Team: 2021-22 Calgary Flames

Initial Creation Date: Jun. 9, 2021

Published: Jun. 11, 2021

Salary Cap Mode: Basic

Trade:
Tuch is consistently stuck on Vegas’s 3rd line, even though he’s shown flashes of being able to hang in the top 6 just fine. With Patches and Stone not going anywhere, and ditto for the 2nd line most likely (especially with how they’ve played recently, the chemistry they have, plus the nostalgia of being original members of the top line that made the finals, and overall just being good players on good contracts) I think Tuch might be expendable for an upgrade up the middle. Vegas has been rumoured to be looking for a top 6 centre for a while, likely to replace Stephenson on the top line, who has been solid, but probably overachieving and better suited on the 3rd line. With that said, I think Monahan might be of interest to them. He’s signed for 2 more years on a pretty affordable deal, and gives them another scoring option. His defensive game has improved, but between Stone and Patches that won’t be an issue anyway. As for the Flames, what they get out of the deal is a 6’4” right shot winger that can score 20 goals to slot in to their top 6. His offensive upside is lower than Monahan’s imo (Monahan averaged 30 goals per year for the last 5 non-pandemic seasons) but he’s a little younger, a little cheaper, and signed for longer. I personally think Monahan has more value because he scores more and plays a more valuable position (top six C is rarely gonna have less value than a 3rd line winger tbh...) but I can’t be bothered to haggle with anyone and the point of the ACGM is to see what the core of this trade would look like, which is the Monahan/Tuch swap, so feel free to add picks or whatever to whichever side you feel is right in your opinion and then focus on the actual point, which is the new second line.

Signings:
After swapping Monahan for Tuch, we need to get a new second line centre. Danault was rumoured to have turned down a 6 year 30mil deal from Montreal, followed that up with a down season, and then an excellent playoffs to date so who knows where his value is right now. I decided to give him an extra 500k per year on the same term and call it a day. I don’t think this will bite Calgary because I think defensively oriented players age a little better, because they’re still useful when their offensive skills fall off (see: Backlund still being just as good as ever at 32, different situation but Chara is still getting NHL contracts into his 40s for his defensive abilities) and he’ll only be 34 at the end of it, which is right on the edge of being old, but before things really drop off. He’ll also likely bump down to 3C in 2 or 3 years as we phase out Backlund and phase in Zary as the future 2C. I think Danault will fit very well under the Sutter system, and gives us four centres that are effective shutdown/PK guys (Doc’s a super reliable penalty killer who we should bring back for cheap in the 4C role, and Lindholm/Danault/Backlund all get Selke votes). He’s also a good fit on this new look 2nd line because he’s a playmaker, and Tuch and Saad are both big guys that can put the puck in the net (would not be surprised to see both of them get 25 goals with Danault getting like 15 goals and 40 assists, something like that seems like a reasonable expectation offensively, while being very good defensively and taking tough matchups).

Speaking of Saad, I think after the above moves the Flames need to bring in another guy that can score goals. Replacing Monahan and whoever in the top 9 (none of Leivo/Ritchie/Simon/Nordstrom/Bennett/etc. deserved to be there for us this year really, it was a constant rotation and nobody took advantage of the opportunity) with Tuch and Danault honestly doesn’t add many goals to the lineup, and that was a key piece missing this year. 4x5 is what everyone on here is giving Saad and also what Evolving Wild has projected for him so it seems like a solid offer, and he’d be a good fit and an injection of new offense in a top 6 that definitely needs some. He’s also got a couple rings, which helps, and he performs in the playoffs. This is one spot where there’s some leeway, this could be a guy like Schwartz, Hyman, or even Coleman (although Coleman would probably go to the 3rd line and Mangiapane would jump up) as long as they’re around 5mil. I think Saad is the preferred option though, he’s good at scoring goals, which we need.

As for the rest of the roster, I brought back Ryan for 4C, Stone for 3RD, and bridged Dube and Valimaki (neither earned much money this year, they were just okay really, good development year but they’ll be expected to take a step now). I also brought in Armia for the 4th line because I think he’s a solid veteran guy that can stabilize our bottom six and maybe add a little extra scoring punch. Our 4th line had literally one goal in the first 20 games or so, which is unacceptable. They don’t need to drive offense or anything but a goal every 4 games from an entire line isn’t expecting much. Leivo wasn’t the answer, and neither was Simon so they will walk and get non-qualified respectively. This is one I was debating on, I would like it, but I also understand if they want to leave a spot for Gawdin/Ruzicka/Pelletier to fight for, and bring back Robinson/Ritchie as spares that can fill in if all the kids suck for some reason. On D, I would Valimaki to step into the 2LD hole alongside Tanev but I wanted to give him a like competition for the spot so I brought back Gustafsson, who will mostly just run PP1 tbh. They should rotate Andersson/Hanifin/Valimaki so they all get a shot on PP1 and if they run with it, great, but Gus is a guy that you know can at the very least run a power play. Another option is to trade a 3rd or 4th for a guy de Haan half retained for the 4/5 role (either from Chicago or Seattle if they take him). If the guy they get costs more than 1.5 Armia is expendable. Reimer was brought in as the backup, but that could be Halak, Rittich, Dubnyk, Elliott, Raanta, etc. just try to keep it to max 2mil.

