Flames Acquire TJ Galiardi from San Jose

Word from Pierre Lebrun on twitter is the Flames have traded a 4th round pick to the San Jose Sharks for former Hitman and Calgary native LW TJ Galiardi.

Galiardi’s the right age (25), but his best season in the NHL was his rookie year in 2009-10 when he scored 15 goals and 39 points. Since then, he’s mostly been what you’d call a very typical 3rd line player: a guy who faces other bottom-sixers at even strength for about 11 minutes a night, doesn’t score all that much and doesn’t really advance play.

Last year with the Sharks Galiardi played relatively soft competition, had a zone start ratio just south of 50% and was marginally underwater in terms of relative possession rate. The year before was similar, although his possession rate and zone start ratio were worse and tougher by a few degrees.

As a player Galiardi has decent size (6’2", 190), is pretty fast if memory serves and he he can be a tenacious forechecker. He has enough offensive ability to be a double digit goal scorer over a full season in thr right circumstances, but his ceiling probably doesn’t crest 40 points.

Galiardi is an established NHLer and he might still improve given his age, but there isn’t much evidence to suggest he’ll suddenly turn into a guy who can take on tough minutes or consistently score at a top-6 rate. The price of a 4th rounder is nominal, though, and Galiardi can play some so it’s certainly better than the club using a 5th rounder on someone like P3L.

Galiardi is an RFA, so add his name to growing list of restricted free agents the club has to get inked. He shouldn’t cost much to sign since his last deal was $950k and he hasn’t done anything since then to warrant a significant raise.

Personally, the trade doesn’t register as overly good or bad – like the David Jones trade, the Flames receive a capable enough NHLer who can act as a placeholder as the team goes through the rebuild, but I doubt he’s a guy that will feature prominently in the proposed resurrection down the line.