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Flames Sign Louis Domingue

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After bringing in Jacob Markstrom yesterday, the Flames have now shored up their AHL goaltending situation, announcing the signing of Louis Domingue to a one-year deal.  The two-way contract pays $700K in the NHL while PuckPedia adds (Twitter link) that the AHL portion is $450K.

Domingue bounced around a bit last season.  After losing his backup job in Tampa Bay following the signing of Curtis McElhinney last summer, he cleared waivers and started the season with AHL Syracuse.  With Cory Schneider struggling, the Devils flipped a conditional seventh-round pick to the Lightning to get his rights in November.  He was then flipped to Vancouver at the trade deadline for Zane McIntyre.

Overall, the 28-year-old posted a 3.81 GAA with an .882 SV% in 17 games last season between the Devils and Canucks.  Domingue won’t be expected to contend for the number two job – that belongs to David Rittich – but he’ll serve as a serviceable recall if injuries strike while replacing Jon Gillies in that role.  As it turns out, there is already an injury issue for them on the farm with GM Brad Treliving telling Postmedia’s Kristen Anderson (Twitter link) that prospect Tyler Parsons is dealing with an ankle issue.

Chris Tanev Signs With Calgary Flames

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Saturday: Tanev is officially a Flame. Calgary announced the contract late last night local time, confirming the term and AAV. The deal also includes trade protection in the form of a ten-team no-trade list, per CapFriendly.

Friday: The Calgary Flames could be taking two of their rival’s star players in one day. Rick Dhaliwal of TSN and Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet are both reporting that a deal is close with free agent Chris Tanev. Dhaliwal adds that Tanev’s contract would be four years and carry an average annual value of $4.5MM.

After already adding Jacob Markstrom on a six-year deal, the Flames have apparently decided that the best way to get ahead of the Vancouver Canucks is by stealing their free agents. Interestingly enough, the Flames let T.J. Brodie walk for $20MM over four years in Toronto, only to bring in Tanev at a relatively similar price tag. They obviously decided Tanev was the better fit, or but it’s not like the veteran defenseman comes without risk.

Tanev, who will turn 31 before the 2020-21 season begins, has been an excellent player every time he touched the ice for Vancouver. The problem is, he would routinely go weeks or even months without touching that ice due to injury. Tanev has never played more than 70 games in a single season and only reached even that threshold once in his career. He has totaled just 514 games through parts of ten seasons, a number that should be substantially higher.

The interesting part with those injury woes though, is that Tanev actually played in every Vancouver game this season. All 69 regular season games had Tanev in the lineup, and all 17 postseason matches did too. If that’s the kind of health the Flames are buying, they’ll come to appreciate Tanev, even more, when he’s on their side. But that is an incredibly risky proposition, given the other departures on the blue line.

Calgary Flames Sign Jacob Markstrom To Six-Year Deal

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The Jacob Markstrom sweepstakes has a winner. The top goalie on the free agent market opted not to re-sign with the Vancouver Canucks but instead to join the rival Calgary Flames. The Flames have announced that they have agreed to terms with Markstrom on a six-year, $36MM contract. TSN’s Bob McKenzie adds that Markstrom’s deal carries a full No-Movement Clause.

Markstrom, 30, picked a good time to have a career year. In a market with numerous teams needing a new starting goalie, Markstrom was the consensus top option after posting a .918 save percentage and .535 winning percentage. Markstrom finished fourth in the Vezina Trophy voting for the best goalie in the league and was voted the Canucks’ team MVP. In a contract year, he established himself as a legitimate long-term starter.

What resulted was a bidding war for the netminder. Even after proclaiming all year that re-signing Markstrom was a priority, Vancouver could not keep up with rivals Calgary and Edmonton, opting instead to sign Braden Holtby to a short-term deal. Edmonton eventually fell out of the race as well and have yet to find a solution in net.

Calgary, who failed to come to terms on an extension with Cam Talbot prior to free agency opening, end up upgrading the position with Markstrom. David Rittich had failed to prove that he could be relied upon as a starter and will now settle into a backup role, if he is not traded away that is. Markstrom will add some much needed security on the back end for the Flames, who could lose defensemen T.J. Brodie and Travis Hamonic to free agency.

Calgary Flames Sign Four Players

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The Calgary Flames have brought in several depth players, re-signing Buddy Robinson and adding Alexander Petrovic, Byron Froese and Zac Rinaldo. Froese has signed a two-year, two-way contract with an average annual value of $725K, Rinaldo has inked a one-year, two-way contract worth $700K, Robinson has signed a one-year, one-way contract worth $700K and Petrovic’s contract details have not yet been released.

