If we assume he overperformed (points-wise) in 2014/2015 and underperformed in 2015/2016 (both fair assumptions), then "returning to form" would mean performing at expectation, which would be maybe slightly better than his 2013/2014 level. So, about 7g-12a-19p. Is that worth $2.2 million?

As for is "willingness to bring intensity and pay the price," sure, he's got that. That said, any one of us could bring intensity and pay the price, too, but that doesn't mean we're good enough to get paid $2.2 million a year. I think he can be a useful player, but not at that cost. In the end, Bouma is way overpaid for what he brings. That said, Raymond has to go first, no question. Give Bouma one more year, but if (when) he doesn't come close to repeating his 2014/2015 stat line, it'll be time to cut him loose. I'd rather trade him than buy him out, but his trade value isn't likely all that high, especially with that cap hit.

EDIT: As for Wideman, once again it all depends on whether or not he's willing to go somewhere else. He may be more so after last year's debacle, but it's in his hands. By the TDL he might be even more willing.
- salumba

1. Any one of us could not bring that intensity. Completely asinine statement that you need to rethink. Bouma is a tough ass mofo and plays the game at NHL speed.

2. His play this year was a product of his injuries. He plays through them and brings close to his value.

3. He only played 44 games last season. That's an adjusted cap hit of 1.2 million. He'll probably miss some of next season. Most of the seasons we have him he'll never be 2.2 against the cap.

If our new coach simply sits him when he's injured to all hell and still wants to play; we'll have an effective Lance Bouma. Hopefully no more playing half injured.

In all seriousness, we need a RW that will play. Lupul just has not shown any ability to stay healthy. Plus Lupul has 2 more years on his contract does he not? For those reasons, I would much rather keep Wideman for 1 more season and then move him at the deadline. If he bounces back, depending on the market for D, he could fetch a nice return.
- TandA4Flames

We gotta start talking Wideman up.

I really think Wideman is the most underrated D in the Western Conference, I would wager that it it is him, and not Gio that is the true leader of the team. You will notice that Wideman was hurt for a long stretch this season, this is why Flames missed playoffs.

There wasn't much interest in Wideman before the suspension. And there is even less now. That abuse of an official sucked any trade value he had right out.

There wasn't much interest in Wideman before the suspension. And there is even less now. That abuse of an official sucked any trade value he had right out.
- wreckage

Give me a (frank)ing break. It's not like we are trying to trade him through the referee's union. Teams will expect the refs to get over it. They're paid to be professional's. Wideman paid his dues....and then some. it was an unfortunate accident and its over.

That was just a dumb and unwarranted troll comment. Maybe try to understand the concept of professionalism.

Give me a (frank)ing break. It's not like we are trying to trade him through the referee's union. Teams will expect the refs to get over it. They're paid to be professional's. Wideman paid his dues....and then some. it was an unfortunate accident and its over.

That was just a dumb and unwarranted troll comment. Maybe try to understand the concept of professionalism.
- TandA4Flames

Agreed but Wideman is still an overpaid, aging one dimensional D man.

We gotta start talking Wideman up.

I really think Wideman is the most underrated D in the Western Conference, I would wager that it it is him, and not Gio that is the true leader of the team. You will notice that Wideman was hurt for a long stretch this season, this is why Flames missed playoffs.


- DuranDuran

Better go put on my Rubber boots. The Bullpoop is getting pretty thick.

Maybe Arizona is a fit for Wideman? They're surely not taking Engelland but they have the cap space and need a top 4 D (Wideman could still be solid on the second pairing).

However, no way they're going to pay a lot for him (6M salary, Yandle joining free agency). So taking in a bad salary (Michalek) is necessary or retaining 50% and hoping you get a late round pick back is the maximum I guess?

But is a late round pick worth it? Calgary has a decent team if some improvements are made for the bottom 6 and you may have a shot at the play offs. Wideman could be an useful D in that process.

Smid probably has value. Assuming he's injured, and insured, any team looking to reach the cap floor will save $3.5 million in real dollars.

Bouma is not a buyout candidate. Yes, he's overpaid but he's an above average 4th liner. if they can't trade him, they may as well keep him.

Wideman is okay as a pp specialist and in the bottom pairing. A team looking to hit the cap floor or help in their top 6 without a long term commitment may be interested.

Engelland is fine for the top 6 for another year, I'd keep him and not even try to shop him.

Agreed but Wideman is still an overpaid, aging one dimensional D man.
- Jeropotato

That Chia pet will desperately overpay for when he realizes his options are running out! Have to admit he'd look good playing with all those superstar forwards!

1. Any one of us could not bring that intensity. Completely asinine statement that you need to rethink. Bouma is a tough ass mofo and plays the game at NHL speed.

