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Flames Re-Sign Garnet Hathaway To One-Year Deal

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The Flames have come to terms with one of their remaining restricted free agents, announcing that they’ve come to terms with winger Garnet Hathaway on a one-year, two-way contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Hathaway split 2016-17 between Calgary and their AHL affiliate in Stockton, a role he will likely apprise next season.  In 26 games with the Flames, he had a goal and four assists while averaging a little over nine minutes per game of ice time.  In his NHL career, he has eight points (1-7-8) in 40 games, all with the Flames.

At the minor league level, the 25-year old has been more productive.  This past season, he had eight goals and 12 helpers in 31 games with the Heat and has tallied 77 points over the past three years.

With the signing, Calgary now has five remaining restricted free agents.  Of those, only Sam Bennett is a full-time NHL player.  Their other RFAs are goalies David Rittich and Jon Gillies as well as defensemen Brett Kulak and Tyler Wotherspoon.

Eetu Tuulola Heading Back To Finland For 2017-18

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  • The Calgary Flames will watch Eetu Tuulola return to Finland for the upcoming season, leaving the Everett Silvertips where he had played in 2016-17. Tuulola was a sixth-round pick of the Flames in 2016 and tried his hand in the Canadian junior ranks with 31 points in 62 games. He’ll play for HPK in Finland’s Liiga next year, a professional team that can offer a bit more development opportunity than Everett.

Flames Notes: Ferland, Bennett, Iginla

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Micheal Ferland re-signed this Thursday with Calgary, and apparently he’s slotted for big things this year. Adam Gretz of NBC Sports reports that Ferland will play on the top line with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan. Ferland will be playing as the third wheel to the talented duo, but should be a productive member. Ferland has yet to cement himself as a consistent offensive producer, so this vote of confidence should be taken as a sign of his internally perceived value. With only 25 points last season, he’ll need to find a bit more of a knack for playmaking in tight spaces. As Gretz mentioned, he has posted a positive Corsi (52%) in the minutes he paired with the Gaudreau-Monahan duo. If nothing else, he’ll open up room for the line with his heavy forechecking style and if he stays with those two long-term, look for his next contract to be a good deal more expensive.

  • Sam Bennett is the only major RFA the Flames have yet to sign. He’s also a bit of a confusing commodity. He really regressed offensively in a manner no one was anticipating last season, and it’s hard to ascertain how much that will impact his upcoming deal. The Flames would likely like to lock him up for some of his UFA years, but Bennett seems to think he can prove his value in the immediate future. He remarked to the National Post’s Al Charest after their first round series that he’s “just getting started”, and it’s easy to believe him. He has incredible hands and seems more well-rounded than when he entered the league, even if he struggled to produce in 2016-17. His Corsi only went down slightly (.6%) while his Fenwick went up, and he did face a tougher quality of competition. Odds are that Bennett bounces back and earns a heftier long-term contract down the road. For now, somewhere around $3 MM seems a safe bet.
  • The two parties haven’t been linked, but at this late date might Calgary show an interest in reuniting with Jarome Iginla? Iginla has wanted a place on a contender for the last half-decade, and Calgary has shown that they could compete in the immediate future. Adding Mike Smith in net, adding Travis Hamonic and re-signing Michael Stone on the back-end, and with the youngsters another year older, they could do some damage come spring. One of Alex Chiasson or Kris Versteeg might need to slot down a healthy lineup on occasion if it were to happen, but Iginla would provide some invaluable leadership for the young core on a dirt-cheap deal. They have the cap room to make it happen if they so desire.

Calgary Flames Sign Curtis Lazar

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The Calgary Flames have continued to lock up their restricted free agents, this time signing Curtis Lazar to a two-year contract that carries an average annual value of $950K. Lazar did not have arbitration rights, but was issued a qualifying offer by the Flames in order to retain control of his rights.

After an incredibly poor season in which Lazar scored just four points, the first-round pick is at a crossroads. Will he join the list of top picks that struggle to adjust to the NHL, and carve out a successful career in the minor and European leagues, or will something click as he enters his mid-twenties and allow him to fulfill the potential the Ottawa Senators saw in him. It cost the Flames a second-round pick to acquire him at the deadline, and they clearly believe in his upside by giving him this deal, a contract that seems overpriced for what he’s brought to the NHL so far.

Lazar won’t turn 23 until February of next year, meaning he still has plenty of time to develop into the power forward-type he was expected to be, but it will take more than just an improved shooting percentage (amazingly he shot just 3.8% last season) to get him there. His play with and without the puck just simply hasn’t been good enough to trust with a bigger role, and in Calgary behind a deep forward group he’ll have to do more with limited minutes.

The $1.9MM gamble is definitely worth it for the Flames, who have plenty of money coming off the books next season and need depth players to help on their Stanley Cup run the next few years. If Lazar can turn in even a slightly improved performance he’ll be earning a solid salary, while if not they could bury him in the minors for no cap hit at all. This year since the minimum NHL salary increased to $650K, the amount saved with any buried one-way contract is $1.025MM, though last year’s amount would have worked for Lazar too. That slightly higher number may also ward off teams from grabbing him off waivers, allowing the Flames to hold onto him even if his performance isn’t up to snuff.

