FlamesNation player evaluation: Complementary pieces

When it was all said and done, the Flames used 33 different players this season. We’ve covered most of them throughout this series, now for the rest.

Fantenberg began the season as an L.A. King, mostly playing a depth role on a really bad team. The Flames traded for him at the deadline, looking to add a bit more veteran experience to the third pairing, which was a rookie only pairing for the majority of the season. He wasn’t a name many expected to move (to be honest, I hadn’t heard of him until the trade), but he looked like decent depth.

Generally, nothing went wrong while Fantenberg was on the ice, which is what the Flames were asking for. With Juuso Valimaki and Oliver Kylington not entirely models of stout defence just yet, they wanted stability, and stability is what they got.

Fantenberg split his 2017-18 season between the Kings and their AHL affiliate, the Ontario Reign. He began the season with the Kings in a third pairing role, but was sent down midway through the year. Due to injuries, he became an emergency playoff option, being thrust into the first round of the playoffs having just played three NHL games since New Year’s 2018.

Numbers wise, getting out of L.A. helped Fantenberg a lot. His CF/60 went up, from 50.01 to 55.97 in Calgary, and his CA/60 dropped drastically, moving from 55.22 to 42.95. Part of that is because he was playing on a much better team – his CFrel% in Calgary indicates that he was still behind the pack – part of that is because the Flames chose to shelter him. His OZS% jumped nearly 10%, from 54.29% to 64.10%.

Fantenberg will be an unrestricted free agent this upcoming July, and it’s worth pondering whether or not Calgary will re-sign him.

Although it’s not of much consequence, it’s wasteful to throw away a fourth round pick on 15 games and three playoff games. For a guy who did what he was asked and won’t receive much of a raise, what’s the harm in keeping him around? But with Kylington and Valimaki waiting, is it really worth keeping around a 27 year old who has reached his ceiling?

The Flames might keep him around as a 7D, but probably not much more than that.

Signed to help boost depth to the Flames right handed department, Prout began the season in Calgary, albeit from the press box. He did play in the second game of the season after Travis Hamonic was injured, but didn’t play again until December.

Prout was the muscle on the back end this season, adding truculence to a defensive corps that was mostly skill players. He was generally called upon during back-to-backs and other games where Bill Peters felt a physical element was required. He didn’t really do much outside of the third pairing, and played less than five minutes on two occasions. All in all, a seventh defenceman.

Prout spent the majority of last season in the AHL after being acquired by the Flames in the Eddie Lack trade. He didn’t play in a single NHL game for the Flames, appearing in just two for the New Jersey Devils.

Prout will also be a UFA in July, and he probably leaves, too. The Flames’ depth on D makes him a redundancy, and there’s probably a team out there willing to give him regular minutes based on his body of work this season.

Peluso was a pretty random signing in August, inked to league minimum on a one year deal. The Flames felt that they needed a hired goon, so they brought back Winnipeg’s from a few seasons ago.

He played 16 minutes of NHL hockey spread out over four games. For comparison, he spent seven minutes in the penalty box. He fought Milan Lucic that one time.

Kind of the same. He showed up for two games with the Washington Capitals, never playing more than five minutes in each.

The Flames aren’t going to sign him again. There will likely be a different, random fighter they sign to play in a few games.

Stone’s probably the most unique player on this list, as he actually had a secure spot on the roster when the season began. He made the opening night roster, and played in just about every game in October.

His position in the lineup became less secure thanks to the chain of events following Travis Hamonic’s broken jaw in game one. That allowed the Flames to call up Rasmus Andersson, who filled in at Stone’s spot while Stone filled Hamonic’s. When Hamonic returned, Andersson had played too well to justify being sent down, and Stone was sent to the press box.

After that, absolute misfortune struck. Stone was diagnosed with blood clots in his arm, sidelining him from November to March. With Stone unable to do anything about it, Andersson’s star kept rising to the point where he became an unquestioned presence in the lineup.

Stone eventually returned to the lineup, playing in a handful of games when the Flames’ postseason was wrapped up. He didn’t get into a playoff game.

Nearly the exact opposite of this season. Stone played in all 82 games last season, seeing PK2 minutes on top of his third pairing duty.

Stone’s place on the team is a complicated question. Assuming he’s healthy, Stone doesn’t really have a place on the team. Given his performances and his $3.5 million salary, he’s also going to be very difficult to move, unless the Flames go the buyout route. In a tough cap year, ditching Stone and his cap hit is an attractive option.

If they can’t find an exit, Stone could become a very expensive version of Prout above, subbing in every so often for tired/injured players, or when the Flames feel they need a more physical lineup. The undetermined future of TJ Brodie might help Stone, as a potential move would put the Flames down a right side defender. He could reclaim his third pairing position, but the right hand side going from Brodie-Hamonic-Andersson to Andersson-Hamonic-Stone is a pretty steep drop off.

If I had to guess, I feel he sticks with the club, but more so because the club is stuck with him.

Signed July 1, Quine was brought in to provide centre depth and AHL guidance. In Stockton, he finished the season as the leading scorer despite missing over a third of the games.

Quine received a cup of coffee while injuries piled up in December. Although shaky at times, he managed to hit the scoreboard a bit, scoring a goal in his Flames debut against Nashville and adding two more in a 7-2 blowout against the St. Louis Blues. As players healed up, Quine was demoted, having not done enough to impress the coaching staff. Like others on this list, he made a brief cameo appearance when the Flames had their spot wrapped up

Quine spent the majority of the 2017-18 season off the ice, struggling with injuries and healthy scratches. When he did play for the Islanders, it was the same role he played for the Flames: occasional 4C who didn’t see much ice time.

Since he’s going to be younger than 27 on July 1, Quine will become a restricted free agent – unless the Flames don’t give him a qualifying offer, as happened to him last summer with the Islanders. That seems likely to happen.

Quine might an alright player, but the Flames are already four deep (five deep if they move Elias Lindholm over) at that position. He’d be decent depth for them to have, but there’s not much room for him to grow. On the bright side, his AHL stats were his best ever, and his NHL cup of coffee wasn’t too shabby either, so if he’s not qualified he’ll probably get a few offers from teams looking for a cheap 4C.

#4 Rasmus Andersson | #5 Mark Giordano | #7 TJ Brodie | #8 Juuso Valimaki | #10 Derek Ryan | #11 Mikael Backlund | #13 Johnny Gaudreau | #18 James Neal | #19 Matthew Tkachuk | #21 Garnet Hathaway | #23 Sean Monahan | #24 Travis Hamonic | #27 Austin Czarnik | #28 Elias Lindholm | #33 David Rittich | #41 Mike Smith | #55 Noah Hanifin | #58 Oliver Kylington | #67 Michael Frolik | #77 Mark Jankowski | #88 Andrew Mangiapane | #93 Sam Bennett