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Pittsburgh Penguins Trade Phil Kessel To Arizona Coyotes

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The Pittsburgh Penguins announced they have traded forward Phil Kessel to the Arizona Coyotes, finally ending a long saga in which Pittsburgh has been trying to unload the unhappy veteran. The Penguins will send Kessel, prospect Dane Birks and a 2021 fourth-round pick to Arizona for forward Alex Galchenyuk and prospect Pierre-Olivier Joseph.

“First and foremost, I want to thank Phil Kessel for his contributions to the Penguins. He was a key component to our success in winning back-to-back Stanley Cups. We couldn’t have done it without him, and for that, we are grateful,” said Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford. “With that being said, we are excited to welcome a young, skilled player in Alex, and add depth to our defense with first-round draft pick Pierre-Olivier Joseph.”

Kessel’s name has been in the news all offseason as the team is interested in moving the veteran forward and the three years remaining on his deal at $6.8MM and with some bad blood between Kessel and the Penguins, general manager Jim Rutherford was looking to move him. Rutherford said that Kessel requested to be traded several times during last season and then changed his mind, although Kessel denies that, according to ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski. The Penguins attempted to trade Kessel to Minnesota in May in a package that included Jason Zucker, but Kessel, who has a modified no-trade clause where he can pick eight teams that he can be traded to, rejected the deal as he had no interest in going to Minnesota. However, Kessel would be interested in going to Arizona as he has a great relationship with their coach, Rick Tocchet, who was an assistant coach in Pittsburgh before he took the Coyotes’ job. Tocchet was, in fact, known in Pittsburgh as the “Phil Kessel Whisperer,” and is considered the one coach who can get the most out of the veteran.

The 31-year-old Kessel is coming off a solid season in which he scored 27 goals and 82 points, which would have been tops on Arizona’s squad by 35 points as the team’s points leader was Clayton Keller, who put up 14 goals and 47 points. Kessel provides the Coyotes with a proven veteran scorer, something that was desperately needed as no one in Arizona got to 20 goals last season. In fact, Kessel has scored 291 goals in the last 10 seasons, which is only behind a handful of top players in the league, including Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, John Tavares, Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane and Joe Pavelski. Kessel’s contract will be the second-biggest on the team behind defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Kessel also should provide some stability in the lineup as Arizona was ravaged by injuries last year. Kessel has gone nine straight seasons without having missed a regular-season game. While Kessel isn’t known for his defensive play, it evens out as Galchenyuk is considered to be just as weak defensively.

In Galchenyuk, the Penguins would still get a solid top-six forward, but at both a cheaper price tag and with less term. Galchenyuk has just one year remaining on his deal at $4.9MM, which gives the Penguins some much-needed cap room to attempt to add to a team that got swept in the first-round of the playoffs last year and have a limited time to make a Stanley Cup run as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin aren’t getting any younger. The 25-year-old Galchenyuk put up 19 goals and 41 points in 72 games last season, his first in Arizona after being acquired last offseason via trade from Montreal and should become a solid winger on one of Pittsburgh’s top two lines.

The Penguins also added some young defensive depth as Joseph was Arizona’s first-round pick in 2017 and is ready to turn pro, although he will likely need at least one year in the AHL. The 19-year-old posted nine goals and 42 points for two junior squads last year. Birks is likely to even out the trade as the 23-year-old spent all of last season in the ECHL with the Wheeling Nailers.

TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report the trade. 

2019 CHL Import Draft Results

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The CHL held its annual import draft today, where teams from across the Canadian junior leagues get to select the rights of players around the world. Often these are recently drafted prospects, or those seen to have good chances at next year’s draft. Being selected has no guarantee that the player will actually ever suit up for the team, as Filip Chytil proved in 2017. Chytil was selected seventh-overall by the North Bay Battalion, but ended up spending the year with the New York Rangers and Hartford Wolf Pack after impressing in his first training camp.

There are clear benefits from picking at the top of the draft though, as the Sudbury Wolves found out last season. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was the third-overall selection, and ended up winning the Red Tilson trophy as the OHL’s Most Outstanding Player. This year saw Finnish-born Kasper Puutio go first to the Swift Current Broncos after being promoted to the U20 Finnish junior league last season even at the age of 16. Puutio is a right-handed defenseman eligible for the 2020 NHL Entry Draft. Teams are only allowed a certain number of import players, which leads to some passing on their selections even in the early part of the draft. Check out last year’s draft to see some familiar names.

