Post by Calgary Flames on Oct 30, 2021 12:00:39 GMT -6
Flames management outlasted a long draft process to put together their first roster. Let's see what the end product looks like:
1st line: Oshie / Monahan / Kane
2nd line: Tatar / Krejci / Lindholm
3rd line: Nylander / Nosek / Zadina
4th line: Pearson / Stepan / Hathaway
Extra: Scherback
1st D pairing: Dahlin / Lindgren
2nd D pairing: Heiskanen / Matheson
3rd pairing: Maatta / Van Reimsdyck
7th D: Connor Timmins
Starting goalie: Smith
Backup goalie: Mrazek
As previously mentioned, there is a lot quality with the first two lines and there could be some swapping of Monahan/Kreijci/Lindholm to find the best possible chemistry. All three are fantastic two way forwards. Kane and Oshie provide some top-class snipeage but are also known to throw a big hit. Tatar is a solid complimentary piece who can add offense. Playing on a line with Krejci and Lindholm will provide some coverage for his shortcomings.
The planing for the 3rd line was to have some youth playing softer minutes so they can properly develop their talent. They managed that with the wingers in Nylander (22) and Zadina (21) who will be centred by a veteran in Nosek. This is more of an offensive line which could be broken up a bit if the youngster struggle. Tatar could be swapped with one of Nylander or Zadina to balance things out or Pearson could move up from the 4th line. That line of Pearson, Stepan, and Hathaway will be defensively responsible and expected to add some physicality.
On the backend you will notice that Dahlin and Heiskanen have been split up. The "top pairing" will feature and the more defensive focussed Lindgren. The second pairing is very strong with Heiskanen and Matheson which gives the top 4 a lot of balance. The bottom pairing features Maatta and Van Reimsdyck who are defense first veterans with Connor Timmins supplying some youthful depth. He will likely log big minutes in the AHL unless there is an injury.
One thing you will notice is that most everyone on the roster can skate. Especially on the backend the Flames wanted to make sure they could keep up with the pace of the modern game. Even the deph players can really fly. The Flames also clearly focussed on skill upfront with high end veteran snipers and quality playmaking youth which should combine nicely.
In goal the Flames nabbed a highend veteran in Smith and a quality backup in Mrazek. Both have very solid skill ratings for goalies.
The Flames rounded out the draft through the selection of a couple prospects in Soderstrom and Denisenko. Soda is already taking a regular shift in the NHL and Denisenko tourched the AHL in his first year in North America and the AHL. He has also made his NHL debut and should be a near term prospect.
When asked how the draft concluded since we last chatted with McAndrews, "Our team isn't exactly how we thought it would look as we targeted some younger guys but everyone in the draft seemed to take the same approach. We were happy with the prospects we were able to secure but planned to take a few more before we filled out the depth on the team instead as the prospects just weren't there where we were comfortable taking them. We are happy with the youth on defense obviously and were able to add a couple more youthful forwards in the Nylander and Zadina and we really are high on Timmins."
When asked about some of the elder statesmen on the team McAndrews commented, "We wanted to surround our early picks upfront with some quality talent which led us to take Oshie, Kane, Krejci, and Tatar" Krejci is the oldest but provides high end FO and PA and allows Lindholm to slide to the wing. Oshie has 75PA and 79 SC with a 75DF making him a complete player while Kane gives the team a tru sniper with 78PA and 80SC. Tatar is a depth piece but is expected to start on the second line with a 75PA and solid 71DF. All of these players are 30 or older and signed to deals of 2 years or more. This could create an issue as Krejci and Kane are on larger deals but the former could retire and the latter has a lot of good hockey left in him. The Flames might have to get creative with Krejci if his play drops off quickly. Meanwhile the Flames picked Mike Matheson and Olli Maatta relatively late with some heftier cap hits as well. Many questioned if spending so much on 4th and 5th defenders made a lot of sense.
McAndrews responded to this, "With the forwards the quality of talent dropped off substantially if we wanted to pick someone younger. We want to be competitive out of the gate and pair our younger talent with quality experienced players. Do I wish TJ and David were younger? Sure but we are confident that they will really add to a winning team and we were happy to land them where we did. With Olli and Mike on the backend we were really happy to add some veterans our young back end. Their cap hits are a little higher than we would like but we had the space and they add to our team."
The Flames only have two expiring contracts after this season in Sean Monahan (expect him to be resigned) and Tomas Nosek so there isn't a lot of money coming off the books. There is some risk if the veterans mentioned, or the goaltending covered by Mike Smith, drop off. Krejci and Smith are most at risk here but if Krejci does drop off a cliff Lindholm can push him down the depth chart, especially if Zadina or Nylander take a step in the other direction.
Commenting on the contract structure of the team he just drafted McAndrews had this to stay, "We absolutely wanted to avoid expiring contracts as we have found in the past that free agent contracts can really escalate as competition on the open market can be fierce. We have a feeling that some teams will blow their brains out in the next offseason and quickly use up available cap space. We are hoping that when some of our older money comes off the books we will be able to replace it down the road with some better priced talent but that is a debate for another day. Right now we have enough cap to add some depth in this free agent window and to fill out the farm."
The way the flames drafted really built a balanced squad and it is relatively clear where the responsibilities will lie when you look at the blend of youth and experience on the lineup. There will certainly be some tweaking to the lines and pairings but the top 6 forward lines are fairly well defined and similar with the bottom 6. As mentioned before, Dahlin and Heiskanen could be paired with each other or really any of the other top 5 defenders in Lindgren, Matheson, and Maatta with really only Van Reimsdyck locked into the bottom pair. And finaly expect smith to get the majority of the net as long as the 39 year can stay healthy.
