Saturday, July 08, 2006

 

Your 2006/07 Calgary Flames



Salaries are the best numbers I could come up with. In the case of players (e.g. Kipper, Warrener) where this season's salary is different from the cap number (AAV), the cap number is shown.

This gives us a depth chart of something like this:
Tanguay - Langkow - Iginla
Huselius - Lombardi - Kobasew
Amonte - Yelle - McCarty
Friesen - Lundmark - Nilson
Richie

Regehr - Phaneuf
Ference - Warrener
Hamrlik - Zyuzin
Giordano

Kiprusoff
McLennan

Mayonnaise in the sun lasts longer than most line combinations in Calgary, so I don't pay them much mind. The D-pairings seem to endure a bit more, though: I'm interested to see who Robyn Regehr's regular partner will be now that Leopold is gone.

Interesting to see that (assuming Lombardi re-signs) the Flames will be hitting training camp with 13 experienced NHLers at forward. Seems like bad news for guys like Eric Nystrom and Carson Germyn, and makes me wonder about the Friesen signing. Like, wonder, "Why'd we sign Friesen?"

- It's just a one-year deal, so that's good.
- It's for $1.3M (or $1.6M, depending on who you listen to), so that's mostly bad. (Pro$: it's not too likely that spending that sum, per the bottom line in the table above, will hamstring the Flames flexibility later in the season. Con$: but it might! Plus, the value of what he produces is unlikely to be worth that figure.)
- What if Eric Nystrom comes to play in September? What do you do with him?
- Can Jeff Friesen still play? I can't say as he blew my socks off in the playoffs (16GP, 3-1-4, -1). This is a guy who's supposed to make the Flames better?

Injuries make this guessing mostly pointless, but here's a shiny penny that says Friesen will be a healthy scratch more that any of the 12 other forwards listed above.

Anyway! I like the looks of the roster. There's really no one that needs to be protected from strong opposition (unless that 2nd line gets rolled out as shown). The acquisition of Zyuzin goes a long way to restoring one of the best D-corps in the league, and while I will miss Shean Donovan, I prefer Alex Tanguay.

Calgary won the Northwest Division by 8 points last season, and this offseason, they've improved. Go Flames.

Comments:

Calgary won the Northwest Division by 8 points last season, and this offseason, they've improved.

But they lost in the 1st round. Edmonton finished in 8th in the Western Conference last year, and haven't improved. But we went to the Cup final. It might be a gong-show on here.
 


I hear Tanguay will be playing at centre, which means Langkow, at least to start the season, will be playing on the second line. Assuming Sutter keeps Huselius and Langkow together, that means Friesen(!?) will be playing on the first line with Tanguay/Iginla.

I don't mind the Friesen signing in the sense that he possesses the same/similar speed as Donovan, but better hands and better offensive upside.
 


Never doubt Darryl Sutter. He knows what players and when to sign them. Look at Kipper. What team would have given him a chance? Sutter did and now he's one of the best in the NHL.
 

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