The results will be updated below as picks are made:

Round 1

1. Swift Current – Kasper Puutio (D, Finland)

2. Kingston – Martin Chromiak (RW, Slovakia)

3. Acadie-Bathurst – Noah Delemont (D, Switzerland)

4. Winnipeg – Michal Teply (LW, Czech Republic)

5. Flint – Yevgeni Oksentyuk (RW, Belarus)

Read more

Morning Notes: Eriksson, Sabres, Afanasyev

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Loui Eriksson has been at the center of trade speculation for the last few weeks, and his name came up again when agent J.P. Barry was on Sportsnet radio today. Barry explained that he will work with Vancouver Canucks GM Jim Benning on how to go about Eriksson’s future, and noted that “for a lot of hockey reasons, it might be better for Loui to play somewhere else.” These comments come after Eriksson spoke out last month about how he was being used and how he didn’t see eye to eye with head coach Travis Green.

The 33-year old was infamously part of a spending spree on July 1, 2016 that has resulted in some of the worst contracts around the league, and still has three years remaining on the deal he signed that day. Eriksson comes with a $6MM cap hit for those three years, and actually has a full no-trade clause for this season. That means he gets to have a say in where he plays in 2019-20, but it may be difficult to find a taker given he has scored just 32 total goals in his three seasons in Vancouver.

  • The Buffalo Sabres announced they have hired Don Granato and Mike Bales as assistant coaches, adding them to Ralph Krueger’s staff that also includes Steve Smith. Goaltending coach Bales recently parted ways with the Carolina Hurricanes and was immediately linked to the Sabres, given his history with Buffalo GM Jason Botterill from their time in Pittsburgh together. Granato meanwhile spent the last two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks, but has plenty of head coaching experience in the USHL, ECHL and AHL.
  • The Windsor Spitfires have convinced Egor Afanasyev to commit to the OHL next season, giving them another intriguing weapon to deploy up front. The 18-year old forward starred for the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL last season scoring 62 points in 58 games and could very well find himself selected early in this month’s NHL Entry Draft. Afanasyev was ranked 16th among North American skaters by NHL Central Scouting, and is an attractive mix of size and skill that could be snapped up by a team who believes in his ceiling. No matter what NHL team picks him, the 6’4″ forward will be part of an excellent junior program in Windsor and should be given every chance to develop.

Matthew Savoie Signs With Winnipeg Ice

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You may not know the name Matthew Savoie just yet, but you will soon. The 15-year old forward was selected first overall in the 2019 WHL Bantam draft, despite having committed to the University of Denver. The Winnipeg Ice—newly relocated from Kootenay—took a chance on Savoie anyway, and have now convinced him to sign and play in the CHL. Playing in the CHL means Savoie would no longer be eligible for the NCAA, as they consider it a professional league since various players have already signed their NHL entry-level contracts.

Not only was it risky to pick a player with a commitment to such a powerhouse program like DU, but Savoie will only actually be eligible to play in a limited number of games next season given his age. He was turned down by the CHL when applying for exceptional status, but Tyler Yaremchuk reports that the Ice have found a loophole that will at least allow the young forward to play in 34 games. Injury and emergency recalls may even boost that number into the 40-50 game range, if Savoie is lucky.

Savoie won’t be eligible for the NHL draft until 2022, but he’s certainly already on the radar of teams around the league. The 5’9″ 165-lbs forward scored 71 points in 31 games for Norther Alberta X-Treme Prep this season, and added another 12 points in five playoff contests. The young forward has been dominating his age group for years now, and the Ice did everything they could to get him into the program, including trading for his brother Carter Savoie’s WHL rights in March.

It’s hard to see this as anything other than a huge win for Winnipeg, who also signed second-overall pick Conor Geekie a few weeks ago. Getting the top two players in the draft can only serve to help the program as it tries to establish some roots in Winnipeg.

