I mean, the key is to have both. You can’t say guys like Coleman, Tanev, Zad, Guddy or even Markstrom haven’t been or weren’t important parts to this team last year.
Definitely didn't say that. I'm not anti UFA, just anti marginal NHL player UFA. And the Flames have met their quota this year for that with Lewis and Rooney.
You can’t just throw rookies into a team regardless of what fans want/think. As I keep pointing out, last year in the AHL playoffs this Flames AHL squad got run over (what would have been worse sans Wolf), by Josh Leivo, Stefan Noesen and Richard Panik; and the star for the baby Flames was Justin Kirkland, not Pelletier or Phillips who I see most people want on the big roster.
Still their best finish ever. The Heat were the only AHL team to take even 2 games off that Chicago team, and really deserved better in game 1. They weren't run over. I am a little pissed they let Kirkland go though, he was good.
You’re fine signing the Nordstroms, Simons, Ritchies of the world because their contracts are ones you could dump in the AHL if their roster spot gets beat out by one of these rookies at camp or during the season if their play dips too badly.
Except that never actually happens. Simon was the only player to be sent down and he only played 1 AHL game. Teams are reluctant to bury vets unless they're totally washed because agents and players take notice and are less willing to take cheap one year deals with a team they think won't have a problem burying them.
Dunno. Flames seem to do a great job graduating kids yearly. Since BT took over the GM position, from 2015-2017 they graduated generally 3 guys who are contributor (2017 only two), 2018 they had no real picks, 2019 looks like there’s a couple guys well on their way, 2020 looks like it might have another 3 guys with some big time upside, 2021 the same thing. This team isn’t a slouch at bringing guys up.
They do yes. With all the older money on the books it's becoming more important than ever that the Flames have their farm system contributing. You do that by leaving a roster spot open for the prospects to compete over, not by signing another 13th forward you hope can bang in 10pts over the year.
