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The Calgary Flames may soon bring back a familiar face. At least they’ll try.
Rumor has it the Flames, along with the Vancouver Canucks, are courting UFA defenseman Travis Hamonic.
TSN 1040’s Bob Marjanovich had this to say about the matter in a recent radio spot.
“Travis Green is really making a case to management to try to get another defenceman in,” Marjanovich said today during the first hour of Donnie & The Moj. “The guy that I think he would like to see come to Vancouver is Hamonic. Now clearly the team still has cap issues… we’ll see if they can put Ferland on long term IR… I’m hearing that Calgary and Vancouver are in on Hamonic, and whoever can clear enough space — the Flames are trying to make room as well — probably wind up getting Hamonic on a one-year deal.”
Hamonic was not good last season. He just wasn’t. But he also dealt with a lot of injuries and a coaching change.
If the Flames believe he is back to full health, and can be close to what he was in 2018-19 (he was quietly strong), I can understand taking another shot on him for a year.
You can never have too much defensive depth and, if healthy, his style of play could nicely complement Juuso Valimaki on what would be a heck of a projected 3rd pairing.
That’s the case *for* Hamonic, if you will. The case against is he offers very little offensively and was quite poor defensively a season ago. He is also injury prone and has a lot of mileage on him. If 2019-20 isn’t a one-off, you don’t want him on your team; especially if you have to clear money to fit him in.
Who would be the one to go? You don’t want to move any top-6 guys, obviously. I don’t think Derek Ryan has much value with everyone hurting for money. Sam Bennett is coming off the best string of performances we’ve seen in years so, theoretically, *now* isn’t the time they’re finally going to pull the plug on him.
I hate to say it but the easiest way to clear some money would probably be by trading David Rittich to a team that could use help – say, Buffalo, to pair with Linus Ullmark – and then signing someone like Jimmy Howard on the cheap to backup.
I would not be in favor of those moves. Outside of a Noah Hanifin trade, though, I think that is the kind of thing the Flames will realistically be looking at if they’re going to make a Hamonic signing work.
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