Erixon Deadline Looms

 

 

Although today is May 30th, there is still no word from the Calgary Flames organization on the signing of Tim Erixon. The Flames first round pick from 2009 had himself a very strong year in the Swedish Elite League and looks to be as close to a blue chip prospect as the franchise has in the pipeline. That’s why it’s so disturbing the 20-year old hasn’t been inked yet.

The deadline for Calgary to sign Erixon to a contract is June 1. If they can’t get his name on deal in the next day or so, Erixon will re-enter the draft (where he will no doubt be instantly snapped up). Jay Feaster was interviewed following the "permanent" GM announcement this month and he brushed off the delay in inking the youngster to the world championships and an inability to properly negotiate while Erixon was skating for Sweden. The Worlds have been over for awhile now though and we have yet to hear word of an announcement.

The club could be sitting on the deal for whatever reason, although word of fresh signings seem to leak pretty quickly these days. The only other possibility I can think of is the player is hesitant to sign with the player for whatever reason, be it monetary or otherwise. If so, that’s really bad news for a team so lacking in high-end prospects as the Flames. If Erixon decides to re-enter the draft, the Flames will get a second round pick as consolation. Yuck.

Tomorrow the team may happily announce Erixon’s 3-year entry level deal and all this hand-wringing will be for not. If that doesn’t happen, however, the Jay Feaster era in Calgary will be off to a pretty rocky start.