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When looking at the Calgary Flames roster, there are a few glaring needs. Among them: a top-6 center and help on defense.
While the Flames may have addressed their issue at center with Sean Monahan, though you could argue they still need help, there is no denying they need to bolster their blue line.
As of right now, the Flames have four defenseman signed for next season: Mark Giordano, Dennis Wideman, Shane O'Brien and Derek Smith. That's not appealing at all and the thought of having both O'Brien and Smith in the top-4 is down right scary.
The Flames have TJ Brodie, who is already a top-4 defenseman and is getting better, but they still need to get him signed.
Let's say Brodie is signed and in the picture. The Flames still need defenseman in quantity and quality. They need a guy capable of eating top-4 minutes, and they need another defenseman or two on top of that to round out their blue line.
So the next question is, who should they bring in?
One name that really jumps out at me is 24-year-old defenseman Jonathan Blum. The Predators announced today they will not send out a qualifying offer which means he'll become an unrestricted free agent.
Blum, a former 1st round pick in 2007, hasn't panned out exactly as planned but he is still loaded with potential.
Over 136 AHL games throughout the last three seasons, Blum has 12 goals and 72 points. Very respectable numbers, especially for a young defenseman.
In 91 NHL games, spread out through those same three seasons, Blum has seven goals and 22 points. Not great, but respectable.
This past season Blum played in 35 games and recorded seven points. Over a 82 game season, that translates to about 20 points.
He was a 47% possession player, which isn't bad considering how terrible Nashville was, and was the 2nd best possession defenseman on the team. Only Ryan Ellis was better in that regard.
Blum was used in a defensive role which hindered his ability to put up points and drive possession. He started just 44% of his shifts in the offensive zone. To put that in perspective, Hal Gill was last among Predators defenseman in offensive zone start percentage and his was 43%.
He wasn't playing against notably tough competition, but he wasn't been spoon fed easy minutes, either.
In short, Blum is capable of playing in a defensive role and still putting up points here and there. He was able to do little with nothing on a poor Predators team and if not anything else, showed he can play in the NHL.
For a team as starved for defenseman as the Flames, Blum could be an excellent fit. His asking price wouldn't be very high and at just 24 years of age, there is still plenty of room to grow.
For a team in the midst of a rebuild, that should be appealing.
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I examine how Jay Feaster and company did in this year's draft.
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