The Calgary Flames have a handful of players in line for big raises this off-season.
Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau will see the biggest spikes in salary - and rightfully so - but Joe Colborne also figures to be paid handsomely following a strong finish to the season.
Colborne had 20 points in his final 18 games and looked very good in the process. As a result of that hot streak Colborne finished the year averaging 2.32 points per 60 minutes at 5 v 5 and actually led the team in that regard.
While I think Colborne should be brought back into the fold Flames GM Brad Treliving needs to tread carefully on Colborne's extension - assuming he isn't traded.
The biggest reason for that is Colborne's shooting percentage. In 144 games over Colborne's first two seasons as a full time NHLer he shot ~12%, which is very respectable.
This past season Colborne shot 19%, which is a big reason why he fell just one goal shy of doubling his previous career high of 10 goals.
Had Colborne shot his previous career average of 12% he would have managed just 12 goals on the 100 shots he took, which is in the ball park of his previous totals (10 and eight).
As Flames fans know all too well it is possible to post unsustainably high shooting percentages over the course of one season. Flames fans also know that over time a player and/or team will come back down to earth and it's often not pretty when that happens.
That's why Colborne deserves to be paid for what he accomplished over the first 200 games of his NHL career more so than the final quarter of 2015-16 when he scored at an unsustainably high rate.
Regression caught up to the Flames big time in 2015-16. The last thing they need is to put themselves in a situation where it hits them again.
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