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On Friday Brad Treliving, Glen Gulutzan and the players spoke to the media about how the season unfolded, what the future holds, etc.
Below are some of the notable quotes as well as some thoughts on each.
Versteeg's play was one of the many pleasant storylines to come from this season. He almost ended up playing hockey overseas, signed for pennies in Calgary (relatively speaking), and turned out to be a key piece for the team.
He put up 37 points in 69 games, which averages out to 44 over an 82-game schedule, while also providing some grit. His possession numbers weren't great but that's what happens when your most frequent linemate throughout the year is Troy Brouwer.
Versteeg will get a raise, no doubt, but I don't think the Flames would have to break the bank to re-sign him.
With all due respect to Engelland, I think the Flames would be smart to move on. He isn't a great skater, or puck mover, and was routinely exposed down the stretch while playing on the 3rd pairing with Matt Bartkowski. I think the Flames would be better served with more modern blue liners, be it someone from the outside or one of the young guys in the system (Brett Kulak, Rasmus Andersson, etc.)
Stone is another guy I'd move on from. He made $4 million this past season and I doubt he'd be willing to take much of a cut, if at all. I don't think he is the top-4 guy the Flames are looking for to go with T.J. Brodie (Brodie had a 50.5CF% without Stone, 46.5CF% with Stone) and he'd cost way too much to bury on the 3rd pairing.
The Elliott/Johnson thing drives me nuts. People are talking about Elliott like he is a big time liability and has to go. Meanwhile, Johnson gets talked up like he had a great year and should undoubtedly be brought back.
Let me point out that Elliott posted a better 5v5 save percentage than Johnson despite a horrible start to the season and a down year by his standards. Let me also point out Elliott had a higher 5v5 SV% than the likes of Tuukka Rask, Henrik Lundqvist, Marc-Andre Fleury, who some are clamoring to trade for, Martin Jones, Petr Mrazek, Steve Mason, Jaroslav Halak and Roberto Luongo, among others.
Half the guys being mentioned as upgrades in goal aren't upgrades at all. I'd be perfectly fine giving Elliott another year as the starter, especially considering his price wouldn't be overly high with the way things ended. Elliott is a perfectly capable goaltender. Sticking with him and using the extra money to find a legitimate top-4 defenseman to play with Brodie definitely seems like the better option.
Seriously, give Treliving a new contract already. I think the Flames would have a really hard time finding someone as competent as him to run the ship if they were to go in a different direction.
Gulutzan made some weird lineup decisions throughout the year (like playing Troy Brouwer on the top PP and giving him more ice time per game than Matthew Tkachuk, Sam Bennett, and Micheal Ferland) but I do think he did a good job. He let the 3M line do its thing all year long, gave Elliott the job in the 2nd half, and seemed to have a good pulse on the team. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a decent chunk of votes for the Jack Adams.
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