2. His play this year was a product of his injuries. He plays through them and brings close to his value.

3. He only played 44 games last season. That's an adjusted cap hit of 1.2 million. He'll probably miss some of next season. Most of the seasons we have him he'll never be 2.2 against the cap.

If our new coach simply sits him when he's injured to all hell and still wants to play; we'll have an effective Lance Bouma. Hopefully no more playing half injured.
- fry

Exactly! When crapping on a player take the time to read all the facts! This only sharing what reinforces your opinion is very one dimensional journalism!

Better go put on my Rubber boots. The Bullpoop is getting pretty thick.
- Jeropotato

He's gonna look sharp in Oil Blue.

So it's been a while, Ladies, anyone care to give me your offseason and 2016-17 season predictions?

And just for all the Oilers haters and mongers on these threads, I'll give you mine for my team.

1. Oilers will trade away 2 of the 4th overall, Nuge and/or Eberle for D help , but we fans will be dissapointed with the return.
2. PC will over pay for a UFA D that isn't that great.
3. Oilers will trade Yak for scraps. No problem here.
4. Oilers will not get any veteran leadership up front.
5.Talbot will fall back down to earth like Ramo and Hiller did.
6. Oilers will suffer 30-40 game injuries to 2 top 6 forwards and 1 top 4 D.
7. Oilers will out of it by February.
8. Oilers will tease a finish out of the bottom 5....but, well, Oilers.

Flames.
1. Burke is a Tard.
2. Flames will finish 1-3 spots ahead of Edmonton.
- Jeropotato

1. We buy out Raymond
2. We sign Money and Gaudreau to big contracts but determine that they were surprisingly fair deals.
3. We are in any and all rumours involving a goaltender but end up signing Reimer to a 3 year 4.5 million dollar deal instead.
4. We retain 2 mill on Wideman's salary and dump him to a team in need of a placeholder on d for a year or two.
5. Smid spends the whole year on LTIR.
6. We draft Nylander and spend the entire year wondering when BT is going to bring the kid up (even though he needs at least a year or 2 in the minors/AHL).
7. We resign Nakladal, he plays with Dougie, Alpacca/Wotherspoon/Engellund fight for bottom pairing minutes.
8. We finish 3rd in the Pacific.
9. We bathe in the tears of Oilers fans yet another year.

1. We buy out Raymond
2. We sign Money and Gaudreau to big contracts but determine that they were surprisingly fair deals.
3. We are in any and all rumours involving a goaltender but end up signing Reimer to a 3 year 4.5 million dollar deal instead.
4. We retain 2 mill on Wideman's salary and dump him to a team in need of a placeholder on d for a year or two.
5. Smid spends the whole year on LTIR.
6. We draft Nylander and spend the entire year wondering when BT is going to bring the kid up (even though he needs at least a year or 2 in the minors/AHL).
7. We resign Nakladal, he plays with Dougie, Alpacca/Wotherspoon/Engellund fight for bottom pairing minutes.
8. We finish 3rd in the Pacific.
9. We bathe in the tears of Oilers fans yet another year.
- Saskabush

First off, nice points about Nylander. This kid is really something special and at 6 feet, he isn't small. He would be the Johnny Hockey to Sam's line, creating balance of skill, and have that 1-2 punch with offensive creativity coming off the wings.

Next thing tho, buying out Bouma is not the wisest choice. It's been beaten to a pulp in here today, but he came off a bad, injury riddled season. You gotta give him the chance to live up the contract you gave him. He slots in well beside Stajan and is effective on the PK. If he cannot turn his game around you assign him to Stockton. You are saving comparable money to buying him out and if someone claims him off waivers, great.

Smid will hopefully remain on LTIR and not affect the cap too much. I would welcome him retiring as well.

Wideman is the main focal point of salary you want to shed. I refuse to believe there is no market for him. As mentioned, he has a TON of points in the last 3 years. Guys that can provide that much offense from the backend are rare. It offsets his deficiencies enough that a weak defensive team would want him as a RD on their 2 pairing playing tons of PP minutes. Or a playoff calibre team playing bottom pair and as a PP specialist. If we get him moved we are fine.

Raymond is the only dumpster salary we have to look at buying out. There is no room for him on the left side even if he played to his potential.

