Flames Sign Gudbranson, Stone

The Calgary Flames announced a pair of depth signings this afternoon a mere few minutes apart from each other.

First, they announced the signing of Erik Gudbranson to a one year $1.95M contract. Gudbranson most recently played with the Nashville Predators and Ottawa Senators last year. He has also suited up with the Florida Panthers, Vancouver Canucks, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Anaheim Ducks, and was originally a 3rd overall pick by the Panthers in 2010.

This signing doesn’t make a ton of sense in my opinion as Gudbranson has routinely put up below replacement level statistics pretty much throughout his career. While $1.95M won’t break the bank either, it will eat up a lot of the cap space that the Flames had been aiming to preserve.

The Flames also brought back Michael Stone again today for the 1000th time as he signed a one year $750k deal with the team. My guess is that he ends up in a similar role to last year, perhaps even getting some time in Stockton but jumping into the lineup if injuries occur.