New Best Case Scenario for the Calgary Flames

Right now the Flames have 7.5 million in Cap Space. You add Rastis Ivanins contract to that and you have 8 million. You add Langkows contract to that and you have a possible extra 4.5 million. Langkow will be allowed to go on IR whenever he wants to heal his ailing back. That leaves flames with somewhere between 8-12.5 million to spend. Lets go to the higher end of that because there are always injuries and many players get placed on the IR even after training camp and pre-season.

Right now they pretty much have a full lineup of forwards. I can see them resigning Brendan Morrison at 1.5 million. That leaves 11 million to deal with defense. Flames are very thin on defense because they don't have a solid top four anymore with the departure of Regher. Signing Babchuk will not necesarilly fill that void so the Flames will likely sign another player as a free agent.

Babchuk will likely get 3.5 million while the newbie Chris Butler could get 2 million. That uses up half of the flames remaining 11 million.

I could see the Flames sit on the remaining 5.5 million. Sit on the cap space and see if any trade opportunities open up through the course of the year that doesn't sacrifice their future or give up a roster player that is seriously contributing. They could try and sign Ed Jovanoski, Bryan McCabe or Chris Phillips with this money. But again this is still assuming that Langkow is on the IR or playing in Abbotsford or Langkow or someone like Hagman or Stajan are somehow moved to another organization.

-Hark

-Hark

Kotalik? More like, Kotareek

Ales Kotalik is a pretty terrible player. When he is on his game, he is known by the media and peers as Kotadeke. This occurs less than a blue moon. When he is his usual self, he is known as Kotareek.

So how bad is he?

1)He got sent down to the minors again after six games even though we have Morrison, Moss, and Hagman on IR

2) He's so bad that Daymond Langkow, who has been out for over a year and just got back from a broken spine, may be inserted in the lineup over him

3) He is almost 50% on the Shootout but Coach Sutter is still too unconfident to use him as a shootout specialist

4) We wish he could score more so we could hear the song "Call on Me" played in the Dome

5) He's so bad he makes Moss look like a real NHLer

6) Remember when he knocked Vinny Lecalvier on his ass in his 2nd game then got ejected? How come he doesn't do that anymore. He also never uses his boomer of a slap shot

7) You would have to trade someone with value just to get rid of him

8) WE STILL HAVE HIM ON THE BOOKS FOR ANOTHER YEAR FOR 3 MILLION DOLLARS.

9) He has one of the highest dollar per point ratio in the league. A whopping 500,000 per point.

10) He has 7 goals in 1.5 seasons with the Flames

-Hal

Everything you need to know about the Daymond Langkow Cap Situation

There's a rumour that was started this morning by the Calgary Herald that Langkow is healthy enough to return to the Flames lineup, however there are cap problems with the Flames that prevent the organization from bringing his 4.5 million dollar contract off the LTIR.

It is true that as it stands now, the Flames do not have the cap space to bring Langkow on board, in fact they don't have enough room to bring anybody on board right now; they are pushing cap! (they have the least cap space in the league).

There are a combination of players that Jay Feaster would have to send down to Abbotsford in order to make room for Langkow's 4.5 million dollar contract. But Feaster has to be careful because when he sends players down to the AHL every team in the league gets the opportunity to pick those players up off of waivers for their full salary for the duration of their contract. This is a list of healthy combinations of players that I would send down if i were Feaster:

Hagman + Stajan would do it. But it would be tough to part with two players that have been playing mediocre hockey all season, for the uncertainty of Langkow.

Nemisz + Ivanins + Modin + Kotalik- This is possible. I don't know why Ivanins is still counting against the cap but he is. Modin hasn't done anything since he came here so he's expendable. Kotalik played his best hockey in Abbotsford so it wouldn't be too hard to send him back. It's just tough to say goodbye to four players and bring aboard one when you already have injuries to Morrison and Moss.

The ideal situation would be to pick two of the following three players: Kotalik, Stajan, Hagman. I guess I would do Kotalik and Hagman. It would be great if some other team took one of them through the waiver-wire so the Flames don't have to deal with their fat salaries next year. However anyone that has followed the play of Kotalik and Hagman this year would know that they are not even worth half the salary they are making.

So it's starting to look as if the Flames won't see Langkow until next season, unless some major injuries happen to players on the Flames that are making big money.

-HArk