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Free Agency Friday came and went for the Calgary Flames as several teams made big trades and big signings while the Flames sat relatively still.
Whereas most fans were anticipating a slow day, I for one felt as though the Flames may have been a little busier than they were by perhaps grabbing a free agent or two to help insulate their young team.
Despite not bringing in anyone new on Friday, the Flames did sign goaltender Karri Ramo, newly acquired prospect Corban Knight, and their 2008 first round draft selection Greg Nemisz. As such, it was not a very busy day for Flames Nation as they enduringly watch their GM reshape their beloved franchise. It has certainly been interesting to watch Feaster move older bodies out of Calgary and continue to bring in younger and younger faces as he attempts to restock the once bare cupboards in terms of Flames prospects.
Although Calgary was not successful in attracting any big UFA’s, they did already acquire four players through trades in Shane O’Brien, David Jones, TJ Galiardi and Kris Russell before the madness begun. I do have to say that there weren’t too many players available on the market, in my opinion, who the Flames could have acquired who were much better than these guys anyways. All below the age of 30, the Flames have added more depth and youth to their organization and I don’t believe they are finished with offseason acquisitions, either.
“At our meeting with ownership on May 9, we presented a preliminary list of unrestricted free agents at that time,” Feaster said, according to the team’s website. “One of the things we said to ownership was that we didn’t believe the answers to our problems, our situations, our needs were necessarily going to found in unrestricted free agency.”
…Feaster is still interested in players on the trade market and what he does on that end will be another indication of their new philosophy. Still, for now it seems like they’re exercising much more discipline than they have in the past. - Ryan Dadoun NBC Sports
The Flames are still seeking help down the middle as well as additional defensive depth. While there are currently no rumored names which the Flames may be targeting, I feel another trade or two may be in store for Jay Feaster as teams continue to work at piecing together their own respective rosters. With a few teams being too close to the cap to sign all the players they’d like, it could be advantageous to a team like Calgary who still has around $17M to play with(after Kiprusoff officially retires).
Despite several unofficial reports during the free agency frenzy which suggested that Mason Raymond signed a two year deal with the Flames, nothing ever transpired. I strongly believe there is still a deal to be made between the two parties and that Feaster may be holding off from making the call as he continues to work on other options including moving Mike Cammalleri. **Darren Dreger just updated that to date, there has actually been no conversations between Raymond and the Flames...interesting as many were reporting the deal was all but done on Friday!
Outside of possibly adding Raymond to the future lineup, there are players like Chris Stewart from the St Louis Blues and Paul Stastny from the Avalanche who may also be available. With only $7.8M remaining in cap space, the Blues will need to make a few tweaks to their roster or contract offers if they are going to sign both Stewart and Pietrangelo who is allegedly looking for top end money.
Feaster has already successfully completed a few transactions with both GM’s so far this year…perhaps there could be more looming? Stastny and Stewart would fit the model of youthful additions for Calgary, and Stastny would certainly serve as the Flames first line center without guys like O’Reilly or Duchene in their system to hold him back. Could there consequently be a deal between any of the three teams?
I’ve listed a few potential targets for Jay Feaster & Co. above who have been part of many rumors around the league, is there anyone else the Flames could be interested in? How about UFA Mikhail Grabovski or RFA’s Joe Colborne from the Toronto Maple Leafs, Cal Clutterbuck from the New York Islanders, and Ryan McDonagh from the New York Rangers?
*Edit - McDonagh signed 6year extension with Rangers
Grabovski remains as one of the few centres who were available for nothing but money and could certainly be a good addition to the meager list which Calgary possess. All three RFA's mentioned above, however, would require some judicious negotiations from Feaster in order to entice each GM to let any one of them go, however the Flames have plenty of cap space and room on their roster where others may not.
Take Colborne for example. Notwithstanding being short of a first line center themselves, the Leafs have Kadri, Bozak, Bolland, and McClement all potentially getting in the way of Colborne stepping in as a center for the Buds. Joe would have plenty of room and time to develop his game further with the Flames, and the big center could do well with a rebuilding team in Calgary rather than spending another year/two in the AHL.
Just a few thoughts to toss around as Feaster made it clear that he will continue to look for upgrades or depth through the trade route. As long as Calgary continues to add depth at the rate that we have witnessed over the past two seasons, they could be in good shape much sooner than many projected.
Just for fun – of all the players I mentioned, who could you see as a new member of the Flames for this upcoming season?
*Edit: Grabovski added to the list.
Thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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