Cammalleri to Calgary

[dhabums]

This is actually really bad if you're a Flames fan.

They're going to make a good stretch run again, fail and then draft in the teens.

The Fail for Nail campaign just hit a major snag.

This is exactly what I think. They have improved, but the Stanley Cup parade plans are still on hold

As for Montreal, wow - what a knee jerk reaction. Can you imagine what the Montreal media will do to Bourque when he floats through a 10 or 15 game stretch without any points, like he did at times with the Flames.

He'll be fine, he speaks french so he will become a fan favourite in no time.

Rini Bork from Alberta speaks french?

[dhabums]

Is Cammi the new Gomez? $6M a year, good once upon a time and traded because he sucks now?

Who cares, Calpuke is already applauding his playoff success. Kinda like Messier as a Canuck.

[BCExpat]

But it isn't just footspeed for a blueline to be slow or fast. They don't move the puck quick enough and don't make quick enough decisions. Some will get better but others are what they are.

That's the talent part of the equation. I didn't say they were a bunch of Norris trophy candidates. They are fast, some of them are even good. A few of them are young and are showing a lot of promise. It's guys like Butler who bring the blue line down a few notches. Sarich is slow, but his grit and positional play aren't too bad. Babchuk is a slow skater - but, he's good on the point on the power play.

[BCExpat]

Is Cammi the new Gomez? $6M a year, good once upon a time and traded because he sucks now?

Who cares, Calpuke is already applauding his playoff success. Kinda like Messier as a Canuck.

He had his career year playing with Iggy. I guess Feaster is banking on him doing it again. If he doesn't, it'll end up being a lateral move talent wise, but taking up valuable cap space.

[nucksin7]

I like the trade for Calgary. #13 fit was a good fit and will be again - much like Tanguay he never shoulda left.

As a Nucks fan I like the prospect of a Canadian team slipping into the 8 hole - Vancouver-Calgary series' are always #epic #instantclassics

I also think Bourque will thrive in MontreaL.

[cjc]

Bourque said he doesn't speak french despite his name.

Funny how Gauthier claims the trade had nothing to do with what Cammalleri said and that the talks had been ongoing for a while. Then Feaster contradicts this by saying "Last night, Pierre called and asked if we were still interested and I said we were, and we started working on it again last night and into today and ultimately got it done late this afternoon." Link: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/201201 ... es-120113/

Nothing to do with Cammalleri's comments? Ha.

[herb]

I had no idea Bourque is 30. He's only been around for a couple of years so I figured he was in his early or mid 20's. Cammalleri is actually a tad younger at 29. Am I the only one who says calamari instead of Cammalleri?

Feaster is definitely banking on Cammalleri regaining the chemistry he had with Iggy three seasons ago. It seems as though both Gauthier and Feaster are desperate to make the playoffs, which is probably trickling down through ownership. I thought for sure this would be the year the Flames blew the team apart and traded Kipprusoff and Iginla as it is Feaster's first full year running the team. The Flames have sucked for the past few years, but I think teams would line up to get their hands on Iginla and Kipprusoff.

Apparently the Feaster regime has the same objective as the Sutter regime - make the playoffs at all costs. Frankly, I don't see either the Flames or Habs making the playoffs let alone acually being legitimate cup threats.

[mathonwy]

I just say Camel Harry. Less confusion.

[Potatoe1]

This is a very good move for Calgary.

Cammalleri by all rights should never have left Calgary, in fact Sutter going after Joke at the expense of the cap space needed to re-sign Mike, basically started the flames fall from pretty good to pretty bad.

Iginla is a couple years older but they played great together and there is no reason to think they wont rekindle their old chemistry.

Flames will still be in tough to make the playoffs but this is about as much as they can do to increase their chances.

[coco_canuck]

The Flames get the best player in the deal. Cammy hasn't been great in Montreal, but that's not surprising for an offensive player who has been restrained in on defensive team. Under Martin the Habs push offensively, but it's a conservative offensive system that doesn't fully play into the hands of a player like Cammaleri.

