Deadline gear-up link-o-rama - Updated

Tomorrow's the big day and the hockey blogosphere is aflutter with anticipation. Following is just a small sampling of some of the good stuff out there.

- My new SBN overlords have a nifty little Trade deadline hub which will aggregate all the deadline stories in the SBN universe as they appear. My Flames coverage tomorrow will appear there, while I will stick my general comments in this space.

I believe Flames Nation and Oilers Nation will be gearing up there coverage as well.

- Matt discusses the deadlines potential winners and losers.

- Lowetide looks at 10 questions facing the Oilers heading into tomorrow.

- Puck Daddy wonders if Pronger is headed back to St. Louis. I've never really understood all this "Pronger is available" talk given that he's signed to a decent contract through next season. Wyshynski rationalizes it thusly;

...Dumping salary can be more vital than holding the line on them. The Ducks have a summer of unprecedented potential player turnover ahead of them, and shedding the final year of Pronger for younger players and picks would help with the flexibility.

But I don't really buy that myself. Hell, the Ducks just added a small portion of salary via the Kunitz deal, plus they have over $7M needlessly invested in the crease (meaning they are much more "cutable" costs elsewhere). If anything, the Ducks should be looking to keep Pronger given their high potential turn-over, his at-or-below value contract and the fact that plugging the resultant hole he would leave in the roster would be a monumental task.

- Peripherally related, Kevin over at Barry Melrose Rocks takes James Duthie to task for dusting off the old "bloggers are loners in their mothers basement! So their (trade) discussions are worthless!" thing. I wonder how long this baseless smear will stick around? While I know a lot of bloggers that speculate on potential trades and such, there's only one that is famous for pulling stuff out of his ass and calling it a "rumor" (no link for him...you all know who Im talking about).

- Earl Sleek gives us an in-depth run-down of the Ducks situation. Only Montreal is close in terms of pending free agents, so this is likely to be one hell of an interesting deadline for Anaheim fans, especially since the club is battling for it's play-off life currently. His conclusion? Everyone is staying.

- Finally, Jaspers Rink take a long look at the Capitals prospects for moving...uh...prospects for some help.

Update - things are already getting interesting. Flames have plucked Nycholat off of waivers (meh), while Pittsburgh has dropped Miro Satan into the waiver pool. I know the dude's been a disappointment relative to expectations this season, but he hasn't exactly been useless. He's on pace to score more than 20 goals and his ES stats aren't exactly terrible. They aren't good, but they aren't terrible.

Is he a player of interest for Calgary? Could he shore up the forward depth with Bourque et al injured, or would he just be another "Bertuzzi" needing shelter in the top 6?

Whether the Flames are interested or not, I can't see Satan lasting the day on waivers.

- Also: check out the Forechecker's Mysterious NHL rumor Generator. Great stuff.

Assessing the trade fodder

Only two more days till what I'm sure will soon will be declared a National holiday in Canada: trade deadline day. Probably a good time to suss out the sellers, buyers and what's on the market.

Matt has the Standings up over at Battle of Alberta, which is a good place to start. While the final play-off spot is very much still in contention in the West, I think we can safely write-off NSH, STL, PHX and COL, all of whom would need the combination of a ungodly good run and a fall from grace by those above in order squeek in. So, they'll be sellers.

It's a little more clear cut in the East: anyone below PIT currently is looking towards next year. That list includes TOR, OTT, TBL, ATL and NYI.

Altogether, that's 9 obvious "sellers". Here's a list of their relevant trade pieces:

ATL
- Marty Reasoner, C (1M, UFA) - *bet you he goes to CBJ*
- Niclas Havelid, D (2.9M, UFA)
- Kari Lehtonen, G (3.0M, RFA)

COL
- Tyler Arnason *wretch*, C (1.675M, UFA)
- Ian Laperriere, C (1.15M, UFA)
- Jordan Leopold, D (1.5M, UFA)
- Andrew Raycroft *snicker*, G (800k, UFA)

NSH
- Steve Sullivan, RW (3.2M, UFA)
- Radek Bonk, C (1.475M, UFA)
- Greg DeVries, D (2.5M, UFA)
- Greg Zanon, D (725k, UFA)
- Ville Koistinen, D (700k, UFA)

