Flames Sign Scott Hannan
Kent Wilson
August 13 2011 12:06PM
Some twitter rumblings today suggested the Flames were close to signing Scott Hannan. The club recently confirmed the deal is one year for $1 million.
This signing likely stands as one of the best by the club this off-season. Hannan is getting on in years and isn't the fleetest of foot defender in the world, but he's played the heavies for many years. At the price and length they signed him, Hannan is virtually no risk: if he falls off a cliff, then he can play 3rd pairing minutes without his contract looking like a millstone. If he can still play against the big boys, then he fills the Regehr-size hole left in the top-four for a quarter of the price.
Of course, this further complicates the log-jam that is the Flames blueline depth, making it less likely that a guy like TJ Brodie will be able to make the club this year absent injury. Still, the acquistion fills a definite need on the back-end, however, and is as good value as you can get. It also means Anton Babchuk is less likely to spend time in the top-4, meaning Sutter will be able to continue to shelter him as much as possible.
Overall, an excellent deal.
This is good - I wonder if they are gonna try to move another D man now? My guess is probably not, will wait until training camp - and see how every one plays...still a very Sutter-esk move.
@Flamin Cannot's
I don't think so. What it does mean, though, is they are flying fairly close to the cap once again.
Very nice. My hope is that most of the FA dman signings (the 2-3 that were all bottom pairing guys) were more for injury callup purposes. I'd really like to see Brodie make an impact this year.
Is Darryl still running the team?
I'm good with it. There are two reasons Hannan is highly likely to be an asset, in my view. If he plays decently, the team gets the benefit, and even if he struggles a bit, his remaining contract will be so cheap that he'll make decent trade bait come February. It's virtually risk-free.
@Kent Wilson
I like the term, the $$$$ & I think Hannan can give close to what Robyn would of at 3.0Mill cheaper. Thing is, him & Sarich will be getting tough minutes & both those guys are very injury prone as they age. It sounds stupid, but riding the cap this year isnt a big deal, our trade options are pretty minimal anyway & the ones we need to get out of here are Stajan & Hagman. Nothing has changed there. I think Brodie will get his chances for NHL minutes this year anyway via inevitable injuries & looming trade deadline if we are an established seller this year early in Feb, which I think we will be. I really like this signing. Would have prefered to make a splash for Begosian but this is more realistic for the 2011-12 edition of the Flames.
Great news. Props to Feaster for showing patience and signing a decent player to value contract. I am much more comfortable with our top 4 following this deal.
It will be tough for Brodie, Negrin, Breen, or others to make the team out of camp now. But they will get their opportunity through injury call-up.
No. Hannan is only 32. Way to young. Sutter would have signed Staios and his 'character' to a multi-year extension with a NTC.
@Sincity1976
Geez, I could have sworn he was at least 34.
According to Neil Greenberg of the Russian Machine Never Breaks, Hannan's scoring chance ratio was very strong last year: 56% on-ice versus 51% off-ice. Now, maybe he was playing with Ovechkin and Backtrom the whole time, but that's certainly encouraging at least.
@Sincity1976
Darryl might have extended Staios but the fact is that we still got older, slower and now have 25 one way contracts. Now there is no chance for a young player to make his way onto the team and develop at the NHL level. This could be OK for this year but reeks of flames style player non development.
@DearJay
The real problem on that front isn't Hannan...it's all the other marginl guys they have clogging the system below Hannan...Mikkelson, Carson, Babchuk, Butler (maybe), Sarich (kind of), etc.
And a sense of relief kicks in....
@DearJay
We had to round up our top 4.
Our D contracts:
Top 4 (Giordano, Bouwmeester)
Guys that can maybe play top 4 (Sarich, Butler)
Bottom Pairing (Babchuk)
Guys looking for a bottom pairing position (Carson, Brodie, Breen, Negrin, Wilson, Henry, Mikkelson, Smith, Piskula)
Relying on Sarich and Butler to round out your top 4 was scary enough. Not having any injury support to your top 4 would have been crazy.
They had to get a someone to round out their top 4. Barring a trade Campoli, McCabe, Hannan, and Staios were really the only options.
Hannan at 1-million for 1-season is very good considering.
This is a good signing, not a great one, but it seems low risk with the potential of some reward. I definitely love the dollars. I think the big thing here is that it gives the Flames the ability to split the pairing of Bouw and Gio. It also takes a lot of pressure off both Butler and Sarich. The best news is NOT having Babchuck subject to top 4 minutes and Sutter can continue to shelter the hell out of him.
