Should the Flames claim PA Parenteau?

Word is P.A. Parenteau is hitting the waiver wire today and the Flames should seriously consider picking up his $1.25M contract.

The 33-year-old RWer is no spring chicken and he doesn’t seem to get a lot of respect around the league, but his results are always above board and he fills a very real need on the Flames roster. 

Parenteau is a guy that has had to beg for contracts over the last few summers, but he was always put up respectable numbers. Last year on a lousy Leafs team he scored 20 goals and 41 points in 77 games, good for second best behind Nazem Kadri. 

What’s interesting about Parenteau is his underlying numbers are also sterling. Here’s how his scoring and possession rates looked last season:

He’s an effective scorer and effective at both shot generation and suppression. According to WOWY results, his linemates are better with him than without him.

Which makes him a natural one-year stop gap option for the Flames’ top line. Right now, Calgary has absolutely no answer for who will skate with Johnny Gaudreau (assuming he gets signed) and Sean Monahan. 

Right now the options are Alex Chiasson, Linden Vey and Micheal Ferland. Those three players combined didn’t score as much as Parenteau did last season. 

The challenge is Calgary’s cap situation. According to Ryan Pike’s calculations, they have just $6.6M in available cap space currently. In order to fit Parenteau and still have room to sign Gaudreau, they’d likely need to do a creative waiver wire dance to make things work. 

For example: sending down Brett Kulak, Linden Vey and Brandon Bollig (UPDATE – this one might actually happen!) and adding Parenteau would put them at $7.7M. Of course, the landscape changes a bit once the season starts, because the team can officially place Smid on LTIR. 

I don’t know what about Parenteau NHL GMs don’t like (playing style? foot speed? jerk in the locker room?), but there are many worse players sitting on club rosters and not the waiver wire this morning. 

The Flames have a gaping hole on the right side in their top six that Parenteau could capably plug for the season, so unless he’s got a major problem behind the scenes, Treliving should seriously consider putting in a claim. 

UPDATE – The Red Wings have also waived 24-year-old RWer Teemu Pulkkinen. He has only played 36 NHL games, but was a 34-goal, 61-point player (in 46 games) in the AHL last season and a 30-goal scorer the season prior. He would be more of a long-term claim for the team if they could grab him.