As the calendar flips over into Canada Day, the free agency courting period turns into the free agency signing period players are beginning to make decisions. The Calgary Flames have reportedly come to terms with two forwards this evening. Per Sportsnet‘s Elliotte Friedman, the Flames have inked center Derek Ryan to a three-year contract and winger Austin Czarnik to a two-year contract.
Cap hits for the two deals aren’t currently available, which makes it a bit of a challenge to judge the moves as of yet.
Word is CAL closing in on Derek Ryan (three-year deal) and Austin Czarnik (two-year deal)
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2018
In terms of fit, though, it’s hard to argue against either move.
Ryan, 31, broke into the NHL in Carolina under Bill Peters and it’s hard to argue against the fit. He’s a right shot center, something the Flames do not have, and effectively replaces Nick Shore (who replaced Matt Stajan briefly) as the fourth line pivot. A three-year deal brings him until he’s 34. Bob Stauffer tweeted that the cap hit is north of $3 million, but TSN’s Frank Seravalli noted that Ryan left money on the table – it’s a very thin free agent class at center.
Czarnik, 25, is a right-shot winger who broke into the NHL with the Boston Bruins but hasn’t really cemented himself as a regular yet. He had 17 points in 59 NHL games, but at the very least has established himself as a very good AHLer with 155 points over 157 AHL games. We don’t even have idle media speculation about cap hits for him yet.
Update: Cap hits!
Hearing Ryan deal is approx 3×3.125 and Czarnik 2×1.25 in CAL; word out of VAN is Beagle is 4×3 and Roussel 4×3.25
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2018
The Flames needed right-shot forward options. Lads and ladies, Brad Treliving has seemingly found right-shot forward options.
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Happy Canada Day to my friends in the great white north! The Flames clearly needed a shake up and Tre has informally said he questioned the character on the team, so the changes were necessary. I’m looking forward to seeing a quicker, higher skilled, albeit smaller team.
Thanks MontanaMan.
Agree with what you wrote about the team as well.
The descent into becoming the Calgary Hurricanes continues. Pedestrian moves by a pedestrian GM.
And what exactly what you have done Derzie?
These are 2 decent moves. Low cost,low term on players that will push the young guys.
There was no magical signing of James Neil at 3 years $5 mil per that was going to happen.
Looks like we dodged a bullet on Roussel.
I didn’t want the flames to be chasing Perron or Neal, but that seems like a good price for Perron. I’d take him at 4×4 over Ryan at 3×3.125.
I prefered Shore over Ryan and believe 3 years is 1 year too many, but not nearly as bad as other years and Ryan does seem like a right shot Stajan so not muvh to really complain about. The Czarnik signing seems to be a great bet and a good signing.
As far as Shore is concerned I think Calgary should still sign him. Canucks army did a great article showing how he could be a hidden gem. https://canucksarmy.com/2018/06/27/analyzing-four-centres-the-canucks-could-target/
I’m not sure the rules of posting inks but it is a nation network site so I think it should be good.
Also the more I read about Czarnik the more I like the signing, could turn out to be among the best value contracts of free agency this year. I guess he is essentially a replacement for Shore so no longer need to resign hm, I think Treliving might be done as the team is looking quite full, also we the influx of right shots I have a feeling Lazar might end up down in Stockton if he makes it through waivers. Going to the AHL could be just what Lazar always needed instead of being put in the NHL before he was ready.
Looks like Brouwer won’t be bought out, but that’s not the worst decision Calgary has no cap problem this year and can afford to have his cap hit this year. I would waive him as this team is simply better without him.
I would also waive him.
Czarnik and YeastMode seem like very comparable players.
I’m not so sure. Mangiapane is several years younger and outscored Czarnik last season.
A little too much on Ryan buts it’s F.A.Day
Yeah, basically we save cap space mostly to afford to pick up otherwise free assets in free agency. Cap space doesn’t do much all on its own.
WoW we are getting to be a pretty soft team. Its going to be hard to watch when we get pushed around and slapped around. For real
My concern now is how small our bottom six just got. I guess Brouwer and Hathaway have pretty well defined roles. If they want to play they need to provide some grit and physical presence.
Could this be the team?
Johnny , Money, Lindholm
Bing, Backs, Frolik
Benny, Ryan, Brouwer
Mangy, Jankow, Czarnik
Lazar, Hathaway
Gio, Brodie
Hanafin, Hamonic
Kulak, Anderson
Prout
Smith
Trade Stone to Ottawa for Anderson
slight changes, keeping top two lines the same
Bennett – Jankowski – Czarnik
Mangiapane – Ryan – Foo
Brouwer, Hathway
Defence keep the same, but swap Prout for T-spoon. Prout we need in the especially with Andersson graduating the RD options in Stockton would be real thin.
Still need a top line RW. Goal is still huge ? mark also. Ryan does not help with youth movement. Like him but 3 yrs to Brouwer like. FA Day often bad in long run to all orgs.
Both signings are a joke.