Poti's not a 35+.

No, but they still stashed him on IR before the season even started, allowing them to exceed the cap all year long.

Poti may never skate again. there are probably zero league doctors that would argue with him being on LTIR.

That's just what the team wants you to think.

someone on hftards.

yeah, i don't think the team just wants you to think it's a cracked pelvis.

that sounds painful

Staal hasn't gotten sheltered minutes since, well, probably his rookie year. He's consistently gone up against top lines and come out ahead, and without a ton of help to boot. Staal is pretty comparable to Iginla right now in terms of overall effectiveness and plays a more important position. Both players are also on the opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to their career arcs. Staal, despite being in the league for seemingly ever, is only 23 and is coming off a career year, capped off by a standout playoff performance. Iggy is turning 35 in a month and, while still a great player, is no longer what he once was and we should expect a steady progression downwards from this point forward.

I don't know what Iginla would command from other teams, but if I'm Feaster I'd snap call a Staal / Iginla swap where the other pieces that may be involved are not significant. If I'm Shero, I do everything in my power to re-sign him. Failing that, I'd be looking to trade Staal for a significant piece that can contribute now while not being on the downside of their career. In other words, I want no part of an Iginla / Staal deal.

lol habs

why not

for once we got good higher ups

lets get this **** goin forealz

I really don't know what to say anymore.

Both Ken King and Feaster are vehemently denying the reports. Millions posts on the CalgaryPuck forums with a legitimate account and he provided the following posts that made his original bombdropping tweet seem a bit misleading.

This was his first post after CalgaryPuck exploded:

Post #2:

Post #3:

Post #4:

So I'm not sure if his original number was severely misguided or not, because $55 million is pretty damn close to being a floor team. And if you're going to be a floor team while you've still got Iginla and Kiprusoff on the roster, you are doing it really, really wrong.

There are a few things that don't add up:

1) Does an ownership group that's looking to drastically slash payroll approve a $3.7 million contract for a guy (Cervenka) who's never played a professional game in North America? Would they have given Feaster the OK before the deadline to acquire Cammalleri and the $12 million remaining on his contract over the next 2 seasons?

2) Money isn't a problem for Calgary's onwership group; N. Murray Edwards is already worth over $2.2 billion and he's about to become a gagillionaire with the development of the oil sands projects in Alberta. They've been firmly in the black since the lockout, they just bought the Stampeders...in fact, the joke du jour is that they're becoming MLSE West (sadly, in more ways than one). Let's make one thing clear - this isn't the small market Flames team I grew up with. So why the sudden shift towards drastic austerity? Even with the Canadian dollar about to take a hit, the Flames are still very well positioned financially.

Really though, at the end of the day, I'm just tired. I'm ****ing sick and tired of my beloved Flames being run like a three ringed circus. The fans have been treated like **** for over 2 decades and it's getting really old. God, I wish the John Davidson rumours were true, because through all of this garbage, there's been one common denominator since '04, and his name is Ken King. He's a *********** prick who's just as big of a cancer for this organization as Darryl ever was.

And now Darryl's about to get a ring only months after completely destroying the remainder of Iginla's window. There's no goddamn ****ing justice whatsoever.

Kuznetsov did an interview with russian tv the other day and said he was concerned if he came over he wouldnt get ice time. I cant say I blame him, Orlov got scratched while idiots like schultz and wideman were free to ply their AIDS all over the ice for 20+ minutes a night. Semin and Ovechkin got severely reduced ice time as well. Hmm, do we see a trend? All the russians were benched when they made a mistake but noone else was. Thanks a lot hunter, you ****ing idiot. Not only did you base the system on the team's weaknesses, you played your stars less than your plugs, made the Caps a .500 team, and just drove our super prospect to russia for 2 more years. All in a few months. In ****ing credible. What a toxic signing.

geddy: one thing I want to clarify, Cervenka's contract is mostly bonuses, many of which he will be incapable of earning (like, say, winning the Conn Smythe, which is impossible as he is a no-heart European). So they're only definitely spending $900,000 on the contract. He'll probably earn some of those bonuses, but I'd be shocked if he made $2M next year.

So this Justin Schultz guy.....he's a right handed offensive defenseman? sounds like a lot of teams will throw money at him while lolGreen cries in the corner

Therrien seems to be the choice for Montreal. **** off MB.

In the Habs forum the guys are ranting like hell. Nathan McKinnon here we go.

Someone clearly taking solace in that they're not a Leafs fan.

A coach isn't the difference between the #1 pick and the playoffs.

I know but the #1 pick would sweeten my life if Therrien fails. It seems he ranted pretty hard on guys like Subban in a tv show so it will be interesting how things will go.

didn't see it until later in the day, and kinda surprised to see that Geddy didn't mention it there, but apparently Roger Millions also said that if one of the big money guys gets moved to give the Flames more spending cash to fill out the roster, it's probably gonna be JBo. was kinda looking forward to more JBo white-knighting from Geddy, and a nice rant about the prospect of a Giordano, Babchuk, Butler, Smith, Brodie blueline trying to get the team into the playoffs.

I'm well aware of that but it still counts as a $3.775 mil cap hit and it's still a significant commitment, even if it's only a one year contract. Not the kind of risk a team that's about to tear it down would investigate, imo.

You guys already know my stance on Bouwmeester. He might be the most underappreciated player in the league, both by haters and by his own goddamn fans. All he does is play half the game, every night, with one of the worst big minute D partners in the entire league, if not the worst. Seriously, find me a worse defenceman who plays 25+ minutes a night than Butler. There's a challenge for ya.

Bouwmeester never takes a shift off, he only sees the best opponents and he hasn't missed a single game at the professional level in 8 ****ing years. So what if he got a UFA premium; he's the team's best defenceman by a country mile and if he goes, we are ****ed.

Trading Regehr for AIDS was a colossal mistake, but this would make that trade look trivial in comparison.

regardless of what you might feel about your wingers, there is zero doubt that he'd be playing harder minutes with weaker teammates in calgary than he did in pittsburg. also, he established career highs in pts/g and s% (shooting 50% in the playoffs? sustainable! lolfleury.) so, he might actually play better than he did last year and we'd still likely see a dropoff in production if he goes to calgary.

i doubt shero wants to lose staal either, but that's a guy whose price tag is likely to keep going up throughout the year, so the longer he waits, the more expensive it becomes for the pens to keep him. i am not arguing that iginla is going to be better, but from a roster standpoint it might be the pens best available move.

on the other hand, iginla would almost certainly need to sign an extension of some sort before agreeing to a trade, and his cap hit is at a ceiling. plus the flames need draft picks and prospects a lot more than teams that are already contenders, so that always helps to get these types of deals done.

The teammates thing is probably true, but I highly doubt he'd be playing substantially tougher minutes in Calgary:

http://www.behindthenet.ca/nhl_stati...4+45+46+63+67#

Except for the lol accent, Michel Therrien had a pretty good press conference. Not that it means much, but there's that.