Flames Re-Sign Micheal Ferland To Two-Year Deal

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7:19 PM: The Flames have officially announced the two-year contract worth a total of $3.5MM.

4:36PM: The Calgary Flames and Micheal Ferland are working on a two-year deal that would pay the restricted free agent $3.5MM total according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. With his arbitration hearing set for July 22nd, the two sides have just over a week to work something out or have to live with an arbitrator’s decision.

A two-year deal would take the 25-year old Ferland to unrestricted free agency, which is why the team can keep the cap hit so low. Though he doesn’t have much of a track record, Ferland found some solid success last season in his limited chances with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, scoring 15 goals and 25 points despite playing less than 12 minutes a night.

That success comes with an added physical presence and a good amount of defensive awareness, making him an interesting option that can play up and down the lineup. With the Flames still having plenty of wing options for the top six, and bringing Kris Versteeg back, Ferland can again slot in as a depth option and play to his strengths away from top competition.

The team still has to make decisions on Sam Bennett and Curtis Lazar, both of whom are ineligible for arbitration this summer. If they want to lock up Bennett long-term, it would eat up a fair bit of their cap space even coming off a down season. The former fourth-overall pick still has plenty of potential, and buying out free agent years wouldn’t come cheap.

That said, Ferland’s deal leaves them with enough room to sign both RFAs and even make another addition if they so chose. After acquiring Travis Hamonic, Mike Smith and Eddie Lack and re-signing Versteeg and Michael Stone the Flames are poised to take a long run at the Stanley Cup this season. Players like Ferland are integral to any contending team, able to move up the lineup if injuries happen and grind out long playoff series with their in-your-face style.

Snapshots: Sieloff, Archibald, Buchberger

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The Ottawa Senators have announced an extension for defenseman Patrick Sieloff. The two sides have agreed to a one-year, two-way deal worth $650K at the NHL level. Sieloff, 23, has just one NHL game under his belt, back with the Calgary Flames in 2015-16, but the  stay-at-home defender posted a career-high 12 points last year with the AHL’s Binghamton Senators this past season. A second-round pick in 2012 and the sole return for the Senators from the Alex Chiasson trade, it makes sense that Ottawa would like to retain the valuable Sieloff, even if he is developing slowly. However, there are sure to be many Sens fans upset at the extension news. Sieloff is best known in Ottawa as the player who boarded Clarke MacArthur, just returning from missing most of the 2015-16 season with a concussion, during a Senators’ preseason scrimmage, causing yet another concussion which kept him out most of 2016-17 as well. It was not the best start to Sieloff’s Senators tenure, but clearly not enough for the organization to turn on him.

  • The AHL’s Utica Comets, the minor league affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, announced that they have re-signed forward Darren Archibald to a one-year deal. Archibald, a big, physical right wing, also found his scoring touch last season, setting the Comets’ franchise goal-scoring record with 23 goals. Although Archibald was only in the NHL for 16 games, a brief stint with the Canucks during the 2013-14 season, he’s made a name for himself with their affiliate. Archibald is second in team history, albeit for a young Comets franchise, in games played, goals, and points and first in penalty minutes. Another strong season on both offense and defense could earn Archibald another NHL look.
  • The New York Islanders made official the hiring of Kelly Buchberger as an assistant coach today, a move that has been in the works since before the end of the 2016-17 season. Buchberger, like Archibald, was a big, physical right wing with a knack for scoring goals, only Buchberger did it in the NHL for 17 years. He has also served as an assistant coach and vice president of player development for the Edmonton Oilers in recent years, the city he played in for the bulk of his career. A two-time Stanley Cup winner and a former NHL captain, Buchberger bring experience and leadership to Doug Weight’s young coaching staff.

Who’s Playing On Another Team’s Dime?

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The most recent CBA introduced retained salary transactions—trades where a team trade a player but agree to pay a percentage of his salary. This is ideal when a team wants a player but will have trouble fitting him in under the cap. The ability to retain salary comes with restrictions, however, so let’s briefly look at how retained salary transactions work before looking at which players are subject to them.

  1. A team can retain up to 50% of a player’s average salary (including bonuses);
  2. The retained salary amount is uniform over the full length of the player’s contract;
  3. A team can retain up to three players’ salary at one time;
  4. A team cannot have more than 15% of the salary cap devoted to retained salary;
  5. A team cannot retain salary on a player who is already subject to two current retained salary transactions;
  6. If a team acquires a player with retained salary, then trades him while also retaining salary, the second retained salary agreement cannot modify the initial retained salary agreement;
  7. Teams cannot reacquire a player within a year of trading him if it agreed to retain salary in the initial transaction (unless the player’s contract terminated);
  8. Retained salary obligations apply to any cap advantage recapture amounts; and
  9. Retained salary obligations still apply if a player is bought out or loaned to an AHL club. The NHL team would pay a portion of the player’s AHL salary (if applicable).

