Brian Elliott or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love the Draft

After the joy of having Tkachuk fall into our laps after the somewhat confusing picks made by the Columbus Blue Jackets and Vancouver Canucks the day just got even better as the Flames trade their own second round pick (35th overall) and a conditional 2018 3rd round pick (condition is the pick goes to St Louis if he re-signs with the Flames) for a goaltender that no one really thought was available: Brian Elliott. Heck even our own HockeyGoalieEH didn’t think he would be available to the Flames when he looked at potential goaltending targets this morning.

The question now is: just what are the Flames getting?

Brian Elliott, age 31 with a paltry 2.5 million dollar cap hit for the 2016-2017 season before hitting free agency posted a stellar 23-8-6 record over 42 appearances with the St Louis Blues. At 5v5 even strength Elliott faced an average of 27.66 shots per 60 minutes and posted a 93.81 unadjusted save percentage. When adjusted for score effects that number jumps to 93.9%. The Flames best goaltender last season was Karri Ramo who faced 29.3 shots/60 and posted just 91.85% unadjusted and 91.88% when accounting for score effects.

In all situations Elliott faced 29.56 shots/60 and posted 93.0 unadjusted save percentage with an adjusted save percentage of 93.08 to go along with it. Once again, the Flames best goaltender in all situations last season was Karri Ramo who faced 28.96 shots/60 and posted unadjusted and adjusted save percentages of 90.91 and 90.99 respectively.

What Elliott gives the Flames is a near elite level goaltender (these numbers are comparable to Ben Bishop) and is a player used to working in tandem with younger goalies, Jake Allen for instance is only 25, so he should be able to work well with Ortio.

The only drawback I can see right now with Elliott is that his career high for games played in a season is only 55 and that was 8 seasons ago (2009-2010) so if he is called on to play 60+ he may fatigue a little. This won't be an issue if Ortio continues to play as well as he did next season as he did to finish up the last but it's not something I would 100% rely on. Additionally, if Elliott is injured at any point in the season the Flames will be left with Ortio and… Ortio to man the pipes until he recovers and that's not exactly a comfortable feeling either.

All in all though, this was a steal of a deal and it's really making me wonder why opposing General Managers even bother to talk to Brad Treliving on draft day. I have a feeling they won't be so generous next year!

by Matthew Granlund