1. We buy out Raymond
2. We sign Money and Gaudreau to big contracts but determine that they were surprisingly fair deals.
3. We are in any and all rumours involving a goaltender but end up signing Reimer to a 3 year 4.5 million dollar deal instead.
4. We retain 2 mill on Wideman's salary and dump him to a team in need of a placeholder on d for a year or two.
5. Smid spends the whole year on LTIR.
6. We draft Nylander and spend the entire year wondering when BT is going to bring the kid up (even though he needs at least a year or 2 in the minors/AHL).
7. We resign Nakladal, he plays with Dougie, Alpacca/Wotherspoon/Engellund fight for bottom pairing minutes.
8. We finish 3rd in the Pacific.
9. We bathe in the tears of Oilers fans yet another year.
- Saskabush

This

1. We buy out Raymond
2. We sign Money and Gaudreau to big contracts but determine that they were surprisingly fair deals.
3. We are in any and all rumours involving a goaltender but end up signing Reimer to a 3 year 4.5 million dollar deal instead.
4. We retain 2 mill on Wideman's salary and dump him to a team in need of a placeholder on d for a year or two.
5. Smid spends the whole year on LTIR.
6. We draft Nylander and spend the entire year wondering when BT is going to bring the kid up (even though he needs at least a year or 2 in the minors/AHL).
7. We resign Nakladal, he plays with Dougie, Alpacca/Wotherspoon/Engellund fight for bottom pairing minutes.
8. We finish 3rd in the Pacific.
9. We bathe in the tears of Oilers fans yet another year.
- Saskabush

My skin is starting to get dry from all the salted tears.

Raymond is the only buyout candidate and I hope that gets done as soon as possible.

1. Any one of us could not bring that intensity. Completely asinine statement that you need to rethink. Bouma is a tough ass mofo and plays the game at NHL speed.

2. His play this year was a product of his injuries. He plays through them and brings close to his value.

3. He only played 44 games last season. That's an adjusted cap hit of 1.2 million. He'll probably miss some of next season. Most of the seasons we have him he'll never be 2.2 against the cap.

If our new coach simply sits him when he's injured to all hell and still wants to play; we'll have an effective Lance Bouma. Hopefully no more playing half injured.
- fry

My point is that "intensity" is a useless category. You can go ahead and call my assertion asinine, but the point stands: who cares how "tough ass" he is if his presence on the ice actually makes the team worse (a statement backed up by the stats, whether you choose to recognize them or not). And yeah, any of us on the ice would be even less effective than Bouma, but I know I'd still put everything into it because I'd be playing a game in the freaking NHL. Flailing around intensely is useless. Bouma is better than that, but there are cheaper options that bring as much or more than he does.

Again, though, I'm all for giving him another year to see if he can regain his form if healthy. I just think that "form" for him is likely more similar to 2013/2014 than 2014/2015. I refuse to watch him through rose-coloured glasses. You can call it crapping on a player if you want, but I just don't see Bouma ever hitting that same high again.

If they buy out anyone, it should be Raymond, not Bouma or Wideman or Stajan. Ride those contracts out for a bit.

Why is everyone so hell-bent on finding a winger for the top line? The Flames should be looking for someone to play with Bennett. Gaudreau and Monahan will be fine, even if they have to play with Raymond on their line. \

And what's with the Engelland hate? I think he's been pretty damn serviceable the past 2 seasons. I think there would be a few teams out there that would take him.

I'm not too hell bent on blowing our load for a Goalie this offseason unless they manage to steal a legit #1 somehow (i.e. Bishop or Anderson). Barring that, I would fine with one more year of stop-gaps. That being said...perhaps Jake Allen becomes available now?

Here is a question for the group. Which RFA's do the Flames give qualifying offers to?

LW/RW - Joe Colbourne - 1 yr bridge deal $2.0mil (Play to get paid next year)
C/RW - Josh Jooris - 1 yr bridge deal $1.0mil
LW Johnny - Gaudreau - 6 yr $7.5mil
C - Sean Monahan - 7 yr $7.5mil

G - Joni Ortio - 2 yr Bridge deal $0.85mil

Tyler Wotherspoon - 2 yr $0.9mil (he will still be an RFA after this)
Bryce Van Brabant - ???
Drew Shore - 1 yr $0.85 mil (he will still be an RFA after this)
Bill Arnold - 2 yr $0.85 mil (he will still be an RFA after this)
Kenneth Agostino - 2 yr $0.85 mil (he will still be an RFA after this)
Derek Grant - 1 yr $0.8 mil (Play to get paid next year)
Freddie Hamilton - 1 yr $0.75 mil
Kevin Poulin - 1 yr bridge deal $0.7mil (Play to get a contract next year)
Turner Elson - 2 yr $0.65mil

The major problem I see is the Flames are very close to the 50 contract max if they sign all these guys. It would be hard to left RFA's walk for nothing. I guess BT will have his work cut out for him over the next few months.

That Chia pet will desperately overpay for when he realizes his options are running out! Have to admit he'd look good playing with all those superstar forwards!
- K-man25

I'm not admitting to (frank) all.