Let us wave farewell to the hockey-less month of November – you were fine, I guess – and trudge towards December, and the end of 2020, with a dive into the mailbag.
The short answer is because he hasn’t gotten an offer (a) from a team he wants to play for and (b) for the salary he’d like to play for.
The long answer is he may be this year’s Jake Gardiner, who ended up taking less than many projected he would last off-season due to a cap crunch within the league. Reportedly Hamonic’s camp never really got into deep contract talks with the Flames during the season because he wanted to test the market. That’s a reasonable thing to do, as Hamonic had spent his entire pro career with the Flames and Islanders and was afforded the opportunity to look around as a pending free agent. But Hamonic isn’t a huge offensive producer and after the smoke cleared in free agency, there simply aren’t a lot of ton of teams that have an ability (or willingness) to shell out a ton of cash for an (effective) secondary defendr like Hamonic.
And so he plays the waiting game.
Historically, PHWA voters tend to reward offensive prowess, so age isn’t a huge concern – Artemi Panarin was 24 when he won, for example. Six of the top 10 vote-getters for this past season’s Calder were 22 (Valimaki’s age) or older.
As far as Valimaki goes, as of this writing he has 19 points and is sixth in SM-Liiiga in scoring – he leads all defensemen in the league offensively. In one of the top leagues in the world, he’s playing extremely well. Valimaki is a virtual shoo-in to make the Flames roster to open the season and it seems likely that given his lack of experience as a shutdown guy, he’ll be given tons of offensive zone starts (and perhaps even power play time given his success as a puck distributor in Finland).
I would guess the clubhouse favourite right now for the Calder is 2020 first overall pick Alexis Lafreniere of the Rangers or Minnesota’s Kirill Kaprizov, though.
If Gaudreau has an impressive season, regardless of whether it’s 48 or 60 games, it’ll help boost his trade value if the Flames seek to make a change following the season. The big question mark for teams right now is “What Gaudreau would we be getting?” and a strong season would help quell any fears.
Cap-wise, though, think about this: Mark Giordano will be 38 when his current deal expires. He’s likely not getting another big ticket $6.75 million cap hit again, so there will be some savings that can be used to help lock up Tkachuk when the time comes.
(But yeah, the cap situation is easier if a big ticket is moved out so there’s breathing room to do other things.)
Honestly, it depends on what happens with the virus in both countries in the interim. Sportsnet’s Mark Spector wrote last week that the cost of moving Stockton and Bakersfield’s teams to Canada for a season and sharing Calgary and Edmonton’s rinks with two other teams (NHL and WHL in both cities) was a non-starter. The logistics are challenging for both markets and the costs, too.
I would imagine the NHL and AHL will have a few different plans for different contingencies.
Bettman will be allowed to call his own shot. If I were a betting man, I would wager that he probably retires before the extended CBA expires – so, before 2026. But he would probably like to ensure that the league has rebounded from COVID-19 and things are running smoothly in Seattle before he hangs ’em up.