Minor Notes: Woods, Virta, McKenzie

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Even though the Stanley Cup Final and draft preparation is taking up most of the hockey world at the moment, there are things still happening behind the scenes and in the minor leagues. As always, we’ll keep track of the happenings in the AHL and other leagues around the world right here:

  • The Toronto Marlies have signed Riley Woods to a one-year AHL contract, giving the WHL forward a place to play next season. Woods finished his junior career this season with the Spokane Chiefs, recording 75 points in 65 regular season games and being named a second team All-Star. The Maple Leafs have built quite the development system in Toronto, and have now started bringing in late-blooming CHL stars to try and shore up their ranks in the minor leagues.
  • CapFriendly confirmed today that the New York Rangers have also lost the draft rights to Patrik Virta, their seventh-round pick from 2017, because they didn’t sign him by June 1. There was some confusion of Virta due to the fact that he played in the KHL for part of the 2018-19 season—which has no transfer agreement and therefor would have extended the rights indefinitely—but given his transfer to the SHL they have indeed expired. Virta was a top scorer in the Finnish league in 2017-18 but struggled in the KHL and Sweden this season. He is an unrestricted free agent now, and can sign with anyone.
  • Curtis McKenzie received 27 minutes of penalties at the end of game two of the Calder Cup Final, and will now see even more discipline. The Chicago Wolves forward has been suspended for game three after attacking a prone Steven Lortenz with 0.8 seconds left in the game. McKenzie has now amassed 51 penalty minutes in 19 playoff games for the Wolves, after leading them with 112 in the regular season. If that makes you think he’s only out there to fight you’d be wrong, as the former Dallas Stars forward also recorded 54 points in the regular season and has another 14 in the postseason. His loss is a big blow to Chicago after the series was tied 1-1.

Combine Notes: Hughes, Sogaard, Kallionkieli

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Today is the last day of the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo, with fitness testing, final measurements, and media availability for all invitees. An unexpected omission from the fitness testing portion though was none other than presumptive No. 1 overall pick Jack Hughes. Hughes was schedule to undergo the numerous fitness testing programs, but opted out instead. Speaking with the media, including The Buffalo News’ Mike Harrington, Hughes simply said that after a long season he didn’t feel the need to further prove himself. The phenom forward just wrapped up a World Championship tournament that came after a full season with the U.S. National Team Development Program and stints at the U-20 and U-18 World Junior Championships. While Hughes has been busy playing hockey this last month, the vast majority of combine participants have instead been preparing for the specific fitness tests. Hughes accurately compared undergoing fitness testing without preparing to taking a test without studying. There is little question as to where Hughes will be selected later this month and thus no upside to his participation today. It also helps his case that Kaapo Kakko, the only player who could push Hughes from the top spot in the draft, skipped the combine entirely to celebrate his World Championship victory with Finland back home.

  • The minor deviations of height and weight recorded at the combine generally don’t make much of difference to NHL teams putting together their draft boards. However, sometimes those numbers are worth noting and one top goalie prospect in particular turned some heads this year. Danish keeper Mads Sogaard of the WHL’s Medicine Hat Tigers received an official height measurement of 6’7 1/2″. As The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler notes, that would make Sogaard the tallest goalie in the NHL if and when he reaches that level. Devan Dubnyk, Ben Bishop, and the like all pale in comparison to Sogaard, who NHL Central Scouting ranked as their No. 2 goalie prospect. Size is a trait all teams value in their net minders, but combine Sogaard’s 99th-percentile height and his substantial talent, and you likely have a second-round pick in the upcoming 2019 NHL Draft. One last fun fact about Sogaard’s measurement: he is officially more than a foot taller than fellow top prospect Cole Caufield; the USNTDP sniper came in at 5’7 1/4″.
  • Forward Marcus Kallionkieli was a popular player for the gathered media today – and likely for teams as well this week – as there are still so few answers about his future. Kallionkieli came over from Finland this season to play in the USHL, in hopes of eventually landing in the NCAA. However, a year has passed and he is still without a college commitment. It certainly is not due to a lack of talent, as Kallionkieli was considered the top uncommitted player in the league this year, but for one reason or another, Kallionkieli lacks an NCAA team to play for next season. As such, Wheeler relays the news straight from Kallionkieli today that his plan for now is to return to the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers next season, which would keep the possibility of following the collegiate route open. So too would a return to Finland, albeit a less helpful choice if he is trying to land a long-term fit stateside. Yet, Kallionkieli also mentioned that he would consider playing in the CHL for whoever selects him in the CHL Import Draft. That decision would put an end to his NCAA hopes, but would be a just as acceptable developmental path. There are likely more details about Kallionkieli’s decisions that are not available to the public, but have been disclosed to teams, as the Finnish forward does not want to come off as being indecisive or malcontent. As for what his performance on the ice says, Kallionkieli was a near point-per-game scorer this season and has great hands and offensive instincts. He continues to be pegged as a third-round pick at worst, despite the mystery surrounding his future.