In fact, Petrovic hasn’t been an effective option in the NHL since the 2017-18 season. Once a regular in the Florida Panthers lineup, he suited up just 37 times between Florida and Edmonton in 2018-19 and then spent the entire 2019-20 season with the Providence Bruins. Still just 28, he’ll serve as minor league depth for the Flames next year.

Robinson meanwhile is a veteran AHL scorer, who put up 32 points in 45 games this season for the Stockton Heat. He did get into five games at the NHL and even played in a playoff game for Calgary, but is not expected to spend much time at the highest level.

Cam Talbot To Test The Market

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While goaltender Cam Talbot had expressed an interest in staying with Calgary, that doesn’t appear to be in the cards, at least for now.  Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reports (Twitter link) that the two sides held recent discussions but weren’t able to come to terms on a contract so the veteran will test the open market in a couple of hours.

The 33-year-old was the backup for the Flames to David Rittich during the regular season and posted strong numbers with a .919 SV% and a 2.63 GAA in 26 games (22 starts).  That helped earn him the starting job for the postseason as he made all 10 starts against Winnipeg and Dallas which should help his stock heading to the market.

Talbot has indicated that he wants to have the opportunity to start but there aren’t likely to be many of those opportunities out there.  However, a platoon situation certainly shouldn’t be out of the equation and he’ll have a fair bit of interest in free agency.  He’s coming off of a season that saw him make $2.75MM and even with a lot of other options out there and a flat salary cap, he should be able to get a deal that’s close to that from someone.

Goalie Notes: Rask, Talbot, Darling

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Cross off one option from the list of potentially available goaltenders. Vezina Trophy runner-up Tuukka Rask isn’t going anywhere. Although Rask opting out of the 2020 postseason raised some questions about his future in Boston, especially with just one year remaining on his current contract, the Bruins reiterated that they expected the elite goaltender to be back with the team next season. Rask himself has now taken control of the narrative, telling Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald that he does not want to play for any team but the Bruins. This would seemingly back up recent rumors that Rask had stated to the Bruins that he would retire if traded. It seems unlikely that the Bruins were pushing too hard to trade Rask anyhow, given that he was statistically the best starting goalie in the NHL this season and the team would struggle to replace him. It’s doubtful that the team would be able to get fair value in any deal for Rask as well. Rask will be back in Boston this year, but beyond 2020-21 remains a mystery.

  • One goalie who will be available is Cam Talbot. Despite an impressive comeback season with the Calgary Flames, the two sides have been unable to agree on terms for an extension. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports that talks have broken off for now with the salary gap too far apart. Talbot will test the market and may very well end up elsewhere. Calgary is still in need of a goaltender and could circle back to Talbot if they miss out on bigger free agent or trade targets.
  • An available name getting some surprise attention is Scott Darling. Once one of the top backups in the NHL, Darling’s stint as a starter with the Carolina Hurricanes was an unmitigated disaster and led to a buyout last season and a complete lack of NHL interest. Darling went overseas and joined Austria’s HC Innsbruck of the EBEL. Although his numbers were not all that impressive, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports that there are teams who might be willing to give Darling a second chance. Given the increased importance of goaltending depth in what is expected to be a condensed 2020-21 schedule, an experienced No. 3 like Darling could be valuable.

Calgary Flames Trade Down In 2020 Draft

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The Calgary Flames have traded down in the first round, sending the 19th overall pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for the 22nd and 72nd overall selections. With that 19th pick, the Rangers have decided to select Braden Schneider, the last remaining top-end defenseman available.

Schneider, who played for the Brandon Wheat Kings of the WHL, was ranked ninth among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting. The Rangers had obviously already taken Alexis Lafreniere at the top of the draft and now add a defenseman to go with him. Notably, New York moved just ahead of the New Jersey Devils who had already taken two forwards in the first round and could have potentially nabbed Schneider with their third selection.

The big, mobile defenseman is known for his incredible competitiveness and should move quickly through the Rangers system thanks to a polished game in his own end. He has already played three full seasons in the WHL and scored 42 points in 60 games last season, though the offensive end of the rink isn’t where his eventual game is expected to land. Instead, his physicality and strong defensive stick will be a good counterpoint to young puck-movers like Adam Fox in the New York organization.

Calgary meanwhile then moved down again, trading the 22nd pick to the Washington Capitals for picks 24 and 80. With that 22nd pick, the Capitals ended up taking Hendrix Lapierre, one of the most interesting prospects in the entire draft.

