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Tuesday, June 30, 2009

My Christmas List

No deal with Bouwmeester (though I'm not going to stomp my feet if he signs). Pardy for $2.5M over 3 years. Steve Sullivan for ~$2M/yr X 2 or 3 years. Kent Huskins (or thereabouts) for $1.6M over 2 years. Jason Labarbera for 1 or 2 years at under $1M/yr. And a minor trade: Miikka Kiprusoff for Ryan Smyth

Why it Could Happen:
  • Flames and Avs have a long history of dealing with each other
  • Flames (based on years of rumours) have a long-standing desire to acquire Smyth; it was apparently pretty close to happening in July '07
  • Their cap and salary numbers are pretty close (Kipper is $5.3M avg. salary, $5.83 cap hit for 5 more years; Smyth is $5.5M avg. salary, $6.25M cap hit for 3 more years)
  • Avs have been unstable and/or poor in goal for several years; probably tired of it! Kipper has a Vezina, two near-misses, and a Conn Smythe near-miss too
  • Given bullet #2 above, and that the Avs have been trying to move Smyth for a while, he'd likely waive his NTC to come to Calgary
  • The Avs have had a positive recent experience with the rejuvenation of a former Vezina winner
Why it Won't Happen: oh, basically for the same reasons that I'd like it to. Smyth may be a bit overpaid, but he's a hell of a hockey player, always plays against the other team's best, and makes your team better at both ends of the ice. On a shift-to-shift basis, he was the best Avs player in every game of theirs I watched this past season.

Kipper's struggles have been monitored at some length at this site over the past two seasons. Darryl Sutter might be the only guy, along with some true-believing fellow Flames fans, who think he's a good bet to be an above-average goalie going forward.

But maybe if I close my eyes and wish really, really hard....
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8 comments:

  1. R OJune 30, 2009 5:35 pm

    Any move this offseason that results in Kipper moving one way and value-for-money moving the other way is okay by me.

    How come you don't want to sign Bouwmeester? Looking forward to 10/11?

    ReplyDelete
  2. jesse rJune 30, 2009 5:58 pm

    As an Oilers fan, watching Smyth flip pucks to that little kid with the fake red beard after a pre-game skate would probably be too much to bear.

    ReplyDelete
  3. robert cleaveJune 30, 2009 6:34 pm

    TSN says Bouwmeester has signed, but no numbers yet.

    http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=283345

    ReplyDelete
  4. andy grabiaJune 30, 2009 6:45 pm

    Damn.

    ReplyDelete
  5. robert cleaveJune 30, 2009 7:02 pm

    Andy, you're just disappointed that you won't see Smyth in a Calgary jersey...

    ReplyDelete
  6. andy grabiaJuly 01, 2009 12:48 pm

    Andy, you're just disappointed that you won't see Smyth in a Calgary jersey...

    Pretty sure I would actually puke in my mouth if that happened.

    ReplyDelete
  7. CassieJuly 02, 2009 1:25 am

    Smyth could never be a Flame. 'Real men' dont cry when they get caught up in a trade they pretty much brought upon themselves..

    And I would love to see Jokinen moved. Then I'd be good

    ReplyDelete
  8. UnknownJuly 05, 2009 10:43 am

    But 'real men' who cry when faced with suspensions/civil suits/criminal charges that they pretty much brought upon themselves are the true stuff of the Calgary Flames?

    ReplyDelete