CHL Announces Top Player Awards for 2018-19

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Just one year after being named the CHL Rookie of the Year, QMJHL’s Alexis Lafreniere of Rimouski Oceanic, took another huge leap in his development as the 17-year-old was named the Sportsnet’s Player of the Year after the CHL released its top award winners Saturday.

Lafrieniere, who is considered to be the leading candidate to be the first-overall pick in the 2020 NHL draft, scored 42 goals as a 16-year-old to garner Rookie of the Year honors in 2017-18 and while his goal totals dropped to 37 this season, his playmaking skills took off. Lafreniere tallied 68 assists and 105 total points and then took his game to another level in the playoffs when he scored nine goals and 23 points in 13 games. Tampa Bay prospect Alex Barre-Boulet was the 2017-18 winner, at the age of 21. Lafreniere beat two other key players, including the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks’ Joachim Blichfeld and goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen of the OHL’s Sudbury Wolves.

Defenseman Ty Smith was named the Superstore Defenceman of the Year. The 19-year-old, who will likely take the ice with the New Jersey Devils next season, posted seven goals and 69 points in 57 games this season for the Spokane Chiefs of the WHL. Ian Scott of the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders won the Vaughn Goaltender of the Year Award. He put up 38 wins, posting a 1.78 GAA and a .932 save percentage. The 20-year-old goaltender is a product of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Rookie Quinton Byfield of the Sudbury Wolves walked away with the Wawanesa Rookie of the Year Award after scoring 29 goals and 61 points in 64 games.

Here is a list of all the CHL award winners:

Player of the Year: Alexis Lafreniere
Defenseman of the Year: Ty Smith
Goaltender of the Year: Ian Scott
Rookie of the Year: Quinton Byfield
Coach of the Year: Mario Pouliot
Scholastic Player of the Year: Dustin Wolf
Humanitarian of the Year: Charle-Edouard D’Astous
Sportsman of the Year: Justin Almeida
Top Scorer: Jason Robertson
Top Prospect of Year: Bowen Byram

 

 

Prospect Notes: London, Ilves, Kallionkieli

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It’s no secret that the Canadian junior ranks and the American collegiate ranks compete over prized prospects constantly. In most cases, once a young player decides on their route, there is no going back. Playing even one game in the OHL, WHL, or QMJHL disqualifies an athlete from NCAA participation so there is no recourse once the major junior path is chosen. However, there are rare occurrences where some prospects play for or commit to a a college program before eventually joining a junior club instead. Incredibly, the OHL’s London Knights landed two such players today. The team announced that both Jonathan Gruden and Bryce Montgomery have joined the organization ahead of the 2019-20 season. Gruden, who turns 19 tomorrow, was a fourth-round pick of the Ottawa Senators last year and played for Miami University this season. Despite a promising 15-point freshman season, Gruden decided that the college game was not for him for some reason. Last month, he shockingly signed his entry-level contract with the Senators, giving up the rest of his NCAA eligibility. Gruden is not yet eligible to play in the AHL and is not close to ready for the NHL, so it was a foregone conclusion that he would join the Knights, who held his CHL junior rights. As for Montgomery, his change of heart is a new surprise. The 16-year-old American is a highly-touted young defenseman who was expected to play at the prep school level for a couple more years before joining Providence College. Instead, he has reneged on that commitment in favor of getting to the next step in his development even sooner with London. The Friars’ loss is the Knights’ gain, as Montgomery has the size and strength to be a difference-maker immediately at the junior level. Both he and Gruden are major additions for a London program that has become one of the best developers of talent in all of junior hockey in recent years.