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Galchenyuk Negotiations Intensify

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Alex Galchenyuk has suddenly gone from pariah to absolute necessity. In the wake of losing top scoring threat Alexander Radulov via free agency to the Dallas Stars, Galchenyuk, a restricted free agent, has seen his internal value skyrocket. Radulov, of course, signed with the Stars earlier today for 5 seasons, and the Montreal offense was already severely lacking. Galchenyuk had a respectable 44 points in only 61 games last season, but that was a marginal drop from his 30-goal, 56-point campaign the year prior.

One of the largest issues for Galchenyuk this last season was consistency in his production, and many link that to his constant switching between the center and left wing roles. Galchenyuk is a more natural center, and has stated as such on numerous occasions. His defensive play has left many fans wanting, however. Two separate coaching staffs placed him on the wing at different points, and the organization has stated pretty clearly that he isn’t ready for top-line center duties. The problem for Montreal of course, is that they don’t have anyone else nearly as capable to fill that role. Tomas Plekanec is another year older and Galchenyuk is already arguably the better player. With Radulov (a right-wing) out of the picture, it might be wise to keep Galchenyuk content and comfortable.

According to Darren Dreger, Galchenyuk’s agent Pat Brisson has been in contact with GM Marc Bergevin, who will now turn his attention primarily to this contract. If they can’t come to an agreement, arbitration is always an option that can be utilized. That said, arbitration would probably only serve to fan the flames that have surrounded this player since he was supposedly placed on the block a year ago. Those flames are still not going out until that contract has been signed, and there will always be a market for young, talented centers.

When Jonathan Drouin was acquired for the left side, it seemed as though the writing was on the wall. But now, with Radulov out of the picture, losing Galchenyuk’s top-six offensive abilities would be a massive blow to the team. Montreal finished 13th in Goals For, but only two players hit the 20 goal mark – Max Pacioretty (35) and Paul Byron (22). Losing their top assist man and second-leading point getter in Radulov, it would be entirely devastating to draw the Galchenyuk negotiations out into the season, or worse, to trade him following a down year. Galchenyuk and his agent know they have the leverage in negotiations, and there’s a strong possibility they’ll use every ounce of it to get a better deal for the 23-year-old talent. Considering his production and league wide comparisons, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to see him make well above $5 MM.

Pacific Signings: Gazdic, Oleksy, Grant

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The Calgary Flames have signed enforcer Luke Gazdic to a one-year, two-way contract. Terms were not disclosed. Gazdic spent last year with the New Jersey Devils, where he split time between the NHL club and the AHL’s Albany Devils. Gazdic played 11 games for New Jersey, accumulating 12 penalty minutes. In 37 games for Albany, the 27-year-old wing had one goal, six assists and 63 penalty minutes.

He had his best season with the Edmonton Oilers back in the 2013-14 season in which he played a career-high 67 games and accumulated 127 penalty minutes as well as two goals and four points. Now he will move over to Calgary to provide much-needed depth to their back lines either in Calgary or the Stockton Heat, depending on the team’s needs.

The Flames have been quiet to start the offseason as they have only signed three players so far in free agency, including an entry-level contract to college star Spencer Foo, an entry-level contract to their 2016 sixth-round pick Stepan Falkovsky and a one-year deal with former New York Rangers’ wing Marek Hrivik.

  • The Anaheim Ducks have signed defenseman Steven Oleksy to a two-year, one-way contract and also inked center Derek Grant to a one-year, one-way deal, according to L.A. Times reporter Helene Elliott. The Ducks also agreed to terms with wings Michael Liambas and Scott Sabourin to one-year, two-way contracts. Oleksy comes from Toronto, but was traded there from Pittsburgh last year. While he never played for the Maple Leafs, the 31-year-old defender did get go play 11 games for the Penguins before being traded. Grant also was traded midseason last year. The 27-year-old center played 40 games for the Buffalo Sabres and another six for the Nashville Predators, although he did not appear in any playoff games. Liambas, a 28-year-old center, has played in one NHL game in his career, while the 24-year-old Sabourin has not reached the NHL yet. He played in 54 games for the San Diego Gulls in the AHL.

Red Wings Acquire Keeper Tom McCollum

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On the biggest signing day of the year, the Calgary Flames and Detroit Red Wings have instead been talking trade. The Flames have agreed to send goalie Tom McCollum, extended only for Expansion Draft purposes, to the Detroit Red Wings for a conditional seventh-round draft pick, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger. The Flames, who have recently added both Mike Smith and Eddie Lack in net and have to also accommodate prospects Jon Gillies and Mason McDonald, were reportedly working to loan McCollum out to another AHL team anyway. Instead, McCollum will head back to Detroit, the organization who drafted him and where he spent the first seven years of his career, presumably to back up Jared Coreau in the AHL.

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