NYI
- Bill Guerin, RW (4.5M, UFA)
- Doug Weight, C (4.3M, UFA)
- Mike Sillinger, C (2.2M, UFA)
- Andy Hilbert, C (675k, UFA)

OTT
- Mike Comrie, C (1.118M, UFA) *I'd laugh my ass off if they traded him*
- Chris Neil, RW (1.1M, UFA)
- Filip Kuba, D (3.0M, UFA)

PHX
- Steve Reinprecht, C (2.0M, UFA)
- Derek Morris, D (3.917, UFA)
- Olli Jokinen, C (5.25M, signed till 9/10)
- Ken Klee, D, (561k, UFA)

STL
- Keith Tkachuk, C/W (4.0M, UFA)
- Manny Legace, G (1.399M, UFA)

TBL
- Gary Roberts, LW (2.07M, UFA)
- Mark Recchi, RW (1.5M, UFA)
- Matt Pettinger, LW (468k, UFA)
- Marek Malik, D (1.156M, UFA)
- Cory Murphy, D (186k, UFA)

TOR
- Nik Antropov, C (2.05M, UFA)
- Dominic Moore, C (900k, UFA)
- Brad May, LW (310k, UFA)
- Curtis Joseph, G (700k, UFA)

34 players altogether, most of whom I figure will be in play on March 4. From a Flames perspective, I would guess Guerin, Leopold, Roberts, Recchi, Reinprecht, Sullivan and Zanon would all potentially be of interest. I included Jokinen here even though he's signed for one more season due to persistent rumors that he might be available at the deadline.

What this doesn't include, of course, is potential rentals or salary dumps from teams currently in the running. I'll add those in no particular order here:

- Scott Niedermayer, D
- Jay Bouwmeester, D
- Brendan Morrison, C
- Todd Marchant, C
- Steve Montador, D
- Patrice Bergeron, C
- Manny Fernandez, G
- Maxim Afinogenov, RW
- Tim Connolly, C
- Ales Kotalik, RW
- Teppo Numminen, D
- Todd Bertuzzi, RW (wishful thinking on my part)
- Cory Sarich, D
- Nikolai Khabibulin, G
- Christian Backman, D
- Darryl Sydor, D
- Mikael Samuelsson, RW
- Ty Conklin, G
- Erik Cole, LW
- Dwayne Roloson, G
- Karlis Skrastins, D
- Richard Zednik, D
- Craig Anderson, G
- Kyle Calder, LW
- Tom Preissing, D (on waivers today)
- Marian Gabork, RW
- Martin Skoula, D
- MA Bergeron, D
- Niklas Backstrom, G
- Alex Tanguay, LW
- Saku Koivu, C
- Alex Kovalev, RW
- Brian Gionta, RW
- John Madden, C
- Bobby Holik, C
- Scott Gomez, C
- Chris Drury, C
- Wade Redden, D
- Paul Mara, D
- Dmitri Kalinin, D
- Daniel Brier, C
- Mike Knuble, RW
- Martin Biron, G
- Miro Satan, RW
- Peter Sykora, RW
- Ruslan Fedotenko, LW
- Hal Gill, D
- Mike Grier, RW
- Matthias Ohlund, D
- Taylor Pyatt, LW
- Kyle Wellwood, C
- Michael Nylander, C

That's an additional 51 players, and the list isn't exhaustive. I left off guys like Mike Cammalleri who, despite being a pending UFA, are likely to be kept by their clubs for the stretch drive and play-off run. Obviously a lot of these guys won't actually be in play either and a lot of them will be pricier than just a mere pick or prospect.

All in all I think this pretty much comprises the GM's shopping list heading into the deadline. Anyone there catch your fancy? What would you be willing to move for him?

Flames Gameday

- I have pieces at both Flames Nation and the New place going up today. It'll be my first gamethread at SBN, so make sure to stop by and inflate my comment numbers.

- In other news, I've had requests for material from the Score, Cycle Like Sedins and Sean Leahy this week. Im still struggling to get all the pieces out, so I'll let you know if/when any of the stuff is published.

- I'm hearing whispers the Flames are looking at some big name defensemen. Who would you prefer: Bouwmeester, Pronger or Niedermayer? There are plus and minuses to all of them.

UPDATE - My Puck Daddy bit is up today.

UPDATE 2 - My piece for the Score went up today too.