  • Sometimes prospects don’t just have to decide between whether the college game or junior game is better for their development, but rather if North America is the right choice for them overall. Two talented 2019 draft-eligible prospects have tested the waters and decided to return home for next season. Lassi Alanen, a European scout for Future Considerations, reports that Ilves of the Finnish Liiga have welcomed back defenseman Lassi Thomson and brought in forward Matias Macelli for next season. Thomson, expected to be a late first- or early-second round pick in June, spent this past year with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL. While he excelled, leading all Rockets defensemen with 17 goals and 41 points in 63 games, he clearly feels the pro game would be a better next step for his growth. While Thomson possesses great skill and skating ability, there is room to improve defensively and physically, which will be easier to do against older competition. Thomson also has experience with Ilves, having grown up in their junior ranks. Macelli is new to Ilves – he was a TPS product prior to his move overseas – but the team is likely just as excited to have him. Macelli spent the last two seasons with the USHL’s Dubuque Fighting Saints and in 2018-19 finished third in the league in scoring with 72 points in 62 games. The talented winger was in the top five of both goals and assists in the USHL, as he showed a balanced offensive attack. Expected to be a second- or third-round pick this spring, Macelli has the makings of a player who could prove to be a draft steal if his skill set translates to the pro level.
  • A fellow Finn who is keeping college, junior, and Liiga teams alike waiting is forward Marcus Kallionkieli. Like Macelli, Kallionkieli is a skilled forward out of the USHL expected to land in the second or third round of the draft this year. A bigger, stronger winger, Kallionkieli has adopted the North American style and has become and adept goal-scorer, notching 29 goals and 53 points in 58  games this season for the Sioux City Musketeers. Although Kallionkieli was reportedly focused on a college scholarship, and at one point linked to the University of Denver where teammate and presumptive first-round pick Bobby Brink is headed, there has been no commitment to this point. He could opt to play another year in the USHL before joining the college ranks or he could turn his attention to the CHL or a return to Finland. There’s even a chance that the team that drafts him wants to see if his mature game is ready for the AHL right away, although that might be a long shot. One way or another, the intriguing forward is a name to watch out for.

 

AHL Notes: Studnicka, Conway, Bouchard, Jones, Howdeshell

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The Providence Bruins face the tall task of defeating the Charlotte Checkers in their first-round match-up of the Calder Cup Playoffs, after Charlotte’s historic season earned them the top seed in the Eastern Conference. If Providence is able to do so, it will likely be in no small part due to the efforts of their newest addition. Forward Jack Studnicka, the Boston Bruins’ 2017 second-round pick and the player considered by many to be their top prospect, has joined Providence following the end of his junior season. In a strange turnaround, Studnicka and the stacked Niagara Ice Dogs simply could not figure out fellow Bruins prospect Kyle Keyser in net and were surprisingly knocked off by his Oshawa Generals in the second round of the OHL Playoffs. Oshawa had traded Studnicka to Niagara earlier in the season, yet somehow emerged from the match-up with their former captain. Now, Stunicka has to move on from his junior season and try to help Providence immediately in their own playoff run. He was able to make an instant impact last year, recording five points in five games with the P-Bruins. This time around, he could be an even bigger threat. Studnicka scored at better than a point-per-game pace with both Oshawa and Niagara this season, totaling 83 points in 60 games. He’s also trying to impress the Boston brass, as Studnicka’s OHL career is over and this is his first step toward cracking the Bruins’ roster next season. Adding a motivated and talented top prospect to the mix should be a major boost for Providence.

The P-Bruins have also added a local product to the roster, reports Mark Divver of The Providence Journal. Divver writes that Providence College senior Scott Conway has joined the team and has signed a one-year AHL contract as well. Conway, 24, is coming off an interesting collegiate career, in which he showed consistent success but also flashed next-level ability that never fully manifested. After his freshman year at Penn State University, in which he recorded a respectable 26 points in 34 games, Conway opted to leave the program and played the 2015-16 season outside of the NCAA with the BCHL’s Penticton Vees. Conway was a star in the BCHL, amassing a league-leading 116 points while skating alongside Colorado Avalanche center Tyson Jost and quickly committed to a new college team in Providence. Yet, in three seasons with the Friars, Conway’s numbers were no better than they were with the Nittany Lions. It’s thus unclear what the ceiling may be for the experienced English forward, who dominated the junior-A level, but failed to reach stardom at the college level. The Bruins likely got a good look at the local product and willing to see what he can bring to the table next season.

