Calgary Flames have money to spend … Defensemen go short with high AAV?
Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the Jeff Marek Show talking about the Calgary Flames and how they might be willing to go to a higher AAV in the short term. Utah may be thinking the same.
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Marek: “One of the sidebars here, not a sidebar because it’s front and center for the Calgary Flames fans and with Craig Conroy, they have a lot of room to fill a void now.
You know I was going on with George Rusic this morning in Calgary and one of the conversations he had was, like if you’re Craig Conroy here, teams are rebuilding. You have plenty of cap space, room, and maneuverability here.
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Do you just turn into a team that will take bad contracts and trade prospects and picks? So what are you doing with all this money?”
Friedman: “Well, I think, one of the things that I’ve heard in Calgary is that when it comes to getting comfortable, they’re going to try to be very careful at the time.”
Marek: “Yes.”
Friedman: “Now what you can do, as I’ve heard that some of these, so someone told me a few days ago that some of these UFA D’s out there are getting like (Dmitry) Orlov offers.
As you’ll remember, yes, like Orlov, well, I think legally, legally, I’m not supposed to admit that but I heard it’s kind of there. Orlov, Orlov for Carolina”
Marek: “This hurts what you’re talking about.”
Friedman: “Yes. Doubled $7.5 (million).”
Marek: “Yes.”
Friedman: “And I heard there were a few of these UFA guys.
Now I’m not saying that Calgary is the one doing that. Because I don’t know. But, but I think Calgary looks at this like, ‘we’re not crazy about the timing but we might raise the AAV a little bit as a person if that can get us some players. “
Marek: “That’s Utah. That’s it, it’s Utah for sure, Elliotte. That’s really Utah.”
Friedman: “Are you accusing Utah of abuse?”
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Marek: “I… Gambling here in Casablanca? What?”
No, but that seems to be the MO for me. Listen, I was with Bill Armstrong on the show last week, and I said ‘Is that right, is that right … “
Friedman: “and he told you they were playing?”
Marek: “No, he didn’t say they were playing. But I said listen. You’re trying to get me in trouble.
But what I said was, is it safe to say you’re looking for veteran players on short-term deals until you get (Logan) Cooley and (Dylan) Guenther ready. He said yes, that’s exactly what we want.”
Friedman: “Yeah, I think there are a few teams that do that and, I heard that about the Flames. :as they’re willing, they’re willing to do some things out there in free agency, but I’ve heard they’d rather not do a crazy amount of time, and they’re willing to do a high AAV for a short period of time.”