Lapierre was once seen as a potential candidate to challenge for one of the very top picks in this draft. In 2018, he was the first pick in the QMJHL Entry Draft and scored 45 points in his first 48 junior games. Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with multiple concussions quickly afterward and played just 19 games last season. Earlier this year, Lapierre’s concussions were actually rediagnosed as a neck injury and he has recently been given a clean bill of health. He’s back playing in the QMJHL already, scoring five points in two games for Chicoutimi. He’ll need some time to re-establish himself as a top prospect, but the Capitals clearly felt as though they couldn’t wait.

By the time the Flames actually picked, they ended up taking Connor Zary with the 24th selection. Zary has spent the last three seasons playing for the Kamloops Blazers, scoring 86 points in 57 games last season. The WHL forward was ranked 15th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting and could have easily found his way into the top-20 picks, but Calgary found a way to trade down and still get their man. Armed with an incredible shot, Zary fired 38 missiles past junior goaltenders in 2019-20 and could be a candidate for the Canadian World Junior team this winter.

Flames Have Not Yet Made An Offer To Cam Talbot

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  • The Flames have yet to present an offer to pending UFA Cam Talbot, the goalie revealed to Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson. The 33-year-old has indicated an interest to remain with Calgary, as long as he’s not in a backup position.  This past season, that was his role as he made just 22 starts while David Rittich made the other 48 despite Talbot having the better numbers.  The tables flipped in the playoffs, however, as Talbot made all 10 starts and played well, posting a 2.42 GAA with a .924 SV%.  A full-fledged starting job may be hard to come by but a platoon position is certainly attainable if he gets to the open market.

Goalie Notes: Lundqvist, Calgary, Knight

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The King has hit the court after today’s buyout of Henrik Lundqvist, adding yet another name to the overflowing free agent goaltender market. Of course, there is no guarantee that the former New York Rangers netminder will continue his career in the NHL, given his age and career so far. Lundqvist has only ever played for the Rangers, suiting up more than 1,000 times for the team over 15 years.

His agent Don Meehan told Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic that Lundqvist’s desire to play elsewhere is  “to be determined” while Craig Custance was told by an NHL source that they had been told the veteran goaltender would be playing “unless the market isn’t there for him.” The 38-year-old will collect $1.5MM in buyout salary from the Rangers each of the next two years.

  • There are a lot of goaltenders available this year and the Calgary Flames have checked in on all of them, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. That includes speaking with the Columbus Blue Jackets who have two young goaltenders under contract in the NHL and several more interesting prospects on the way. The Flames have David Rittich under contract for the 2020-21 season at $2.75MM but could use an upgrade at the position if they hope to contend for the Stanley Cup. Not only does Rittich’s .907 save percentage this season not inspire a ton of confidence he’s the answer, but the Flames also may be thinking about the effects of a condensed schedule on the position. Rittich started 48 games in 2019-20, the most of his career, and had an .893 save percentage after Christmas.
  • One team that will hang up if Calgary calls? The Florida Panthers, who have shut down multiple teams asking about top goaltending prospect Spencer Knight. Custance reports that the Panthers have absolutely no desire to move Knight, who they picked 13th overall in 2019 despite the presence of Sergei Bobrovsky (and his long-term contract). Knight, 19, put up a .931 save percentage as a freshman for Boston College and will likely be USA Hockey’s starter once again at this year’s World Juniors.

Calgary Flames Loan Juuso Valimaki To Ilves

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While many players and prospects have been loaned overseas ahead of the unknown start date of the 2020-21 NHL season, few need the the head start as much as the Calgary Flames’ Juuso Valimaki. The promising young defenseman missed the entire 2019-20 season and postseason after suffering a torn ACL last fall. Yet, with five veteran defensemen about to hit the free agent market, the Flames are trusting that Valimaki can return to form and take on a top role on the blue line right away next season. After so much time away from the game, it will take more than just training camp to get Valimaki up to speed ahead of the new year.

Cue Tampereen Ilves of the Finnish Liiga. Calgary announced that they have loaned Valimaki to Ilves to get him game action before he returns to North America. Valimaki is familiar with the club, having played in their youth system, including a year with the U20 team in the top Finnish junior league, before making the jump to the WHL and eventually the NHL.

With Ilves, Valimaki will be able to get used to playing the major minutes that the Flames may expect of him this coming season. A relatively young team, Ilves has just a handful of players that are considerably older than 21-year-old Valimaki. They have also not received anyone on loan from the NHL prior to Valimaki outside of a trio of prospects – Lassi Thomson, Arrtu Ruotsalainen, and Lukas Dostal – who were on loan all of last season as well. Valimaki will have a chance to take on a key role for the team and should be ready to go once he is recalled by Calgary.

 

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