Bouwmeester bidding

In a rare bout of candor, a GM has come forward with a a price-list for a player at the deadline. That GM is Jacques Martin and the player is Jay Bouwmeester:

''I think the priority for us right now is to improve our club, to make the playoffs this year and I don't want to disturb that,'' Martin said during a conference call Monday.

So interested teams shouldn't call the Panthers with a package of picks and prospects. Florida wants roster players who can help it make the playoffs for the first time since the 1999-2000 season, get some home playoff games then boost next year's season-ticket sales.

Martin has declared he would like to upgrade the Panthers' group of centers and add forward depth. Though the Panthers allow the most shots per game in the NHL (34.2 going into Tuesday) and Martin rarely meets a defensive forward he doesn't like, the Panthers also entered Tuesday's game in Boston with the sixth-fewest goals allowed per game and No. 7 penalty kill. What they want from any forward additions is more offense, especially as they would be giving up their best offensive defenseman in Bouwmeester.

I think this puts the Flames firmly in the running for Bouwmeester, even with the current spate of injuries. We all know that Sutter will want to get his hands on Bouwmeester. We also know the club has a log-jam at center (Langkow, Lombardi, Boyd, Primeau, Conroy, Lundmark and Backlund in the wings), which is where the Panthers are looking to improve. Does Lombardi+Sarich+pick/prospect get it done? And, more importantly, is it worth it? Im reading tea leaves here and not necessarily condoning one action over the other...

XMP3 Contest - Predict Sutters next move

So I've settled on a "guess the trade!" competition to give away the XMP3 player and car install kit. I think that will ensure some decent involvement as well as yield some potentially interesting discussion material.

Rules:

1.) Guess a specific player that will be a Flame by the trade deadline. No need to guess the actual transaction (such as who/what the Flames will be giving up in return).

2.) If no one guesses the player in particular, entries will be graded on how "close" they were to the actual guy in question. Proximity will be determined by:

- First, position: center, winger, defenseman, goalie, etc.
- Second, position in the line-up: first line center, top six winger, bottom two defenseman, back-up goalie, etc.
- Third tie-breaker would be salary: the guess with the closest cap hit to the actual player wins it.

Is that clear?

3.) This applies to Sutter's next trade between now and the deadline. Meaning the contest is over after the first deal, even if Daz has a couple up his sleeve. It, however, will not apply to a salary dump situation (ie: if Sutter trades Vandermeer for futures). A flesh and blood, NHL ready player has to be coming back in the swap.

4.) If someone has already guessed a player, that takes him out of the running: meaning, 4 people can't all guess Jay Bouwmeester. So get your guesses in early.

5.) Let's limit the entries here folks. There'll be no Eklund-style throwing stuff against a wall to see what sticks. Therefore, please sign in under some sort of name or alias to submit your guess in the comments. You can email me your guess if you want as well. Let's say a max of two guesses per entrant.

6.) The contest is valid up until the trade is made, whenever that will be.

Feel free to begin guessing in the comments to this post. I'll probably make a post detailing the various predictions in the near future.

Plugging the gap

Even if Iginla's current struggles are wholly idiosyncratic and have little to do with the rotating #1 C assignment, I still think the Flames primary weak spot is the lack of one more top 6-forward type. The bottom 6 are solidified and effective - even with two of them on the sidelines currently. Calgary is 7 or 8 defensemen deep with the emergence of Pardy as a viable NHL player. A step up from Conroy /Lombardi between Iginla and Cammalleri at ES seems to be the only place to go in terms of markedly improving the club.

Options are extremely limited, however, for two reasons:

1.) The Flames cap position. Calgary was rubbing up against the ceiling at the start of the year and there's been some call-ups and such from the AHL during the first half of the season. I'd be astonished if the org had any sort of room under the cap at all.

Meaning, to make a deal, Sutter will likely have to dump some salary. Either separately (Vandermeer for a draft pick?) or in the exchange that lands the player in question (Two for one swap).

While those conditions dont prohibit a trade, they do make one more difficult to consummate. Especially with fringe clubs like Tampa Bay and Phoenix bleeding cash and likely looking to eject dollars themselves - there'll be no dumping of contracts on the likes of them.

This also means the Flames can't be looking for anyone with significant dollars left on his deal. Scott Gomez, Vincent Lecavalier, Danny Briere and Chris Drury are out.

