What the future holds for 2011.

There is a lot of uncertainty with this Flames squad right now. I know chances they have of making the playoffs let alone making a splash in them are fairly slim this year. Speculation regarding either a rebuild, trades, or "staying the course" has been thrown around for the last month or so.

With Darryl's tendency to give everyone & their cousin a NTC/NMC, there aren't many options as far as a complete decimation to the roster goes. Add to that we are currently up to the cap & aren't getting much relief next year, and you are left with some weary fans.

Here is what we could look like next year if we "stay the course". (Regards to PrairieStew for this work)

FORWARDS Jarome Iginla ($7.000m) / Niklas Hagman ($3.000m) / Matthew Stajan ($3.500m) Rene Bourque ($3.333m) / David Moss ($1.300m) / Ales Kotalik ($3.000m) Olli Jokinen ($3.000m) / Raitis Ivanans ($0.600m) / Mikael Backlund ($1.270m) Tom Kostopoulos ($0.916m) / Curtis Glencross ($2.300m) / Tim Jackman ($0.550m) Alex Tanguay ($3.200m)

DEFENSEMEN Jay Bouwmeester ($6.680m) / Robyn Regehr ($4.020m) Mark Giordano ($4.020m) / Cory Sarich ($3.600m) Brendan Mikkelson ($0.750m) / Adam Pardy ($0.750m) T.J. Brodie ($0.733m)

GOALTENDERS Miikka Kiprusoff ($5.833m) /Henrik Karlsson ($0.650m)

BUYOUTS: Nigel Dawes ($0.141m)

CAPGEEK.COM TOTALS (follow @capgeek on Twitter) (these totals are compiled without the bonus cushion) SALARY CAP: $59,400,000; CAP PAYROLL: $60,149,166; BONUSES: $600,000 CAP SPACE (22-man roster): -$749,166

Roster is based on the notion that: A) Glencross, Tanguay, Mikkleson, Pardy & Karlsson are resigned to new contracts, B) Babchuk, Staios, Morrison are shown the door, C) Brodie cracks the line up next year.

Yikes. Staring at that for too long might turn you into an Oilers fan. It got me thinking about what we could do, what direction we could take, and how it could happen. Just thought I would throw some ideas out there and create some discussion while in turn distracting us from the problematic future that awaits us.

Some possibilities:

Devin Setoguchi - With the uprise of rookies in SJ, "The Gootch" looks like the odd man out. His point totals have dropped since a breakout year in 08/09 (could be attributed to his slide in the depth chart) and he seems to be in the doghouse. He's an RFA next year and San Jose has a pretty shallow depth chart on the back end, which got me wondering wether Setoguchi could be had for Glencross & Pardy. Setoguchi has more offensive upside than GlenX & is exactly the type of player we need.

Hagman to Dallas, Nashville, Buffalo, Anaheim, Tampa, Washington at the deadline.

Although Hagman is a pretty good player and I wouldn't mind him sticking around, he's also one of the few guys without a NTC/NMC with any perceived value. I could see a fringe playoff team with some cap space looking to add a solid forward for an extra push. A return would hopefully be in the form of a good pick & young player, but who knows, I think if anyone moves, Hagman is near the top of the list sheerly based on his movability. We have too many guys on this team making 3M, Hagman although the best, looks like he's the one to go.

Those are just two ideas I had. Smaller moves that address some of the issues we have. What is everyone else thinking? I know Iginla has been involved in some rumors, it'd be sad to see but who knows. The thought of Darryl making a move of that importance really scares me.