FLAMES REPORT
A season, an off-season oh so long for the Flames...
Finishing off last season buying high priced UFA to be's for an attempt to take home the cup, the Flames came bitter sweet close. Game 7 of the finals to be precise. Injury bug hit in a bad way at a bad time, but so is hockey, and the Flames give mad props to Atlanta for being able to make the entire OTHL gauntlet for the Cup.
For his efforts last season, the Flames GM Jamie Hoover was voted as OTHL GM of the year. An award that he was very proud to earn, and hopes that maybe he can repeat with that title amist an all star cast of GM's in the OTHL.
Which leads us to part 2 of the story, a team full of UFA's to be; Fortunate enough to have Rod Brind'Amour, the expected Captain to be of the Flames, the Center position is set, with Spezza, Nieuwendyk, and Stefan if need be, but he's better suited for the left side.
On the LW, the Flames have Smyth and Stefan. On the RW, there's Fedotenko and Laraque. The defense, even worse, left ravaged, sees just Kabarle, Cairns and Fitzpatrick as the defensmen that aren't UFA. Kaberle being an RFA himself.
The rebirth began, Kaberle making way for 5 players that can play on the pro team. Two other minor players were added, brought in for picks/prospects. In total, Gleason, Fredrik Sjöström, Dan Cleary, Branislav Mezei, Doug Murray, Alex Henry and Kirk Maltby were added for Kaberle, Brian Mcconnell, and Jannik Hansen.
Which leads us to the offseason, the Flames with tons of cap room, and tons of open roster spots to fill, they step up early and land their own man [b/Zubov to a multi-year deal. Then dishing out contracts to Rathje, Mellanby, Gelinas, Salei, Lilja, May, Nickulas, Metropolit and Hamilton.
Rumour is the Flames have now made prospect offers to Mihknov, Petiot and Dubnyk.
So, that leads the Flames to the 2006/2007 season similar to where they started last season. A few key pieces away from being a serious contender, but with plenty of prospects to get the job done. Here's the Flames depth charts;
CENTER
Brind'Amour
Spezza
Nieuwendyk
Chouinard
Metropolit
Hamilton
LEFT WING
Smyth
Gelinas
Maltby
Stefan
Mihknov*
May
RIGHT WING
Fedotenko
Mellanby
Cleary
Sjostrom
Laraque
Nickulas
DEFENSE
Zubov
Rathje
Salei
Murray
Gleason
Lilja
Cairns
Henry
Mezei
Petiot*
Fitzpatrick
GOAL
Legace
Hedberg
Dubnyk*