Once again, thanks to everyone involved in a fun and relatively smooth draft. Biggest thanks of course to the leadership team for getting the league off to a fantastic start.
1st line: Oshie / Monahan / Kane
2nd line: Tatar / Krejci / Lindholm
3rd line: Nylander / Nosek / Zadina
4th line: Pearson / Stepan / Hathaway
Extra: Scherback
1st D pairing: Dahlin / Lindgren
2nd D pairing: Heiskanen / Matheson
3rd pairing: Maatta / Van Reimsdyck
7th D: Connor Timmins
Starting goalie: Smith
Backup goalie: Mrazek
As previously mentioned, there is a lot quality with the first two lines and there could be some swapping of Monahan/Kreijci/Lindholm to find the best possible chemistry. All three are fantastic two way forwards. Kane and Oshie provide some top-class snipeage but are also known to throw a big hit. Tatar is a solid complimentary piece who can add offense. Playing on a line with Krejci and Lindholm will provide some coverage for his shortcomings.
The planing for the 3rd line was to have some youth playing softer minutes so they can properly develop their talent. They managed that with the wingers in Nylander (22) and Zadina (21) who will be centred by a veteran in Nosek. This is more of an offensive line which could be broken up a bit if the youngster struggle. Tatar could be swapped with one of Nylander or Zadina to balance things out or Pearson could move up from the 4th line. That line of Pearson, Stepan, and Hathaway will be defensively responsible and expected to add some physicality.
On the backend you will notice that Dahlin and Heiskanen have been split up. The "top pairing" will feature and the more defensive focussed Lindgren. The second pairing is very strong with Heiskanen and Matheson which gives the top 4 a lot of balance. The bottom pairing features Maatta and Van Reimsdyck who are defense first veterans with Connor Timmins supplying some youthful depth. He will likely log big minutes in the AHL unless there is an injury.
One thing you will notice is that most everyone on the roster can skate. Especially on the backend the Flames wanted to make sure they could keep up with the pace of the modern game. Even the deph players can really fly. The Flames also clearly focussed on skill upfront with high end veteran snipers and quality playmaking youth which should combine nicely.
In goal the Flames nabbed a highend veteran in Smith and a quality backup in Mrazek. Both have very solid skill ratings for goalies.
The Flames rounded out the draft through the selection of a couple prospects in Soderstrom and Denisenko. Soda is already taking a regular shift in the NHL and Denisenko tourched the AHL in his first year in North America and the AHL. He has also made his NHL debut and should be a near term prospect.
When asked how the draft concluded since we last chatted with McAndrews, "Our team isn't exactly how we thought it would look as we targeted some younger guys but everyone in the draft seemed to take the same approach. We were happy with the prospects we were able to secure but planned to take a few more before we filled out the depth on the team instead as the prospects just weren't there where we were comfortable taking them. We are happy with the youth on defense obviously and were able to add a couple more youthful forwards in the Nylander and Zadina and we really are high on Timmins."
When asked about some of the elder statesmen on the team McAndrews commented, "We wanted to surround our early picks upfront with some quality talent which led us to take Oshie, Kane, Krejci, and Tatar" Krejci is the oldest but provides high end FO and PA and allows Lindholm to slide to the wing. Oshie has 75PA and 79 SC with a 75DF making him a complete player while Kane gives the team a tru sniper with 78PA and 80SC. Tatar is a depth piece but is expected to start on the second line with a 75PA and solid 71DF. All of these players are 30 or older and signed to deals of 2 years or more. This could create an issue as Krejci and Kane are on larger deals but the former could retire and the latter has a lot of good hockey left in him. The Flames might have to get creative with Krejci if his play drops off quickly. Meanwhile the Flames picked Mike Matheson and Olli Maatta relatively late with some heftier cap hits as well. Many questioned if spending so much on 4th and 5th defenders made a lot of sense.
McAndrews responded to this, "With the forwards the quality of talent dropped off substantially if we wanted to pick someone younger. We want to be competitive out of the gate and pair our younger talent with quality experienced players. Do I wish TJ and David were younger? Sure but we are confident that they will really add to a winning team and we were happy to land them where we did. With Olli and Mike on the backend we were really happy to add some veterans our young back end. Their cap hits are a little higher than we would like but we had the space and they add to our team."
The Flames only have two expiring contracts after this season in Sean Monahan (expect him to be resigned) and Tomas Nosek so there isn't a lot of money coming off the books. There is some risk if the veterans mentioned, or the goaltending covered by Mike Smith, drop off. Krejci and Smith are most at risk here but if Krejci does drop off a cliff Lindholm can push him down the depth chart, especially if Zadina or Nylander take a step in the other direction.
Commenting on the contract structure of the team he just drafted McAndrews had this to stay, "We absolutely wanted to avoid expiring contracts as we have found in the past that free agent contracts can really escalate as competition on the open market can be fierce. We have a feeling that some teams will blow their brains out in the next offseason and quickly use up available cap space. We are hoping that when some of our older money comes off the books we will be able to replace it down the road with some better priced talent but that is a debate for another day. Right now we have enough cap to add some depth in this free agent window and to fill out the farm."
The way the flames drafted really built a balanced squad and it is relatively clear where the responsibilities will lie when you look at the blend of youth and experience on the lineup. There will certainly be some tweaking to the lines and pairings but the top 6 forward lines are fairly well defined and similar with the bottom 6. As mentioned before, Dahlin and Heiskanen could be paired with each other or really any of the other top 5 defenders in Lindgren, Matheson, and Maatta with really only Van Reimsdyck locked into the bottom pair. And finaly expect smith to get the majority of the net as long as the 39 year can stay healthy.
Once again, thanks to everyone involved in a fun and relatively smooth draft. Biggest thanks of course to the leadership team for getting the league off to a fantastic start.