Coming back to Calgary to play with Iginla should give Cammy a big spark. I don't know if he'll be a point-a-game player again, but he should be fairly productive.

Depending on the cap next year and how much it will cost to re-sign Comeau and Backlund, the Flames will have anywhere from $9-17M in cap space with 3-7 roster spots open. Although Feaster doesn't have nearly the same amount of cap-space like Florida did this past summer, I can't help but think Feaster is somewhat looking at what Florida did and will try to do a re-build on the fly through this trade and 2-3 free agent additions in the summer.

The difference between Florida and Calgary is the Panthers are stocked with a good amount of prospects and good young players, something the Flames really need to add.

We'll see what happens, but the Flames are still at lead a year away from being a legit playoff team if Feaster makes the right moves, but they're still 2-3 years from being real contenders in the best case scenario, and by that time Iggy will be older and at the end of his deal.

As a Flames fan you have to ask yourself, do you take this type of gamble or do you strip down to rebuild a depleted prospect/young player pool that need replenishment?

I'm not sure how you do both when you end up trading 2nd rounders and other mid-level picks for reinforcements over the past couple of years now.

[mathonwy]

Translation: One Less Loser

[dhabums]

Seems they didn't consider what was coming their way?

[Tciso]

This is actually really bad if you're a Flames fan.

They're going to make a good stretch run again, fail and then draft in the teens.

The Fail for Nail campaign just hit a major snag.

This is exactly what I think. They have improved, but the Stanley Cup parade plans are still on hold

As for Montreal, wow - what a knee jerk reaction. Can you imagine what the Montreal media will do to Bourque when he floats through a 10 or 15 game stretch without any points, like he did at times with the Flames.

They will want him to be President of The Belle Province, because he is French, and that is more important than skill there these days.

[Madcombinepilot]

I am so sick of that french racism.

piss on that 'french only' thing.

I am willing to make the Plains of Abraham the best 2 outa 3 if they are....

[Strangelove]

They may push into the 8th spot but

Has ownership decided it's playoffs at all costs?

Apparently the Feaster regime has the same objective as the Sutter regime - make the playoffs at all costs. Frankly, I don't see either the Flames or Habs making the playoffs

Flames will still be in tough to make the playoffs

Yeah still a longshot to make the playoffs.

I like the way my buddy Eklunds Source over at that other site put it:

Calgary has a 28.8% chance of making the playoffs according to SportsClubStats - though it drops to 16.2% if you weigh goal differential, which typically gives better results.. I don't think people realize 3 points out of a playoff spot' is actually significant when there's actually 4 teams you have to hurdle to get in.

To have a better than 2/3rds chance, the Flames need a run of roughly 21-12-4 - about 46 points in their last 37 games. That would take them to 93 points on the season, which is on the low side; last year the Dallas Stars sat the post-season out with 95 points..

It's doable, and a 21-12-4 record doesn't look all that scary, but to put it in perspective, that's a 0.621 points %... 8 teams in the NHL have a percentage better than that right now, so Calgary has to basically be in the same league as what the Bruins, Rangers, Flyers, Sharks, Canucks, Blues, Blackhawks, and Red Wings have done up until now. Basically, they have to be a top-8 team in the league.


Behind Calgary is Edmonton/Anaheim/Columbus, they won't catch up and are basically assured of finishing in various orders of 13-14-15.. Ahead of Calgary and likely fighting with them is Phoenix, Colorado, Dallas, Minnesota, Los Angeles. Two of those teams get in (three if Nashville drops out, but Nashville is quietly 9th in the NHL again).

Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Dallas all play a lot of games against each other, which means there's a lot of nights where its guaranteed one of those teams is taking home 2 points and possibly a 3rd to the other. Calgary has to win every time there's a game between those Pacific foes just to keep pace. Gaining 3 points on 4 different teams when you've played the most games of anyone won't be as easy as "3 points" sounds like. Like the numbers said, somewhere between 16%-29% likely.