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Paring the UFA list

As established, the Flames have precious little room to be playing in the deep end of the UFA pool this summer. They may, however, have a small to moderate amount of dough to use towards firming up their forward depth, specifically the left wing where they'll be losing Mike Cammalleri and his 39 goals (19 on the PP). None of the remaining left wingers have Cammalleri's offensive ceiling or proven PP production, so one would expect the organization to look for a LW than can carry his weight at ES and pot a few with the man advantage.

Considering the maximum amount the team can spend on such a guy is probably in the 3.5M to 4M range, it's not a very large list:

Player - previous Cap $

Mikael Samuelsson - 1.2M

Steve Sullivan - 3.2M

Brian Gionta - 4M

Mike Knuble - 2.8M

Alex Kovalev - 4.5M

Bill Guerin - 4.5M

Erik Cole - 4M

Jere Lehtinen - 4M

Kyle Calder - 2.7M

Keith Tkachuk - 4M

It's a bit of scratch and dent collection of guys - lots of age and injury concerns - although there might be some value to be had here, depending on the price. I've included pending UFA RW's here as well since switching sides doesn't seem too big a deal.

Rather than do a lengthy profile on each guy, I figure a poll was in order. I'll go on to write about the top 5 picks over the next few days, then perhaps tackle any stragglers as I see fit.

Poll
Which UFA winger should Sutter target this off-season?
Samuelsson
28 votes
Gionta
16 votes
Knuble
9 votes
Kovalev
4 votes
Guerin
1 votes
Cole
7 votes
Lehtinen
5 votes
Calder
4 votes
Tkachuk
5 votes
Sullivan
12 votes

91 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs  |  Comment 9 comments |

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Calgary Flames Trade Targets

Jan 2010 by Kent Wilson - 37 comments

Comments

Display:

why was “no free agent signings unless he drops some salary” an option ?

by walkinvisible on May 20, 2009 5:16 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Because I can’t see the team losing Bertuzzi and Cammalleri from the top 6 and deciding to stand pat. I probably should have included Bertuzzi in the list, but we know what he brings anyway…

by Kent Wilson on May 20, 2009 5:28 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Samuelsson’s pulled out ahead, no doubt partially due to his decent showing in the post season thus far.

Looks like he’ll be the first guy to talk about.

by Kent Wilson on May 21, 2009 12:54 PM PDT reply actions   0 recs

I especially like how he never passes.

by mr_daveyt on May 21, 2009 2:58 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Better than persistently making needless back-hand passes I suppose.

by Kent Wilson on May 21, 2009 3:24 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

i like lehtinen but a bit old i guess

by shep_ on May 22, 2009 1:21 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

And injury prone. Still an effective player though.

by Kent Wilson on May 22, 2009 8:23 AM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

Please sign Gionta!!!!! He would work out because he has two playmaking centers with Olli Jokinen and Langkow. He could be a 30-40 goal scorer if he has a good center like with Gomez. We really need the money and to let Gio go is the best thing that can happen.

by LetsGoDevils on May 25, 2009 9:10 AM PDT reply actions   0 recs

Im a fan of Gionta, although this hasn’t exactly been an org eager to draft or sign smaller players since Sutter took over.

Also, Jokinen…….not a playmaker.

by Kent Wilson on May 25, 2009 9:27 PM PDT up reply actions   0 recs

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