I can see it looking this way.. Hannan - Gio Bouw - Butler Sarich - Babchuck
Good news for the depth on defence in Abbotsford. I would thnk Brodie and Carson will battle for the 7th spot. They sare going to have to be careful whomever goes down, as I'm sure waivers is going to play into this somehow.
Now to just shed some forwards. Twitter yesterday was talking about a possible move of Stajan to the Islanders.. Anyone hear anythng like this? Kent??
Cant agree more. And the bonus could be Hannan may command a 3rd rounder from a contender at the trade deadline & that would make me feel better for the loss of that 2nd rounder. It may even free up a trade of Sarich at the deadline. The bonus is that I am breathing a bit easier about the 3-4 options we have going into the season. Play the p%@# out of the kids in preseason & do not get any of these vets injured in preseason.
@Vintage Flame
Stajan to the Isles? Sounds like a pipedream to me.
@Kent Wilson
That's what I thought when I read it, thought I would just ask though..
I agree that the risk is very low with this signing. However, I don't like the signing, mostly because I saw Hannan play like a pylon in Colorado and then play terribly during Washington's playoff run. Bad line changes, poor positioning, and generally slow on returning back to his end of the ice.
Who knows - maybe he will outperform my expectations and be somewhat useful. Definitely an upgrade over Babchuk or Mikkelson or Staios as far as experience and defensive responsibility.
@Vintage Flame
I don't think this forces us to move anyone cap wise. We still have around 1 to 2-million in space at the moment (depending if they carry an extra F/D and waive Mikkelson/Leblond).
I am guessing Feaster waits for camp and makes any moves after that.
If he gets a decent offer for Stajan I am sure he jumps at that. I guess it is possible he is setting up for something involving the D (i.e. the often rumored Bouwmeester for Parise deal). But I think both of those scenarios are highly unlikely. (Can you imagine a D-Core of Gio-Sarich, Hannan-Butler, Babchuk-Carson?!?)
I could see Hagman moved to a team trying to get up to the floor. But the internet buzz is Feaster is looking for a 3rd at minimum otherwise he will give Hagman a chance to rebound. Not sure how true that is, but it sounds reasonable.
@Sincity1976
Did you seriously just say "...and Staois were the only options"? Haha. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way but I had a good laugh at that anyway.
Count me down in favor of this too, if for no other reason then it shows the management was aware they had a big hole on D. I think that's a group Butter can now cobble together a good mix for most nights.
So Regher, Kotalik, Pardy out, langkow, Hannan, butler in. (side note: this signing makes Pardy's contract seem even dumber). I'm satisfied with that offseason. We should be able to fight for a playoff spot again, and have a lot of potential rental players available at the deadline if we aren't.
I commented on FlamesNation a few days ago, that I thought Stajan might be a target for the Isles. My thinking is that since he would be paid $2.5M per year for the last 2 years of his contract, but his cap hit is $3.5 per year, he would be a nice pickup for a floor team. That said, he needs to show improvement for even this to have a chance.
Good signing by the Flames. They got a guy who can play top 4 minutes, and may be able to replace (somewhat) the loss of Reggie. The signing is cheap, short term, and doesn't include a NMC (well let's hope not). Real smart signing by the Flames.
@ChinookArch
I think Stajan becomes a trade candidate after this season. Right now he has 4.5 million owed to him this season. He also has 3-seasons on his contract making him a big risk.
Next season he will have a cap hit of 3.5 but a dollar cost of 2.5. He will also only have 2-seasons on his contract.
The unfortunate thing is though that next season isn't a great time to trade him. If he tanks again he is going to be tough to move at any cost. If he plays well we will have the roster space for him. He also has a modified NTC possibly restricting trades to the bargain hunting teams.
I also can't imagine ownership is going to be happy they just paid 9-million of his 14-million dollar contract and are now trading away his bargain years.
As a team looking to get more "mobile" on the back end, boasting all three of Sarich, Babchuk & Hannan seems very backwards to me. With the limited risk involved, I don't dislike the move, but I wouldn't say it's an excellent move. Unlike most, I was looking forward to seeing what Butler, Carson & Brodie could handle some elevated ice time.
I'm pleased with this deal. Putting Babchuck in a top 4 role would have been bad. While Hannan is no replacement for Regehr, he is no slower either. It looks like 2011/12 will be preparation for the reboot in 2012/13. With the exception to P3L acquisition, all the moves look reasonable and low to mid-level risk, designed to plug holes in the short-term while planning for the future (the future being, after this season when the team will shed big time salaries). I'm not sure how good Feaster is yet, but it appears that he has a plan. That fact alone makes him an upgrade over Darryl Sutter.
