Flames Acquire T.J. Galiardi from San Jose for Pick

Galiardi, a Calgary native, played for the WHL's Hitmen in junior and calls Calgary his home in the off-season. The 25-year-old was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche 55th overall in 2007 and was traded to the Sharks last February, where he scored six goals and 15 points in part of two seasons. Oh yeah, and did I mention he's 6"2? There seems to be a pattern developing here with the Flames acquiring large former Avalanche players.

The Flames also signed Galiardi to a 1-year deal worth $1.25M, according to the Sun's Randy Sportak, and the forward is glad to be home, to say the least:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Wow! My lifelong dream has come true!! <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23FLAMES&amp;src=hash">#FLAMES</a></p>&mdash; TJ Galiardi (@TJGaliardi) <a href="https://twitter.com/TJGaliardi/statuses/352156477059891200">July 2, 2013</a></blockquote>

<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Here's what SBN's Sharks blog Fear the Fin had to say about the deal:

It does seem like a questionable time to trade Galiardi. He was coming off a good season with the Sharks where he put up 5 goals and 9 assists while spending the stretch run of the regular season and playoffs on a line with Joe Thornton and Brent Burns. As The Neutral wrote earlier this year:

Finally fit into the right spot, Galiardi has proven to be an important piece of the puzzle that has neatly fallen into place for the Sharks over the past month. Perhaps even more significantly, Galiardi finally looks like the player Wilson traded McGinn for last year and seems like a good bet to figure into the Sharks' future plans both over the remainder of this season and beyond.

- Has T.J. Galiardi finally arrived?, April 20, 2013.

...He will likely get a better shot at sticking in a much less crowded top nine for his hometown's Flames.

It's unclear at the moment exactly where Galiardi will fit in the Flames' lineup, but my best guess is that he'll likely be a third line energy-type winger alongside the likes of Max Reinhart/Matt Stajan and David Jones.

Welcome to Calgary, T.J.!