first up, the Flames defeated the Flyers last night 5-1, with goals from Cammallari, Conroy and new comers Leopold and Jokinen(2 goals). the Flames improved to 39-19-6, for 84 points.
well the NHL trade deadline has come and gone, and this year it...was...awesome. an entertaining day of talking about trades and seeing what teams did. actually I mostly found it entertaining because the Flames made some BIG moves to push for the Stanely cup and the moves created some discussion among friends.
here are the Flames deals
- Flames traded D Brett Wilson, D Lawrence Nycholat and Montreal's second round pick to Colorado for D Jordan Leopold.
Adam's take
This is a great deal, Wilson may still play in the NHL, who knows, and Nycholat? well we picked him up off waivers a few days earlier. so we gave up a draft pick and a non-blue chip prospect for an arguably top 4 dman.
Three things I want to point out here...
- with Giordano out for the season with shoulder surgery, the Flames needed a replacement. this allows the Flames to have Pardy as the 7th dman, and a little insurance in case of the inevitable playoff injuries. The Flames also have Anders Eriksson and Matt Pelech on the farm, as well Rhett Warrener may be back.
-Adrian Aucoins contract expires after this season. as much as the Flames would love to keep him, he may require too much salary under the cap. Leopold may be his replacement for next year, depending on how he plays the rest of the way.
- Jordan Leopold has played here before, he helped us get to game 7 of the cup final in '04. he is comfortable here, and that is key to not disrupting team chemistry. it took guys like aucoin and sarich a while to get used to the flames system, the learning curve for Leopold will be much shorter. he scored a goal in his first game back with the flames last night!
the second deal the Flames made was this
the Flames traded C Matt Lombardi, LW Brandon Prust and a first round draft pick (in the 25-30 range) to Pheonix for C Olli Jokinen and Pheonix's 3rd round pick (65-70 range)
I also really like this deal. Sure it sucks to lose Matt Lombardi, but you have to give something up to get something, and Jokinen is a big, big upgrade. Matt Lombardi hasn't lived up to potential, the last 3 seasons were supposed to be break-out 20+ goal seasons, but it hasn't happened. he has 9 goals this year...he is fast, and i have always cheered him on, but if you watch him play, he doesn't have the great hands to go with the speed, when he shows up he plays great. he plays 10 or 15 great games a year, where he is stellar on the penalty kill. that is where the flames will miss him most. Lombardi will have successful career, but nowhere near Jokinen in the end.
Jokinen is a great player who is a scorer and a playmaker, much like iginla, he consistently puts up 30+ goals and 40-50 assists. one knock on him is he has played on non playoff teams...same was said about Luongo when he went to vancouver. Jokinen doesn't have to be the star here, Iggy is THE leader of the team, so Jokinen can just go out and play, and play with Cammalleri and Iginla! and he seems to like the idea of playing in a hockey market for once, this can only be good. just look at last night, Jokinen got two goals in his first game with the Flames, playing on the top line. that top line is scary.
someone i know called it the Rocky Mountain Express, or maybe Flashfire. good names, the national media will probably give them a name anyways though. whatever you call them, they should be a force in the playoffs!
the Flames also traded goalie prospect matt Lalande for a 3rd round draft pick. they would have had to lose one of the guys next season anyways. The Flames made the biggest splash, on trade deadline day there were a total of 22 deals done. for more on the rest of the deals, check tsn.ca or nhl.com.
the Oilers were involved in a 4 team deal to get Osullivan and Kalinin, giving up Cole. the Canucks tried to get Bouwmeester but couldn't, Pronger also wasn't moved. Toronto picked up two goalies and traded a few guys, notably antropov to the Rangers. Morris also went to the Rangers, Recchi and Guerin were also moved.after a busy day, the Flames are in good position going into the playoffs.
Sutter accomplished what he wanted, getting a #1 center and a top 4 dman. Detroit and San Jose didn't do much, but they are the top of the league, so maybe they didn't have to, but the Flames may have moved into being at the same level as these two powerhouses. the Flames are 8 points back and with the injuries (lost the whole second line) needed some reinforcements, now for the playoff stretch.
