in December, is a minus three, and he has been generally terrible. The coaches have to do something to manufacture some offense. Sometimes it's shuffling deck chairs on the titanic, but we have seen with Zary how finding a little chemistry can ignite a line.

I don't think speculation around the Kylington/Zadorov timing is off base at all. Rooney, Pelletier, and Kylington look like they are close to returning and the Flames needed to create cap space. Now if you are getting into conspiracy theory territory that's a different story.

This is what is saving the Flames this season, and hopefully into the future. Zary, Pelletier, Coronato, Wolf, Pospisil, Solovyov, Oesterle, maybe Kylington, etc make it a lot easier to swallow trading guys like Lindholm and Hanafin. Especially when the alternative is losing them for nothing or a 60 million dollar contract that may go to waste if the Flames have to rebuild. I still won't be shocked to see an extension. Hanafin has played well, and the Flames don't have any big name D prospects. I think Lindholm is traded as he hasn't shown chemistry with anyone, but he is still a top 6 C so who knows. But I don't think the Flames will risk losing these guys for nothing.

This was not a good return for Zadorov. It would have been fine if not for the 2026 date on the 3rd. Teams simply didn't have the cap space this early in the season. I don't blame Conroy on this one. Clearly they felt they had to move Zadorov now. Either they needed the cap (Kylington, trade flexibility) or Zadorov was becoming an issue. But I would like to see Conroy execute a transaction that doesn't need a lot of explanation and justification. Between inactivity, lack of direction, and marginal returns it hasn't been a strong start as GM. The one exception being the Backlund extension, which was a clear win.

Agree. Huberdeau worked with Backlund and Pelletier last year, so this might be the best bet. I would like to see them try Huberdeau with Zary, but it doesn't make sense to disrupt things with Kadri and Zary clicking to well. Maybe putting Huberdeau with those two is worth a shot. But he has had terrible chemistry with Kadri, and either Huberdeau or Zary would have to play their off wing. Either that or move Zary to C on the line, but that's probably not a great idea either.

Last year the Flames were dominating every area except the scoresheet and the power play. We just couldn't finish and every mistake went in the net. They spent the season flirting with a playoff spot and finished just shy. This season we have the same issues but are no longer dominating possession or staying competitive in the standings. It's a clear step back. I am not saying it's all on the coaches. This roster isn't good enough. But the team has regressed from the previous coaching staff with a pretty similar roster.

I am not a Huska fan and was pretty clear I didn't like the hire. I get the Flames ownership didn't want to pay for a high profile coach since they are still paying Sutter. That limited the options, and there was value in maintaining continuity by sticking with Huska. But I still think there were better options, Mitch Love being at the top of my list. I think Huska is part of the team problem. The Flames play five on five like they are trying to kill a penalty. They can't break out, and that is a big part of the excessive turnovers. I also wonder if guys like Zary look so good is because of the coaching they got BEFORE they got here. That said, I don't think Huska owns the Zadorov trade request. Its pretty apparent he wants to stay in Calgary but the Flames aren't ready to negotiate with him. I don't think the ice time helps, but I don't think its the reason for the trade request. I actually agree with Huska on how he has deployed Zadarov. Zadarov looks great because he is being properly utilized.

5v5 this season Calgary has given up 6 more goals then expected and are dead last in team save percentage. That is a continuation from the previous season where things were very similar (and where we were still good enough to just miss the playoffs). As far as watching, I watch them all. The team needs to be better in front of the goalies, but it looks a lot worse when every mistake goes in. Last night Vladar did play well in the third. But he let in four goals on the first 15 shots before that, three of them were very stoppable and at least one was downright soft.

I agree that he was fired because of his antics and how he treated the players. But I also think that if the Flames made the playoffs and looked good in the playoffs he doesn't get fired. Regardless of the hypotheticals, there is some vindication. A lot of people thought this team would be successful under a new coach and so far that isn't true.

It's unacceptable to me that you have two sub 900 goalies getting starts while your AAA NHL ready goalie prospect is wasting his ELC on the farm. Especially when you have been flirting with last place. Hopefully Wolf capitalizes on this situation and forces the GM to make room for him on the main roster. Kipper paved the way for the 2004 run. We saw the impact Zary has had on the roster. Give Wolf a real chance and see what he can do.

The poor start hasn't improved my opinions of the GM so far. At this point the Huska hire is terrible. The team never looked this bad under Sutter. Keeping Sigalet is still confounding. Both goalies look meh at best. The Toffoli trade has backfired. The Flames lacked scoring before the trade, particularly at RW. Sharongovich hasn't looked good outside of the fourth line. The decision to not deal with the pending free agents during the summer looks particularly dire now. The Flames are in a position of weakness and are going to really struggle trading these guys during the season. Especially if they want to do it early season, and especially if they are insistent in trading for established talent. Not trading Vladar when they had offers is a predictable whiff. The idea that they could somehow fit starts in for Wolf when they struggle to get starts for the back-up was silly. From the sounds of it, the Flames want to retool the roster to try and find chemistry with the contracts they can't move (Kadri, Huberdeau). I understand the direction, even if I don't agree with it. But at this point I don't trust Conroy in making it happen. Hopefully he makes a couple of solid moves to give us fans something to get excited about.

While I agree that Sutter was a little too cavalier in changing lines, sticking to specific lines until they work isn't realistic. Even the best lines in hockey usually clock in around 400 minutes of time, and the Flames had two lines at that level last season (including the great Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman line). A good coach can tell pretty quickly if there is chemistry. The issue with line juggling last season wasn't really the coach. It was: Huberdeau and Kadri not fitting in with the team or system A lack of parts. There isn't aren't any obvious fits for the top six wingers, especially if you leave the Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman line together. I expect you may get your wish this season though. Barring additional roster changes, moving a C to the wing, or a kid exploding early, Dube and Sharangovich are the only reasonable candidates to play RW on the top line. The safe line up bet: Huberdeau-Lindholm-Sharangovich/Dube Some Kid-Kadri-Sharongovich/Dube Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman

Maybe, but I don't think its fair to suggest Lindholm isn't a natural C. He has had a lot of success there, including being second in voting for the Selke. I think he fits C a lot better then Kadri due to his defensive play.