2.) The pending UFA center rental market is a thin one, especially since contenders like Montreal will likely be holding on to their aging depth players for the play-offs (think: Robert Lang). Only marginal teams on the outside of the play-off picture will be moving centers of any value.

That limits the field severely. Let's say TBL, LAK, NYI, OTT, TOR, STL and ATL are the teams already looking to next year when the end of February rolls around. That yields this list of possibles:

- Nik Antropov (2.050M)
- Jason Williams (2.2M)
- Doug Weight (4.3M)
- Mike Comrie (4M)
- Andy McDonald (3.33M)
- Keith Tkachuk (4M)
- Antoine Vermette (2.763M - not a pending UFA, but he might be available due to his horrendous season).

The links take you to each guys advanced stats (some are the same link and so weren't duplicated). See anyone that is a real step up from the current options? I don't, really...except for maybe Nik Antropov, who has the best batch of ES numbers of the bunch (ESP, corsi). His +/- sucks, but the goaltending in TOR this season has been questionable at best, so it's probably not indicative of anything.

Of course, any trade speculation involving a center coming to Calgary involves Matthew Lombardi going the other way. He looks to be the odd man out, Im afraid: Langkow has proven indispensable, Conroy is decent value for the dollars and signed for one more year, Boyd is rapidly improving and poised to pass Lombo on the depth chart and the org clearly has a woody for Mikael Backlund. There's also Wayne Primeau about to return from injury and Jamie Lundmark leading the Flames in scoring on the farm. The club is literally choking on centers, especially the "third line or below" type.

The resulting question is: does Lombo have enough value as a trade piece to land a Nik Antropov type? And, should the Flames deal a good value contract to "go for it" with a rental?

Im not so sure either way right now. Thoughts?

Bouwmeester auction begins

During the pre-game last night, Pierre McGuire mentioned that Florida has begun to solicit offers for Jay Bouwmeester. Lowetide talked about the Oilers potentially making a run for him, with potential parts being Cogliano, Gilbert + prospect.

Let's just establish that Bouwmeester is probably one of the top 5 defensemen under the age of 25 in the league. He leads the NHL in terms of ice time per game. He leads his team in terms of quality of competition and (currently) scoring. He's huge, but has the quickness and stride of a man half his size. Bouwmeester is the real deal and is no doubt right at the top of Darryl Sutters Christmas list (he's native Albertan, afterall).

Im not sure what the asking price will turn out to be for a guy like JayBo, but the Flames have some pieces up for grabs. With half a dozen centers in the mix, one of Langkow or Lombardi is probably expendable at this point (especially with Boyd's step forward this year). Cory Sarich looks more and more like a guy who should be moved lest his 3M+ contract end up on the third pairing for the next 4 years. And available prospects probably include just about everyone except Negrin and Backlund...plus we all know Sutter isn't shy about moving draft picks, as long as he wants the player in question enough. So:

Lombardi/Langkow+Sarich+Pelech/Chucko/Ryder/Irving/draft pick For Bouwmeester? Too much or not enough?

The resultant blueline would be:

Regehr-Bouwmeester
Phaneuf-Giordano
Vandermeer-Pardy/Aucoin (till end of season)

Does that top four set anyone else's groin a'tingling?

I expect Sutter to make a very real bid for Bouwmeester in the coming weeks. His addition would give Calgary the kind of back-end they've been paying for (but not getting) the last few years. Even if Langkow is part of the package, I suspect it would make Calgary a better team in the long run. Thoughts?

You Gotta Be Jokin(en)

This comes your way via an email from my friend and sometimes blog-contributor, Chunky Moose:

The Vancower Canucks’ offer notwithstanding, it looks like the Flames have a deal in place to bring heralded Finnish centerman, Olli Jokinen, to the Calgary Flames.

In this 5-player deal (Flames 3, Panthers 2), we would send Alex Tanguay and parts heading the other way. Why would Tanguay waive his NTC to go to FLA you ask? Well, apparently #40 does not like living under the regime of Keenan.

If you are concerned about the lack of news regarding the Langkow signing, apparently word from the inside (and all other CBA PhD’s) is that it has to do with tagging room. His contract is unaffordable until July 1 due to this mysterious “tagging room”, but it should be announced on C-day.

I won’t urinate on the post by giving it a [C4] or something ridiculous like that, but the sources are reliable and from what I hear it will be fairly soon.

However seriously you take the rumor (which seems to crop up every six months), it's an interesting talking point for this dull latent period between the play-offs and the draft.

