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It was announced today by Elliott Friedman that the Flames are soon expected to announce the extension of center Matt Stajan.
While I am sure there are plenty of folks out there who will say – “Why on earth resign Stajan!?”, there are an equal number of fans who appreciate what Stajan brings to this team, and as I alluded to in previous blogs, he is worth more to this franchise playing with the team, than what his trade value would yield.
That said, this will be Stajan’s fifth season with the Flames and he has accumulated 105pts in 248 games. Brought in as a part of the Dion Phaneuf trade, Stajan was sought after for the potential which he held as a top 6 centerman. Unfortately for the Flames organization, Stajan would ultimately not prove to be more than a 3rd pairing centerman and would often be criticized by fans for not being able to produce at a top 6 level.
Over the past two seasons, however, Stajan has really started to find his place with the Flames and has taken on a leadership role. At the age of 30, Matt is one of the older players remaining on the Flames roster, and has nearly 700 games of NHL experience under his belt. Despite only producing 17pts so far this season, Stajan has been one of the more consistent Flames players in terms of work ethic and professionalism. He will be a good piece to keep around if this new deal is 2-3 years in length. I would be shocked to see anything longer than a 3 year deal, to be honest.
In terms of his dollar amount, I imagine that the Flames will reward him with a slight increase in pay for his hard work and dedication to the organization. Moving forward, they will rely on him to continue to develop the likes of Mikael Backlund and Sean Monahan, and his contract will likely be worthy of a 3rd liner’s pay. His ice time will be enough to take some pressure of the younger players moving up, but not enough to take away from their development.
Expect to see him sign in the $3.75M per year range as I do not anticipate that the Flames give him any less than he currently makes as he’s shown improvement in his game.
As mentioned, I always felt the Flames would be wise to keep Stajan rather than either letting him walk or trying to trade him. By extending him, the Flames will have a veteran centerman whose performance and/or production has been well documented and will not need to test the FA markets to replace. Stajan leads the team in FO% at 48.4 and spends a lot of time on the PK.
Stajan is well liked and is a character player for this Flames rebuilding team. He is not likely part of their future plans beyond the next two years or so, but while they prepare to develop their new core, he will be part of a large supportive cast which the team plans to employ.
Since arriving in Calgary, Stajan has been a spokesman for the Alberta Children's Hospital and supports the Ronald McDonald House. In 2013, he was named the winner of the Ralph T. Scurfield Humanitarian Award for perseverance, dedication and leadership, and was also nominated for the NHL Foundation Player Award.
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The Flames will take to the ice against the San Jose Sharks tonight. Calgary currently sitting with a 2-7-1 record of their last ten with a total of 14 goals scored will be challenged with the Sharks record of 6-4-0 who happen to also be on a three game winning streak.
While I certainly do not expect to see anything similar to Saturday night’s game, Calgary has certainly been playing with intensity this year and if they continue to play with heart, tonight’s game is likely to be very close.
As we’ve discussed before, tonight will fall on Monahan, Giordano, Hudler, Backlund, and Wideman for production. When these players find the score sheet and are productive, the Flames have historically either taken a point, or won the game altogether.
Backlund and Ramo have been playing quite well of late and as such, they will be the key players for the Flames. To note (for those who didn’t already catch it) Wideman logged a career high 38 minutes during the Vancouver game. I feel that his game has been quite good as well, was always in favour of the signing, personally.
It will be important for the Flames to get off to a strong start and get a good cycle game in deep. By focusing on Joe Pavelski who has been hot, getting shots on net with net presence, and playing the body, they have a chance at walking away with two points tonight.
If you’d like to catch my discussion/debate about the Flames vs Canucks game, or Kadri/Gardiner trade talks, you can read up on it
here!
Thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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