Speculation: Armchair GM 2024-25 Season, Craig Conroy's Can Do Calgary Flames

[JPeeper]

Huberdeau will go from a bottom 3 contract in the league to having a great contract because we need him to make the cap floor.

In 3 years the floor is $83.9, and we're currently at $71.6 and have like 1 guy who needs a big extension (Ras). We could throw $7 mil at Zary, throw $9 mil at Wolf and give Ras $9 and we'd be flirting with the floor still.

Contracts are going to get silly really really quickly here.

 

[Lunatik]

It’s not “just in case” a prospect works out. It’s called incentive. The spot goes to whichever of them wins it.

You honestly think the best we’d do for the same Razzy whose price tag will likely be an eight-figure AAV is a mid-1st at best? I’m not saying it wouldn’t be, but damn even Cory Schneider fetched 9th overall with only three (decent) seasons under his belt. Surely Raz could get us at least somewhere close to that.

Bruiser has less than 50 pro games and Parekh may not see a pro game until 26-27, Mews even longer. You can't make a trade to make a roster spot in 2-3 years, that's beyond stupid.

I think Ras would get a first++, but teams with high firsts won't be trading for him and if they do it'd be top 10 protected. So yes, I think there is zero chance he gets a high 1st. That Schneider trade was a long time ago and is no longer relevant and it was bad then too.

Every time a team has traded a top 10 pick in the last 5 years it's been a massive blunder, of the 5 top 10 picks traded in the last 5 drafts only 1 was traded knowing where the pick sat (DeBrincat), 2 ended up unprotected because the 1st year was protected (EK to SJ and Duchene from COL)... 1 was only top 2 protected (Seth Jones to CHI) and the other was made by a shitty GM and wasn't smart enough to protect the pick (OEL to Van)... as we saw in the Lindholm trade even that pick was top 10 protected, GMs have smartened up the last couple years when it comes to protecting picks.

 

[Darth Vladar]

Huberdeau will go from a bottom 3 contract in the league to having a great contract because we need him to make the cap floor.

In 3 years the floor is $83.9, and we're currently at $71.6 and have like 1 guy who needs a big extension (Ras). We could throw $7 mil at Zary, throw $9 mil at Wolf and give Ras $9 and we'd be flirting with the floor still.

Contracts are going to get silly really really quickly here.

Wolf
Zary
Coro
Bahl
Klapka
Frost

Kerins
Poirier
Kuznetsov

You’d have a little over $40M tied up in Huby, Naz, Farabee, Coleman, Rango, Weegar and Pachal. I didn’t include Pospy, because the jury’s still out on what type of value he has to the team, and I didn’t include Backs or Raz because we can’t be 100% sure they would be here in three years when the cap floor is $83.9M. The above list is pending RFA’s that I can still see factoring into the team’s future. Even if you were to allocate another $40M for them, you’d still have nine forwards, five dmen, and one goalie under contract, with only $4M or so more to hit the floor. It’s just one scenario, but it shouldn’t be as difficult (or as crazy) as you’ve made it sound.

 

[FLAMESFAN]

Ya, money can go pretty quick.
Now let's go pick up a high paid 3rd-4th DMan for peanuts!

 

[Darth Vladar]

Bruiser has less than 50 pro games and Parekh may not see a pro game until 26-27, Mews even longer. You can't make a trade to make a roster spot in 2-3 years, that's beyond stupid.

I think Ras would get a first++, but teams with high firsts won't be trading for him and if they do it'd be top 10 protected. So yes, I think there is zero chance he gets a high 1st. That Schneider trade was a long time ago and is no longer relevant and it was bad then too.

Every time a team has traded a top 10 pick in the last 5 years it's been a massive blunder, of the 5 top 10 picks traded in the last 5 drafts only 1 was traded knowing where the pick sat (DeBrincat), 2 ended up unprotected because the 1st year was protected (EK to SJ and Duchene from COL)... 1 was only top 2 protected (Seth Jones to CHI) and the other was made by a shitty GM and wasn't smart enough to protect the pick (OEL to Van)... as we saw in the Lindholm trade even that pick was top 10 protected, GMs have smartened up the last couple years when it comes to protecting picks.

Not saying that either of our main prospects is the next Lane Hutson, but that kid literally made the jump straight from Uni with zero indication that he would be flirting with NHL history at this point in the season.

To set a single roster spot aside as incentive for whichever of our young guys is the most ready, willing, and able to make the jump when everybody is counting us out anyways is NOT stupid. It’s saying to these guys that the opportunity is there for whoever takes it.

Even if the 1st Razzy were to get for us wasn’t itself a high one, perhaps it could be bundled up with either or both of the other two to move up if there was a kid we were really high on.

 

[Lunatik]

Ya, money can go pretty quick.
Now let's go pick up a high paid 3rd-4th DMan for peanuts!

Can it include firing Miro into the sun?

But Seriously, I'd love to see if we could pry Romanov out of Long Island, as he's an age appropriate defenseman that would fit with Weegar like a glove. Or Lindgren out of Manhattan if we're allowed to negotiate an extension as part of the trade.