June 28: Fizzling fire

Hockey: One thing Flames' GM Daryl Sutter forgot from his childhood is that when make a fire with gas, while bright and strong to start with, will fizzle out. As of this morning, the Flames are sitting at $52.1m in salary, leaving around $7.2 left. While that chunk of change might be able to seek out a much needed forward--or the perfect center for Iginla--it still doesn't account for several pieces missing from the team. Still unsigned for the Flames are Higgins (UFA), Conroy (UFA), Nystrom (UFA), new goaltender Henrik Karlsson (RFA), and a good looking Ian White (RFA). Assuming all players remain at their last season's salary, that would be a combined cap hit of $6.3m. Obviously, seeking out a UFA center that is able to play with Iginla will cost more than the $900,000 left. Moreover, the Flames would likely want to avoid what happened during the 2008-2009 season where, because of how close they were to the cap, weren't able to call players up from the minors for the last 9 games of the season. Those last 9 games where they lost much of a 16 point lead they had on the Canucks for the division title.

Nonetheless, Calgary is lacking many pieces and is not a full team. A weak development program that saw Backlund slow and sputter. Only 9 one-way forwards are signed, with about 3 two-way players in the ranks that might be able to come up. That leaves a disjointed team with too many holes to be ignored for the sake for finding that perfect center. The back end is in far better shape. Bouwmeester, Regher, Sarich, Staios, Giordano, and Pardy are signed. As well, minor leaguers Seabrook, Brodie, and Meyers have shown good development and could fill in.

With a priority on re-signing Ian White, I wouldn't be shocked if a big name like Regher is asked which teams he wouldn't mind moving to. The Flames do have enough depth on the back end to address their lack of scoring (and structure; and balance; and heart; and toughness; and size) on the front end. A trade that might aim to bring in some big names with extras, like Savard or Spezza. However, the trade would see the Flames dumping a lot of salary in the process. This must be done to facilitate the restructuring (and not rebuilding) of the team.

Remember, GM Sutter has said again that he's "only one player away". Which is an improbability considering he only has 12 real forwards ready to play, and even a few of them are questionable. The Flames need to plan with a Deep Blue level of strategy on how to fix their scoring up front while avoiding the red-zone of the salary cap.