FlamesNation mailbag: Offseason options

With the offseason rapidly approaching, the Flames have to solve the big question of why things didn’t work out as expected. They’re going to go through an offseason with many different answers to that question. So, which ones are worth exploring? Which aren’t?

If you trade Sean Monahan, you should look to get another point-per-game first line centre who is also young and comes with a very reasonable contract. The only other players that come to mind with those descriptions is Nathan MacKinnon, Mark Schiefele, and Alex Barkov. Neither of those players will get traded, simply because teams don’t trade players like that and come out on the winning side of the deal.

I think Mike’s evaluation of Monahan hit the nail on the head. You should read it if you haven’t already, but here’s a summary: Monahan has his warts, and that’s fine because you generally have to lose for an entire decade and strike out on three other first overall picks before you find a player without them. Monahan still does incredibly valuable things that contributes to the Flames winning, and has shown throughout his career that what he’s good at – scoring goals- overshadows what he’s bad at -defence- by a large margin.

Yes to Jeff Skinner, and yes to Matt Duchene. They usually put up at least 40 points a season, and can offer flexibility in a lineup that got too rigid and predictable towards the end of the season. You could load up one line or spread out the offence more effectively if you have one of these players in your lineup. You might even be able to do both at the same time.

And they’re both UFAs, which is why I wanted to answer these questions together. The Flames have the opportunity to add two very, very good NHL players without giving up anything other than cash assets. The hold up is, as usual, cap space. The Flames already have an expensive offseason RFA period approaching and are pretty close to the cap ceiling. If they want one of Skinner or Duchene (they can probably only afford one), they’ll have to offload some money. You can run your own cap dump scenarios if you’d like to -we’ve done plenty in past mailbags- but they’re all unlikely to happen, sorry to say.

Both players are also UFAs for the first time in their career, and are probably looking for a big sum of money over a long period of time. As enticing as either of them are, I don’t think the Flames will voluntarily dive into cap hell this early into their contention window. If they look to add an elite player, they’re looking through the trade market.

I think the light is on, it’s just not as bright as many had hoped.

Sam Bennett’s finished his fourth season with the club and hasn’t really shown much growth from year one. When he does look like he’s finally taking that next step, he often putters out. His consistency is really what’s holding him back, but it’s been like that since day one of his career. It’s weird and frustrating. Playoff Sam Bennett is so engaged and fun to watch, but he’s only like that for bits and parts of the regular season. We’re probably only fooling ourselves if we think Bennett having a few good games is an indication that he’s finally figured it out.

In an RFA year, the Flames have to decide whether that’s enough to continue on with the Bennett project. His playoff performances do get you excited about that sliver of potential, but when you’re up against the wall cap-wise, you have to pay him for what he usually is rather than what he occasionally is. If Bennett’s camp doesn’t like that, the two likely split.

Don’t confuse the Flames building up depth with the Flames being ready to ship players out immediately. I see the Flames going after players like Alexander Yelesin and Johan-Carl Lerby as attempts to make up for only drafting six defenceman (three of whom aren’t with the club anymore) in the previous four drafts (24 picks). They have self inflicted depth issues in those departments. This is an attempt to fix that.

While I’m optimistic about the futures of Yelesin and Lerby, I don’t believe that they’re ready to play immediately. The SHL and KHL are much different leagues than the NHL, and there’s going to be an acclimation period. Both of the Flames’ recent signings are going to get a year of assessment in the AHL (Lerby will stay in the SHL next season and come over, presumably to the AHL, the season after) and then a decision will be made.

Now that doesn’t mean defencemen aren’t on the block…

It’s tough to read Brodie’s league wide value. He’s a first pairing defenceman in Calgary and usually picks up 30+ points, but he’s playing next to a likely Norris winner, and hasn’t seen much success away from said likely Norris winner. Even with likely Norris winner, he still has his issues. How many teams are willing to pony up for the risk that they’re bringing on a dud? Factoring in his contract, which only has one more year remaining at a moderate cap hit, and it might feel like a rental situation to most buyers.

Teams generally aren’t going to give up their cost controlled, high end forwards for a player with potentially papered-over flaws who could bolt in a year. If a Brodie trade materializes, I think it might be for decent prospects and conditional picks. There’s just too much risk associated with acquiring Brodie that teams are going to hedge their bets when exploring a trade, which is bad for a Flames team that wants something now.

I go back and forth on it. Brodie’s frustrating at times, but he’s also been a key part of this team for the past several years. The Flames probably won’t mind moving on, but it won’t be easy, or even something they seek out to do.

It really does depend on what they get for him in a trade. If it’s like what I described above, they probably hold onto him. The team has more immediate needs, and if Brodie is the player that has to be sacrificed to solve them, they can live with that. Future assets aren’t enticing enough. A player who can contribute now? Brodie’s gone.

The Flames really shouldn’t be wasting time with project players. The roster is ready to win now, why devote time to someone who isn’t? If the team was rebuilding, you could take the chance that maybe you find a diamond in the rough or an underappreciated player, but there’s limited opportunities and room for error on a team with Stanley Cup aspirations.

Look at the Curtis Lazar experience. Perceived as an unfinished player, he was acquired with the hopes that he would find his NHL footing and become a core piece. Acquired with about 20 games left to play, he played in exactly four, two of them coming after the Flames clinched. With every game mattering down the stretch of the 2016-17 season, it wasn’t worth the risk. The next season they tried, and neither party was better for it. I’m not pinning the 2017-18 season failure solely on him, but Lazar really stuck out for the wrong reasons on a non-playoff roster. The Flames sent him to the AHL this year and didn’t miss a beat without him.

Austin Czarnik also falls into this category a bit. There were times where he looked absolutely dynamite, but moew times where he struggled. He is also an incomplete player who still needs time to figure things out at the NHL level. The Flames healthy scratched him for long periods of time because of that. They couldn’t wait for him to blossom into the player they hoped he would become, and there wasn’t really enough opportunity to let him grow. Perhaps James Neal and/or Garnet Hathaway weren’t the solutions, but Czarnik didn’t put up a strong enough case to unseat them.

If you do want an answer though, I’ve always liked Joshua Ho-Sang from the Islanders. I think he could solve some issues if he reaches his full potential, but I don’t think the team has the patience.

They should adopt a shark named Hanifin because it’s the same pun and also because sharks are cooler than pigs. Only problem is that a divisional rival is also named the Sharks.