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Just over a month after buying out defenseman Michael Stone, the Calgary Flames have found the cheap, veteran defenseman they’ve been looking for...Michael Stone.
Yes, the Flames have brought back Stone on a one-year deal at a much more affordable price (700K) than he was pulling in previously ($3.5M).
While most depth signings at that price are fairly harmless, I think it’s fair to say this is an objectively bad move.
Stone provides absolutely nothing offensively. He is supposed to be an above average – or average, even – in-zone defender but that’s simply not the case.
From 2016-19, 16 defensemen logged 300+ minutes of 5v5 ice for the Flames. Stone ranked 15th in shot attempts against/60 and 13th in expected goals against/60 despite mostly playing sheltered minutes on the 3rd pairing.
His underlying numbers have been nothing short of awful throughout his entire tenure with the Flames.
I don’t know how the Flames examined the free agent market and deemed this the best route to take.
I would have rather inked PTO defenseman Andrew MacDonald to that contract. He isn’t very good, either, but his on-ice impact is better across the board. He’s also a left-defender, which is more of a need. The Flames already have T.J. Brodie, Travis Hamonic, and Rasmus Andersson on the right side.
Taking things a step further, David Schlemko, Ben Hutton and even Dan Girardi remain unrestricted free agents. The first two are certainly better, and an argument could be made for the 35-year-old Girardi.
I understand GM Brad Treliving is familiar with Stone from his time with Arizona and now Calgary. Based on the results, that should probably be reason enough to stay away.
All Flames fans can hope for now is minimal usage.
numbers via naturalstattrick.com
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