  • Like Studnicka, two other highly-touted junior prospects have also joined their respective AHL teams for the playoff run. Defenseman Evan Bouchard, who played in seven games with the Edmonton Oilers to begin the season, has been assigned to the Bakersfield Condors, the team announced. Last year’s tenth overall pick notched 53 points in 45 games with the OHL’s London Knights this year and added another three points at the World Juniors with Team Canada. Bouchard is a near-lock to make the Oilers out of camp next season and can further improve those odds with a strong stretch of play for the Condors. Ben Jones, a seventh-round pick of the Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, has already proven to be a steal and will look to advance that title with his first pro experience. A teammate of Studnicka’s in Niagara, Jones led the team with 102 points on the year, but was held in check in the postseason compared to his fellow Ice Dogs standouts. Nevertheless, Jones will still be an exciting addition for the Chicago Wolves after a top-ten scoring season in the OHL. Having graduated from the junior level, this is also a peak into what’s in store for Jones next season in the pros.
  • Like Conway, another promising undrafted prospect has been brought in by an AHL team just prior to the postseason, only that team didn’t qualify for the postseason. Forward Keeghan Howdeshell of the OHL’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds has signed a one-year deal with the Tuscon Roadrunners, his former club revealed. The Roadrunners are already looking ahead to next season after failing to grab one of the final spots in the Western Conference playoff picture, much like their parent club. Howdeshell, 21, finished tied for second in scoring for the Greyhounds this year with 77 points in 66 games. The U.S. National Team Development Program product seemed likely to be drafted but was instead passed over several times. He has since re-established his value and will look to translate his game to the pro level with Tuscon next season. A strong campaign could lead to Howdeshell earning an entry-level deal with the Arizona Coyotes.

Flames Sign Adam Ruzicka To Entry-Level Deal

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The Calgary Flames front office is staying busy even as the team battles in the postseason. The Flames have announced today that they have signed center Adam Ruzicka to a three-year entry-level contract. The clock was ticking on getting the 2017 draft selection under contract, but Calgary has done so and add a big and talented two-way forward to the pipeline.

Ruzicka, 19, has used the opportunities presented to him to show that he is a complete prospect and certainly worthy of a commitment from the Flames. The Slovakian forward initially played his junior hockey in the Czech Republic, where he put up good numbers, but really made a name for himself as the clear best player on Slovakia’s entries into international tournaments. Ruzicka finally made the jump overseas ahead of the 2016-17 season, after the OHL’s Sarnia Sting took notice and selected him in the CHL Import Draft. Ruzicka chose North America and the pursuit of an NHL career over a more immediate pro debut, as he was a first-round pick in the KHL Draft the same year, but opted to join Sarnia instead. After a strong debut season in the OHL, Calgary was happy to take Ruzicka in the fourth round after many expected he would go earlier. Ruzicka responded to any remaining doubts about his game by recording 36 goals and 36 assists for 72 points in 65 games last season. He started this year off the same way, with 37 points in 35 games, before he was traded to the Sudbury Wolves. The move only further ignited Ruzicka, who added another 41 points in 30 games, a total of 78 points on the year, and a team-leading ten points in the Wolves’ eight playoff games.

Ruzicka has more than shown that he can score at the junior level, but what makes him such a promising prospect for the Flames is that he also has the physical tools to translate that ability to the pros. Ruzicka stands 6’4″ and weighs in at over 200 lbs. and isn’t afraid to throw that frame around. An old-school center, Ruzicka is physical player with and without the puck, who can check, win battles, and possess the puck as well as anyone his age. His net front presence is also a major factor in his scoring numbers. Ruzicka has also shown some versatility by moving to the wing at times this season, adding yet another skill to his repertoire. There wasn’t much doubt that Calgary would get Ruzicka under contract before the June 1st deadline, but now that it is official, this is a prospect that Flames fans can really get excited about.

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