Seattle:
Let’s be real, it’s gonna be Gio. Kylington’s the 7/8 guy in Calgary, and given the quality of guys Seattle will have available to them he’d probably wind up lower on the depth chart in Seattle. One year of Gio’s leadership will be significantly more valuable to a new franchise that will likely focus primarily on youth, and he’s still an effective top 4 D to boot. Think of it like the Engelland pick if Engelland wasn’t from Vegas and was only 2 years removed from winning the Norris. We’d have to pay to dump Lucic, which we absolutely should not do, but if they take him of their own volition I’d thank them.

General thoughts:
This scenario allows us to keep the Gaudreau-Lindholm-Tkachuk line together. They were very effective down the stretch, with Gaudreau finishing with 19 pts in 15 games iirc, Tkachuk found his scoring touch again near the end of an otherwise disappointing season, and Lindholm is reliable as always at both ends of the ice. They should bounce back and return to form. 70+ points all around, above a point per game for Gaudreau, and 30 goals apiece seems like a reasonable expectation, all 3 are capable if more but this would probably make us comfortably a playoff team. If they don’t get this we might flounder again but there’s more depth scoring to help and we should tighten up defensively so who knows. Should be a good top line, well balanced, all 3 bring something unique (Gaudreau is elite skill, Lindholm is 2-way responsibility, Tkachuk is agitating and physical).

I’ve talked a lot about the second line but in general I think they can be trusted to face difficult matchups (reliable against top lines) and score 25/15/25 goals respectively. Tuch should hopefully blossom in a bigger role full time with better linemates.

Mangiapane should honestly not be on the 3rd line (he’s unquestionably a top 6 talent) but he’s got good chemistry with Backlund so I think it makes the lines work better. Swapping him and Saad works too, and makes the 2nd line a very reliable shutdown line. With Backlund on the 3rd line though, they still form a very effective shutdown pair that can chip in some offense and be a killer all around 3rd line that lets Sutter really roll his top 9 without a worry. On RW I still think Dube has top 6 upside, but he was kind of out of his depth being thrust straight onto the top line with Tkachuk and Lindholm to start the year. 3RW seems like a good spot for him at this point, and spending the year with the veteran Backlund will help. He should be able to hone his 2-way game further playing with Mangiapane and Backlund and develop into a more complete player who will be a future leader on this team (I would not be surprised to see Tkachuk with the C and Dube and Pelletier wearing the A in 5 years).

The 4th line should be a little better this year. Lucic had a mini-bounceback year and didn’t look like a complete liability all the time. His contract is still an anchor of course, but at least he’s shown he can score 10-15 goals, and his physical presence is appreciated and will be put to good use on the 4th line. Ryan’s just a very reliable 4C who plays well defensively and can contribute 10-15 goals of his own. As mentioned above, Armia’s a solid veteran who can probably ALSO pot 10-15 goals. Overall I think this is a decent 4th line. It’s definitely old, and not exactly fast, but it’s got 3 savvy vets that bring a veteran presence and solid physical and defensive game to the table, all of which Sutter loves. If they need an injection of speed or youth for a shakeup, you can swap Armia/Dube, or bring in Gawdin or Pelletier. I wouldn’t be opposed to signing a depth guy like Rieder again either (instead of Ritchie). I would think Pelletier would make this team out of camp but then I went and signed two new guys for the top 9 lol. If they don’t mind moving Lucic to RW, I could see Pelletier making the team at 4LW (which would mean we don’t sign Armia).

Top pair D is fairly self-explanatory, Andersson is our best RD and Hanifin is our best LD, both are relatively young and on good contracts, and should continue to be major parts of our team for years.

Tanev anchors the 2nd again. Ideally this would be with Valimaki, mentoring him and allowing him to flourish offensively while teaching him ways to improve his defense as well. I’m not sure we should be expecting Valimaki to jump straight into the top 4 though, so I signed Gustafsson as a filler who can play on the 2nd pair if necessary, but should ideally be on the 3rd pair as a PP specialist and behind Valimaki.

Stone is brought back for the 3rd pair as a reliable veteran that Sutter likes. Shouldn’t matter if he’s paired with Gus or Vali, he’ll just do his thing. He’s not noticeable most of the time, which is honestly solid for a 3rd pair guy. He has one helluva slapshot though.

Mackey and Kylington serve as the spares.

Markstrom is the workhorse starter. I expect him to start around 60 games. Reimer’s perfectly capable of starting 20 games. Like I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t really matter who this is, but we shouldn’t spend more than 2mil on a backup. I’d prefer a veteran with a little upside to get hot for a stretch if Markstrom gets hurt, but honestly I’d settle for Domingue at league min if all else fails.

Special teams:
PP will get a new look. All of Hanifin/Andersson/Valimaki/Gustafsson should get a shot on PP1 but honestly I think Gustafsson will claim it. Without Monahan we can actually try some new things, likely with either Mangiapane or Saad as the 4th forward. PP2 will also be better, Lucic can be taken off of it for a guy with more skill, Tuch could probably be the new net-front guy.

PK should be just fine, all 4 centres, Mangiapane, and Armia are great penalty killers, there are 3 right shots and 3 left shots among that group, good mix of youth and veterans, some speed and skill, overall a great group of PKers.

Overall I think this is a significantly better team. It should fit Sutter’s style perfectly as we get a little older, a little better defensively up front, a little more physical, but also add some scoring punch and a key guy in Tuch that will be a rock as one of our few right shots who is actually good lol. It checks all the boxes we expect (busy off season, shake up the top 6, mold the team for the coach).

Thoughts?

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