The Flames Season Gets Even Weirder - Boyd gone, Staios Added
Kent Wilson
March 03 2010 03:14PM
Although the Flames moves were relatively minor today, Darryl Sutter nonetheless managed to make trade deadline a controversial one for Clagary fans. Let's go through the club's moves trade-by-trade.
Vesa Toskala for Curtis McElhinney
This move is less about acquiring Kipper's buddy and more about the team giving up on CuMac and moving his contract out of the organization. He was re-signed in the off-season with question marks surrounding his ability and his performance this year went a long way to answering them - to the negative. McElhinney had some of the worst stats of any NHL puck stopper this year and was clearly on the outs with franchise. Getting rid of the second season of his contract is the boon here.
As for Toskala, he's an upgrade on McElhinney, but the difference is marginal. McElhinney's even strength SV% of .874 is good for 72nd in the league. Toskala's .898 is 69th. This basically means that Kipper is the guy for the rest of the season and the club hopes bringing in his BFF can keep him happy I guess.
Flames Trade Deadline Roundtable
Kent Wilson
March 01 2010 09:12PM
The Flames general ineptitude in the new year caused Darryl Sutter to pre-empt the March deadline and make the bulk of his moves a month ago. As such, Wednesday holds about as much intrigue and anticipation as a second honeymoon for Flames fans.
Your Trade Deadline Primer
Kent Wilson
March 01 2010 03:06PM
With the Olympics over and the trade deadline a mere two days away, today feels a bit like the eye of the storm. Flames Nation has a number of Calgary focused articles in the hopper, but for now here's a general overview of what to expect on Wednesday.
Flames Extend Matt Stajan
Kent Wilson
March 01 2010 10:40AM
According to TSN, Matt Stajan has re-signed with the Calgary Flames to the tune of four years at $3.5M/season. There were some concerns that Dion Phaneuf was traded away for expiring contracts (Stajan, White, Mayers) but with this signing, Sutter has ensured the club will retain the two main pieces of deal from a Calgary perspective (Hagman and Stajan).
New Deadline Target - Slava Kozlov
Kent Wilson
February 26 2010 11:31AM
One thing I love to do in my amateur punditry is identify bargains. Trade bargains, free agent bargains. Finding value players for cheap helps managers win games in a salary capped league, afterall.
The trade deadline is usually a poor time for seeking out bargains because the auction-like environment often drives up the prices of the guys available. Teams desperate to make that final push or add that potential cup winning piece end up paying way more for a guy than they would in any other circumstance.
On top of that, the Flames have probably already done the bulk of their trading. Sutter has said as much recently.
