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I'm bored in my tutorial, so here's some bitching.

-Ken King is an Alternate Governor for the Flames, according to the NHL. His first priority is to run the team like an efficient business. The team’s annual income is north of 375 million. When you take into account the expenditures of the team, taxes and league fees, there’s no way that the franchise’s net income is less then 150 million on a yearly basis (thanks, in large part, to a sweet arena deal). These (among other less public things) are major reasons why I feel that he may last a bit longer then people think.

-I've read some places that Feaster and Sutter are tied at the hip. My question-why? Feaster didn't hire him and there was no way he was going to fire him after the post-Darryl run while being an interim GM. Not saying either of them are doing a good job, of course. 

-It's hard to evaluate Feaster because we have no idea how much he actually does on a day-to-day basis. It is, however, easy to evaluate Brent because we watch the games. Sutter has been shit. I'm starting to think last years line matching was just a coincidental phenomenon. I will give him some credit though-recognizing Babchuk and Sarich suck and subsequently sitting them was a positive move. I mean, the Saddlesphere had only been calling for that like the entire season previous but I'll give him a break. Finally showing some emotion other then "despondent" in the web video that came out Tuesday was nice as well. 

Much more after the jump.

-Seriously, how bad does that contract for Babchuk look now? I didn't want him resigned to begin with and now we're stuck with this horrible hockey player for the next season with a NTC. Worst defenseman to ever play for the Flames relative to salary.

-A lot was made yesterday over the fact that Iginla, Tanguay, Bourque and Bouwmeester missed the optional skate. My response to that: are you fucking kidding me? Who cares. Last year-and the year before that-they were missing skates and no one gave a shit. A low tempo practice does dick all for preparing you for a game.

-We all realize the Phaneuf trade is awful. No need to bring it up. Like, ever again.

-The owners are loathe to spend money all of a sudden (i.e. since the Regehr trade), which makes me think of a couple of things: one, putting the best team on the ice isn't really important to them and two, cash has become a consideration when making moves, as opposed to the time between 05 and 09 where the only consideration was if the players were good or not. Now, one may argue that cash not being a consideration is what got us into this mess in the first place but I'd respond by saying what got us into this mess was a crazy man and bad contracts, not cap space incoming via trade.

-Kiprusoff has great numbers thus far, but his tied EVSV% isn't that impressive-so I'm still skeptical when it comes to proclaiming that he's "back".

-Curtis Glencross is making me look like a moron in at least one of my pre-season predictions. He's absolutely killing it. His SH% is 20% right now, though-so that'll come back down to earth. But…he's a complete idiot. His stupid slashing penalty last night resulted in 2 goals against. So, to be honest, I don't give a fuck how many goals he gets if he pulls shit like that. Makes him useless to the team.

-I feel bad for Stajan. Not his fault Sutter gave him that contract and that his luck has been atrocious.

-The "Flames will have a ton of bargaining room this summer because of the contracts coming off the books" is at best a misnomer, at worst completely moronic. Backlund, Jackman, Stempniak and Hannan are all likely to be kept around and all will get raises, probably totalling around 8 million in total cap commitment. Jokinen, if resigned, will probably make about the same amount, maybe 3.5 million. So, now you have maximum 10 million for 4 players, which basically means filling out the roster with slightly better then replacement level players and Baertschi-and that's only if you're spending to the cap. Of course, move an expensive body and this becomes irrelevant.

-Follow-up question: who the fuck in their right mind would sign here right now anyways?

-In terms of trading Iginla: there's just so much to think about. First, you have to find a team that legitimately has a shot at the Cup or else it's doubtful he'll waive his NMC. Exactly how many "elite" teams are there in the NHL? I personally have 9-PIT, PHI, BOS, WAS, CHI, DET, VAN, LA and SJ. You can throw out Vancouver, mostly just because Jarome in a Canucks uniform would basically destroy Calgary. Next, you have to find which teams on that list will be able to take on his salary not just for the remainder of the season, but for next year as well-in that case, the teams left are Detroit, Vancouver and Los Angeles. Finally, you have to look at getting some kind of good return, right? In my opinion, basically the only team out of 29 is Washington. This same exercise with Kiprusoff is much easier. I'll let you think of why.

Feel free to ridicule me in the comments. If there's something you need to get off your chest, have at it.

by Richard Hammond