Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell …‹ 1) For the second consecutive year, the Calgary Flames were involved in talks to acquire Ben Bishop but were unable to get a deal done.
While he is a big name, I think his perceived value is much higher than his actual value.
That's pretty easy to see when you put his 2016-17 numbers side-by-side with the goaltender he'll be replacing in Dallas.
Bishop stopped a higher percentage of low-danger shots (aka shots from a distance) but Lehtonen bested him in mid-danger and high-danger save percentage while playing behind a team that allowed quality looks at a higher rate.
Bishop is likely to get ~$6 million per on a long-term deal with the Stars, which is a lot to pay for a guy with pedestrian numbers and somewhat of an injury history.
He is a fine goaltender but not worth what it'll take to get him signed. I think the Flames dodged a bullet there.
2) One goaltender who could make sense for the Flames is Steve Mason.
He had an up and down year with the Philadelphia Flyers but in the three seasons prior he posted a .921 save percentage while appearing in an average of 55 games.
I think he's a very underrated goaltender and his salary would be noticeably less than that of Bishop, Marc-Andre Fleury, and many of the other goaltenders they have been linked to.
Sign Mason for a couple years at, say, $4.5 million per, give him 55-60 games and bring Chad Johnson back to handle the rest.
By the time the theoretical Mason contract is up, I'd think Tyler Parsons or Jon Gillies would be ready for full-time duty. Ideally one of them is ready to at least be the backup by 2017-18.
Either way, the Flames' best course of action is one that doesn't involve handing out a lucrative contract or trading quality assets.
Recent posts: Flames swing and miss on Bishop once again