I don't know. Nothing really worked last year so its not a great metric. I think the coaching change and system change is going to help these guys out and on paper they are a good combination. I agree they didn't look great together last season, but I think the biggest issue was Kadri. He put up a reasonable number of points but ended up a -19. My hope is moving him to the wing is going to help his game.

I don't love how the Flames forwards slot together when in their natural positions. Centre ice is fine, but they are missing tools on the wing. They don't have a single RH shot among their established NHL wingers. They only have one winger that can stir the drink offensively. They don't have any snipers. They lack grit. Basically, they have an army of wingers that can drive the play 5 v 5, get plenty of shots, but not score. Because of that, I move Kadri to the wing to start the season. Doing that causes everything else to slot together wonderfully. Huberdeau-Lindholm-Kadri Mangipanane-Backlund-Coleman Sharangovich-Dube-Coronato Pelletier-Ruzicka-Duehr Weegar-Anderson Kylington-Tanev TBD-Zadorov Markstrom Vladar I really like having Lindholm with Kadri-Huberdeau. He can keep them honest defensively. It gives you a similar dynamic to when he had Gaudreau and Tkachuk. Plus it puts those two in a great position to rebound. All three of these guys were 100+ point players at one point.

The point isn't to win a cup. Its to make money. You say perpetually mediocre. They say perpetually competitive.

The Flames had a nightmare season. Following that the GM refused a contract extension and the head coach was fired before his new contract even started. We traded our leading scorer, we are likely losing our top D, and we have lost various depth players, including Lucic. We have replaced them with the assistant GM and coach from last year, a middling winger, and several middling prospects. Moving forward, most of our top players are on expiring contracts next season and we have a middling to poor prospect pool. We can't rebuild because we have 214 million invested in long term contracts to 5 players in their 30s. Now we are asking players to sign extensions with us a year before they have. This is in a year where the salary cap is expected to go up. Nobody knows what this team is going to look like in September. We certainly don't know what it is going to look like in a year. Would you sign an extension in these circumstances? Conroy didn't create the mess, but his job is to add stability and direction. Instead he has sat on his hands and done very little. Not being able to find an effective return for a 26 year old top line D on a budget contract isn't an acceptable reason . An effective GM can find a strong return for that type of player. We are rudderless at the moment.

The number one guy Conroy has to trade is Hanifin. He is a 26 year old top pairing D who makes under 5 million. The second priority is Lindholm, who Conroy has to trade if he isn't confident in an extension. He is a 28 year old number 1 centre making under 5 million. We can talk about the mess we are in, but those are two of the most tradeable players in the NHL. If you can't trade a young top pairing defenseman on a budget contract during the primary trade window then a little criticism is warranted. When you add the remainder of the list that didn't get done then its really warranted. I think Conroy is getting a bit of a pass because he is new and he is a fan favorite.

Toffoli is already out. Backlund has publicly said he won't sign an extension until he sees how the season goes. Hanifin has said he won't sign an extension. Lindholm is on the fence and doesn't appear to be close to making a decision. Tanev, Zadorov, and possibly Kylington are also pending free agents. We have over 2 million invested into a back-up goalie we don't need who is going to take games from our NHL ready star goalie prospect. That is a lot of laundry to be doing in August and September. It also leaves us rudderless with no clear direction leading into the season. We will measure Conroy's performance after the deadline. But so far he has done very little to deal with the mess.

Conroy only has a handful of moves he can make Trade Hanafin: I am surprised this one hasn't happened yet. I still think this one gets done before the season, but that is far from certain. There aren't a lot of shoes to drop yet, so my guess is things stay quiet until camp. Trade (or Extend) Lindholm: They are trying to extend him. With the Flames uncertain future and the potential increase to the cap there is a good chance that Lindholm isn't going to sign an extension in the summer. That puts Conroy in a tough spot since it has a big impact on our ability to be competitive and our cap situation. I think Backlund, Zadorov, etc are all on hold until Lindholm's future is determined. Trade Vladar: From the sounds of it the Flames want a big offer or they will hold on to him. I think that is a mistake. Wolf is ready for the NHL and I am not a big fan of Vladar, particularly with his contract. But the Flames seem to like him. Its possible a team needs a goalie in camp, but my guess is Vladar starts the season with the Flames. Add depth: The Flames have a bunch of NHL ready prospects at forward and D is pretty set. I expect there will be a bunch of invites and maybe some depth 2-way signings, but that won't happen until camp. The Flames don't have the assets or cap to do much else, and the uncertainty on Lindholm and Hanafin have everything else on hold. Its the dog days for a reason. Most teams have their rosters and cap profiles penciled in. I know only so much is in his control, but I think Conroy dropped the ball this summer. He simply has too much on his plate and he needed to clear some of it during draft/free agency. Even when things open up during camp, there is a limited market. Free agency is the next big opportunity, but unless the Flames are unexpectedly poor next season they aren't going to be trading Lindholm, Hanafin, Backlund, Zadorov, and Tanev at the deadline. Even if they are well outside the playoffs, there are only so many moves they can make.

I don't think there is much choice. We have a handful of top NHL players signed long term and zero elite prospects. That makes our core Huberdeau, Kadri, Weegar, Andersson, and Markstrom. Lindholm and Backlund can be added to the list assuming they are here next season.