@Sincity1976
Couldn't agree with you more. I pray he tears it up for the first 4 months this season, and Jay has the wisdom to move him.
Kent, that is not really the case
The Flames are still under the cap with a 24 man roster, plus not one of the potential rookies (Brodie, Byron, Bancks, Bouma, Desbiens, Baertschi, Breen etc.) makes more than 1.5m. Now if the Flames are able to trade (unlikely) or bury Stajan's or Hagman's contract and factor in that 1-3 players will see time on long term injury, they have much more cap space than in recent years.
@Clay
And remember that 23 is the roster limit out of camp
Great signing. No risk, good upside. Here's to hoping a kick ass canadian market can revive his career. Wishfully speaking, if that were to occur, Sarich coming off the cap next season and Hannan dropping into the bottom pairing for the next 2 years is not a bad problem to have.
At the very least, if he takes the task of hurting Hemsky's feelings (ala Reg) we'll all be happy.
@Clay
Yeah, you're probably right. Once you pare things down, Flames probably has some breathing room.
Now all you bleeding heart Robyn Reghre fans can stop crying about whos going to play all those tough minute. This means you Steinberg! Excellent signing by soon to be excutive of the year Jay Feester. Next he needs to dump Sarich and his 3.6 million dollar contract. P.S. I hope Hannan wears #28.
Haha! I'm actually starting to like Sean.
Nice to see Calgary is getting younger!!!
Just solidifis Erixons comment about not playing younger players. They'd rather sign and play players past their prime than see if they do have great young players.
Geez Quintana & Nolan, chill dudes. It's a 1 year deal & most think this is a kickass deal for Flames. Not quite going to Executive of the year for Feaster as per Sean but i think this signing is huge. Worst case, if he plays solid enough we get a 2nd or 3rd rounder at the trade deadline. We still have to dress a competitive top 4 d, whether we go youth or not. 32 years old isnt exactly retirement age. I'd take Hannan at 1.0Mill over Barker at 2.0Mill or what did Pardy & Souray sign for in Dallas. We grill Feaster enough, at least give him kudos for a decent prudent signing.
Stupid. Would've been better to bring Brodie up.and Barker>Hannah and younger than Scott.
Very nice piece on Hannan''s performance last year. Sold me on Hannan and what he can bring to this club.
http://myfriendcorey.wordpress.com/2011/07/11/why-has-no-team-signed-scott-hannan-yet/
@ChinookArch
Someone on CP made the suggestion of Antropov for Stajan. Makes a bit of sense. Especially if it is true that Antropov wants out of the peg.
A couple of guys a season removed from career seasons but coming of a poor year. Both could benefit from a change of scenery.
Winnipeg gets younger and saves some money (Stajan's contract was front loaded, Antropov's rear loaded). Calgary gets a centre that could fill the 1C but can also play wing and loses a year on the contract.
Not sure if Winnipeg would do the deal, but an interesting suggestion.
@Quintana
Barker better than Hannan? No. That dude is flat out terrible.
This is a good singing it will help the d on depth, Hannan may not have footspeed, but he has played 830 games, is used to the wear and tear of WC travel and usually can play a full season +/- 2-3 games.
Maybe the pairings will be:
Gio-JayBo Butler-Hannan Sarich-Babchuk
I would like to see Brodie in there, but I'm guessing Carson and Mikkelson will be first up to play when an injury happens.
Hopefully, Brodies gets a good share of ice-time in pre-season.
@RKD
I don't think we see Sarich with Babchuk. Both are RH shots and their foot speed would be capitalized on.
I also think Hannan gives them the opportunity to split Bouwmeester and Gio and I think they take advantage of that.
I think it will be closer to:
Bouwmeester-Hannan; Giordano-Sarich; Butler-Babchuk; XX Carson
If Sarich doesn't play well and Butler earns top 4 I wouldn't be shocked to see Sarich find the bench and it look like:
Bouwmeester-Butler; Giordano-Hannan; Negrin-Babchuk; XX Sarich-Carson
@Sincity1976
That makes sense, except there is probably no chance of Negrin making the team before Brodie will. Carson has more experience than Negrin as well.
Did you check Hannah stat?
Cam Barker:
2008-09 Chicago NHL 68 6 34 40 2009-10 Chicago NHL 51 4 10 14 2009-10 Minnesota NHL 19 1 6 7 Its true last year he got a terrible year but D-fence take more time to pan out
Barker not only is younger (only 25)than Hannah also has better number... I've would rather bring Brodie up, but its just me!!!
we don't want numbers were paying this guy for defense