I feel really confident about the Flames this season. they have gotten better as the season has gone on. after being hit by injuries, they continue to win. Giordano is out for the season, bourque is out til mid april, Bertuzzi is out a month, langkow is still day to day, primeau may be back late in the playoffs, warrener is likely done for the season.
The division is essentially locked up, with a 10 point lead on vancouver with 18 games left. if the Flames go .500(easy, .500 would be dissapointing the rest of the way) the rest of the way they will have 102 ponits, the canucks (10 points back with 1 game in hand) would have to go 14-5. I dont see the Flames playing any worse than .600 the resto of the way. the Flames have the pleasure of watching the mess that is the race for the 7 and 8 spots in the west. the Flames are on a 7 game roadtrip, with 5 left, having won 6 in a row on the road at this point.
will the Flames win the Stanley cup this year? well who knows, there are so many intangibles that go into a long run, but the Flames appear to be in good stead to beat any team in the playoffs in a 7 game series. I would say any team would not want to play this team in the playoffs. so much depth, strength, desire (only 2 cup rings..), leadership and outstanding goaltending. the Flames will likely beat Columbus in the first round, then they may play a tougher opponent in the second round.
I can see a Flames vs wings third round match.possibly San Jose or Vancouver, but San Jose may have goalie injury issues and have a history of choking (reminds me of a similary history of another team tho) and Vancouver is relying solely on luongo, dangerous territory. likely the west winner will play New Jersey, washington or boston. im still holding out hope of a Flames-Canadiens Cup final.
who knows maybe the Flames will get to beat the Oilers, Canucks and Cansdiens in the playoffs this year. bottom line, a first round loss this season will be a huge dissapointment. considering the depth of this team and the moves Sutter made for short term, this team is expected to win. a second round loss would also likely be dissapointing. I think we could live with a west final loss, but I don't see this team losing. they are building a winning culture, where players want to play, they need to take advantage of having guys on career years (breakout years or peaks - cammalleri, boyd, moss, glencross, aucoin) and Iggy is the guy to lead them to Stanley Cup glory.
so maybe that sounds like a Flames fan that is overconfident, but its hard not to be confident with this team. they have learned some lessons over the years (much like the Stampeders had up to last season...) and this team no longer has any glaring weaknesses when healthy. that will be key - health. if the Flames can hold off more major injuries, the Flames will improve when the players get healthy.
for once the Flames have it all, top down scoring depth, solid defencemen, with depth, and the Goaltender the has proven he can win in the playoffs. this is where we sit back as fans and watch our favourite teams. the joy that is the playoffs.
I'm looking forward to watching some playoff hockey. this team is fun to watch, and isn't that all we ask for as sports fans? a hope that the team can win and a good hockey team with skill that works hard. even if they don't win the Stanley cup, itll be a fun run to watch.
Enjoy Flames fans,
and fans of other teams that will also have some success this year.
GO Flames!
oh and as for my trade deadline Stanley Cup prediction - Flames over Devils, 4-2
in other news,
the Hitman have struggled as of late, and need a win over Vancouver to get top spot in the WHL, either way, heading into the playoffs, we may see a Vancouver vs Calgary league final.
in the CFL,
the league is eyeing some rule changes
•Moving back the kick-off following a safety touch, to reduce the number of times a team chooses to take a knee in its own end zone;
•Giving coaches the green light to use so called "wildcat" formations that would move the quarterback around, instead of requiring him to stand behind or under centre;
•Requiring a team that kicks a successful field goal to then kick off to its' opponents, increasing the number of kick returns;
•Awarding a team a third challenge of an official's ruling using instant replay if its' first two challenges are successfull.
All four ideas were approved today by the league's rules committee, and were among those suggested by CFL fans.
the BC Lions have signed Buck Pierce to a deal worth up to(with bonuses) $930,000 for 2 years
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