Here's my stab at the hypothetical deal, based on the parameters stated above:

To Flames: Jokinen + Booth (5.25M+0.7M)
To Panthers: Tanguay + Lombardi + Eriksson (5.25M+1.817M+1.5M)

Thoughts?

EDIT - for those of you confused by the "tagging room" stuff re: the stalled Langkow contract, click here.

LATER EDIT - Darren Dreger appeared on some radio stations today reporting that Jokinen "will not be reporting back to Florida this summer". Maybe this thing actually has legs?

EDIT THE THIRD - George Williams of the Miami Herald says no deal for Jokinen has been reached, though he expects the Panthers Captain to be traded at some point this summer:

People I've spoken to within the organization say no trade involving Jokinen is forthcoming, although there is plenty of interest in the 29-year-old centerman.

...That said, I do think the Panthers and Jokinen will probably part ways in the coming weeks. I don't think Olli and JM like each other very much, and if JM was still the coach, Olli would probably have found himself somewhere else.

Via Spector.

TD Open Thread

I'll use this post to add my thoughts to trades that pique my interest throughout the day. I'll update it as we move along.

- Might as well start with the Prospal deal. Flyers get Vaclav from the Lightning and sends young defenseman Picard and a 2nd rounder the other way. This may put a dampener on my Huselius to Phildelphia predictions, although with the recent injury to Mike Richards, Philly may be looking to add more than one top 6 forward.

Seems like a relatively cheap price for a decent rental like Prospal, although I admittedly don't know much about Picard - maybe he's a blue chipper (though I doubt it). If that's the going rate for guys like Juice, then I doubt Sutter deals him. On the other hand, the demand for Huselius (and therefore price) may go up now that the available pool of guys has shrunk (Sundin, Prospal, Forsberg, Hunter off the market). I guess we'll see.

- Belak to Florida!! Wait...why the hell would anyone trade anything for Wade Belak?? I suppose in his quest to make the post-season, Martin wants his team to get...older, slower, less capable at just about everything, more expensive and just a tad uglier. Personally, I'd rather have the 5th rounder.

- Seems Brian Campbell is off To San Jose. Not sure on the return yet. That certainly makes the Sharks a bit better in the short term. If I were to guess on the package heading the other way, Im thinking one or both of Carle and Bernier.

EDIT - Bernier and a first rounder for Campbell. That seems like a pretty steep price to me. Great deal for Regier who wasn't going to be able to re-sign Soupy anyways.

- Word is Dallas has won the Brad Richards sweepstakes. Still some question of the return and IF he'll waive his NTC. Assuming he does and depending on what they get back, this could be a big win for the Lightning. I'm sure Smith is part of the package, which gives them an instant upgrade in net going forward. As for Dallas...they get better in the short-term, but having more than 12M locked up in Riberio and Richards seems like a pretty shaky strategy in the long run.

EDIT - Holmqvist and Richards for Smith, Jokinen and Halpern, apparently. Holmqvist is UFA next year, so no salary issues there. Halpern and Jokinen probably don't replace Richards, but Smith should certainly make a difference for the Bolts. The best news for Tamba-Bay is that Jokinen (1.8) Halpern (2.0M) and Smith (900K) are still drastically cheaper than the 7M+ Richards.

- In the "fuck me over in my pool" deal of the day, Huet has been moved by Montreal to Washington for a paltry 2nd round draft pick (I have him on 2 fantasy teams). Pretty baffling move by Gainey, whose team now looks poised to head into the play-offs with a 20 year-old goaltender. Price has looked good at time and awful at time this season. Patrick Roy he ain't. I guess the Habs wanted to get something for Huet before he bolted for free agency in the summer...but still seems like a bad bet to me.

As for Washington, great deal for them. One of their glaring weaknesses has been goaltending this year as Kolzig has been awful. I think Huet might just be their ticket to the post-season. Hopefully he plays all the games going forward and gets lots and lots of shut-outs.

- Tuomo Ruutu to Carolina for Andrew Ladd. Strange deal for both clubs, seems like shuffling deck chairs. Sadly, I was hoping Ruutu might make his way to Calgary as per a Matt suggestion earlier in the week. Oh well.

