Post by Calgary Flames on Jan 29, 2023 11:53:48 GMT -6
The Flames have traded away one of their leading scorers in Evander Kane and rugged defensive Ryan Lindgren for Alex Debrincat and Ethan Bear. In order to get the deal done the Flames also kept over $5M in cap which was a bit shocking. The offensive and defensive look of the team will look much different once the Flames take the ice after a 9 day break. Here is what GM Sean McAndrews had to say on the deal.
"There is always risk when trading quality players but the risk was worth it when we sat down and discussed it as a front office. In Debrincat we get a premium goal scorer in the league, is more defensively responsible and fits in better with the young core of our team. In Bear we get a really solid young defender that can fit in well with our team."
When asked with the shocking amount of cap retained he had this to say, "We built up a lot of cap space over the year with the idea of adding someone. Well, we did use up that cap to bring in these two players. Did we necessarily improve our team in the short term? We think so but in the long-term we know so. Bear gets a healthy raise next year but Debrincat is locked up for one more and with $8.25 million of retained cap coming off the books we will be in good shape next year as well. This move severely limits our ability to add going down the stretch as we were hoping but we still like the deal."
Debrincat is expected to replace Kane on the top line with Monahan and Nylander while Bear is expected to replace Lindgren on the bottom pair. As everyone knows, chemistry is all important in the SIM so there could be some juggling if things don't click immediately. The Flames had won two straight heading into the break but had lost their previous four before that and currently sit well out of a playoff spot so perhaps a shake up was due.
"There is always risk when trading quality players but the risk was worth it when we sat down and discussed it as a front office. In Debrincat we get a premium goal scorer in the league, is more defensively responsible and fits in better with the young core of our team. In Bear we get a really solid young defender that can fit in well with our team."
When asked with the shocking amount of cap retained he had this to say, "We built up a lot of cap space over the year with the idea of adding someone. Well, we did use up that cap to bring in these two players. Did we necessarily improve our team in the short term? We think so but in the long-term we know so. Bear gets a healthy raise next year but Debrincat is locked up for one more and with $8.25 million of retained cap coming off the books we will be in good shape next year as well. This move severely limits our ability to add going down the stretch as we were hoping but we still like the deal."
Debrincat is expected to replace Kane on the top line with Monahan and Nylander while Bear is expected to replace Lindgren on the bottom pair. As everyone knows, chemistry is all important in the SIM so there could be some juggling if things don't click immediately. The Flames had won two straight heading into the break but had lost their previous four before that and currently sit well out of a playoff spot so perhaps a shake up was due.