- Lots of good blogs covering the action today including Battle of Alberta, James Mirtle and the always great Jay Onrait at TSN. Check out Inside the Flames as well - not only for Flames news, but for clever little bon mots like this one:

Predictions for the Flames? One of the two extra defencemen — either Anders Eriksson or Rhett Warrener — goes and a forward to bolster the third line comes. Since we're just making this stuff up anyway, let's say Tampa Bay's Chris Gratton. Score the rumour a (bs4).

- 12:43 - Campbell on camera post-trade reax: He is really choked up about leaving Buffalo. Has anyone been this sad about leaving B-Town? Ever? In the history of the planet?

More Jay Onrait and less...everyone else...would instantly improve TSN.

- Foote to the Avs. Jesus, Colorado is really set on making a push. They've acquired Forsberg, Salei and Foote in 2 days. Goaltending is still a question mark there...but with the return of all these guys plus Sakic and Statsny off the IR, one has to think this is a much improved squad.

EDIT - first rounder going to Columbus in return. Ugh, steep price.

- Sergei Federov joins Alexander Ovechkin in Washington. Columbus is in sell mode and have liquidated a couple of pending UFA's for picks. Probably the smart move. Washington is going for the post-season and I'm honestly cheering for them to get there (even though I picked them to finish last in the East).

- Capitals make their 3rd deal of the day and grab Matt Cooke from the Canucks for Matt Pettinger. My thoughts? Good riddance Cooke, you filthy, cheap-shotting douchebag (feel free to add "cheap-shotting" to your personal lexicon).

- Hall Gill for a 2nd rounder? Really?

- The Blockbuster of the day: Hossa for Christensen, Armstrong, Esposito and a first. Penguins look scary in the short term, bu that might end up biting them in the ass later on.

- Sutter on the radio now. Looks like the Flames are standing pat. Not too disappointed, though I really would have liked to see some useless salary go out the door a la Hall Gill or Wade Belak.

Deadline Poll Added

Decided to add a new trade poll (at right) for the next day and half. Just to kinda gauge who Flames fans think Sutter will deal. Might as well add some chum to the deadline feeding frenzy I figure.

You can select more than one option if you feel so inclined. If you choose "other", feel free to list who you think it'll be in the comments here.

Spinning the Trade Wheel

Experienced and observant Flames fans are (painfully) aware that Sutter prefers guys he knows when it comes to trades/signings. If he's not familiar, then it's guys one of his brothers knows. Also, Western Canadian skaters are invariably preferred over and above everyone else.

With that in mind, and couched in the overarching context of the deadline (buyers, sellers, contract values, budget concerns, etc) who do you see Sutter pursuing between now and Tuesday? To my eye, Scottie Upshall is starting to look like a Sutter type pick-up (I keep going back to the Flyers because their pursuing Huselius just seems to make a lot of sense), for several reasons:

- He's relatively young (24)
- cheap (1.25M)
- was born in Fort Mcmurray AB,
- played his junior career with the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL
- and was a former first rounder (which Sutter seems to like as well).

Upshall has just 19 points in 42 games with Philly this year and has been plagued by injuries during his short career, specifically wrist and ankle problems. He's therefore likely seen as expendable in the Philly organization, especially behind guys like (my previous suggestions) Carter and Umberger.

Upshall alone isn't enough for huselius in my opinion. The hypothetical deal would have to involve at least another decent future asset from the Flyers to make it worth the Flames while.

Anyways, any other suggestions/predictions? Play some "six degrees of Sutter" and see if you can predict Darryl's next move...

More Trade Speculation

With the Flyers losing LW Simon Gagne for the season and also losing ground in the Eastern Conference, it's possible they're in the market for a top 6 LWer going into the stretch drive. As mentioned previously in this space, they have more than 49M committed to next year with guys like RJ Umberger (RFA), Jeff Carter (RFA), Riley Cote (RFA) and JASON Smith (UFA) needing to be re-signed or replaced. Would Huselius for Carter or Umberger make sense for both teams? Carter is definitely the more attractive option, but the Flyers may be loathe to part with him. Granting that, is Umberger enough for Kristian at the deadline?

Just food for thought.

Jim Vandermeer a Flame

A few months ago when I'd determined that Aucoin was a 3rd pairing defender and Eriksson was a 5th pairing guy, I noticed that Chicago was scratching Jim Vandermeer. I mentioned to blogmate Chunky Moose that the Flames might want a take a run at acquiring him, since he seems like a capable enough player that could be had for cheap. True story.

Voila.

TSN reports that Calgary has traded a 3 round pick in '09 to the Philadelphia Flyers for Vandermeer. Peanuts.

Jimmy's been passed around like cheerleader at frat party this year, first starting with the Hawks, then moving to the Flyers and now being dealt to the Flames. Poor bastard. I'm not sure what makes him so expendable: he's cheap (1.225M), young (27), and certainly not terrible by the numbers (although not great either). Through 50 odd games this year he has a middling GA/60 on rate according to behind the net (2.49) and he's played low level competition (-0.05), though Im not sure how the latter figure translates across his various teams. He's scored 3 goals and 15 points this year with almost no PP time and seems to be a decent PKer (more than 2 minutes/game, 4.72 GA/60). If you're looking for the "6 degrees of Sutter", Vandemeer is originally from Alberta and he spent his WHL Junior career in - you guessed it - Red Deer.

My take? I like it. This should push Eriksson a little further down the depth chart where he belongs. If Jim doesn't turn out, the Flames can let him bolt for free agency this summer. If he does, however, Sutter can probably re-sign him for a decent number (assuming one or more of the scrubs are cleared out in the meantime).

Throw in a Bridge in Brooklyn and we have a deal

De-bunking ridiculous trade rumors is like playing whack-a-mole these days. I mean, seriously, I thought we'd gotten past all this stupid "Tanguay for Ryder" crap. I mean, the Flames DONT NEED CAP SPACE THIS YEAR. They need it NEXT year. So why in Gods name would Sutter deal Tanguay for an under-achieving, pending UFA winger, whose best season in league is about on par with Alex's worst?? Particularly in the middle of ferocious battle for a play-off spot???

Stupid, yes? Senseless, right? Not in a million years would Sutter be that gullible, you assume? Paid experts wouldn't give this ridiculousness a moments thought, you say?

Wrong.

According to TSN Hockey Insider Bob McKenzie, Tanguay - who could go to the Canadiens for forward Michael Ryder and a draft pick - is one of a few other players Gainey is pushing for.

Got that? Ryder "and a pick". Unless the Canadiens somehow get their hands on first overall and make it part of the package, I call bullshit.

UPDATE - And Sutter once again implies that the press is just a bunch of blind guys in the dark without canes:

Rumours swirled overnight that the Calgary Flames were shopping winger Alex Tanguay - with Montreal perhaps offering up winger Michael Ryder - but that was news to Flames GM Darryl Sutter.

"There are not a lot of names being thrown around, so if you're getting those names perhaps you could pass them along to me," Sutter told reporters before heading to the airport.

Huzzah! And Boooo!

The best news coming out of last night, aside from the 5-4 win over the Sharks of course, was the suggestion that Dion Phaneuf is close to signing a new contract extension. I wouldn't take a "sources say" rumor very seriously, except TSN tends to get this stuff right (I believe they scooped the Keenan and CuJo stories as well).

I assume it's good news because, given Sutter's prior work with Regehr, Iginla and Kiprusoff, it implies a relatively cheap, long-term deal is on the horizon. What's cheap? I'd say anything 6M or under per year (Matt agrees). Once the actual numbers are revealed it will clarify the Flames cap position going forward and make the fates of Damond Langkow and Kristian Huselius a little more predictable (noticed I didn't include Alex Tanguay?).

The talking heads at TSN also went on to resuscitate the old "Flames need a #1 center for Iginla" meme during the intermission last night. Forsberg, Sundin and, of course, Jokinen were the names tossed around.

Look...every team in the league could use one of those guys to some degree. They're great players. But I dont see why the Flames are unique in that position nor why it would be considered an urgent need...

Calgary is amongst the top 10 offensive teams in the league. Jarome Iginla, the last 8 games notwithstanding, is having a career year without the likes of Forsberg or Sundin playing with him. This type of theorizing was fine when the Calgary couldn't score and Iggy was "Jarmoeing" his way to a 60 point season. But none of that is true anymore, and hasn't been for a couple of seasons. The Flames are hip deep in centers as it is (Lombardi, Boyd, Langkow, Primeau, Yelle) and can score pretty regularly. What about that screams "FLAMES NEED A FIRST LINE CENTER"?

Do they want one? Perhaps, like just about everyone else. But need? Nah. A top 4 defender, on the other hand...