Calgary Flames

It was a tough choice between Sean Monahan and Elias Lindholm for the Flames' first selection in the 2013 NHL entry draft, but ultimately the choice came down to three things that the organization has touted for some time now: Monahan's size, the fact that he is a versatile, natural centre and his age (the 67s co-captain is one of the oldest players in this year's draft and considered to be one of the most NHL-ready). Monahan's game has been consistently described by scouts as well-developed and complete in every area, but not flashy or "explosive." He projects as a first-line centreman who can win faceoffs and is defensively capable, and despite his 78 points in 58 games, was quite possibly held back by his less than stellar teammates in the OHL this past season. From Flames Nation's Kent Wilson: His team, the Ottawa '67s, was one of the very worst clubs in the OHL this time around, however, managing just 16 wins in a 68 game season and ending up with a goal differential of -115 (!). The next best scorer on the club accumulated just 40 points, a full 38 points (!) behind Monahan, who was basically a one man show up front for Ottawa all year. ...Monahan's NHLE of 33 nevertheless puts him in good company historically, including guys like Rick Nash (33), Dustin Brown (32) and Mike Richards (32). Keep in mind, however, Monahan's output was probably suppressed by the low quality of his teammates this season - on a better team, it's very likely he's an 80-or-90 point player this season, so his NHLE might be understating his real offensive talent. As Kent shows, if Monahan had played in the NHL in his draft year, he would have accumulated 33 points, which compares him pretty favourably to some of the current heavy-hitters in the big league. The biggest concerns with Monahan at the moment are his average skating abilities and the fact that he scored more points on the powerplay than at even strength last season, which could also potentially speak to the poor quality of the team he played on. Overall, however, the consensus seems to be that Monahan is the real deal, and for a team like the Flames who will likely not be able to move up higher in the draft to select a sure bet like Jones or MacKinnon without sacrificing what few pieces they do have to build around (i.e. Brodie, Backlund or Baertschi), that's good news. It also bodes well for them that Monahan, if they do select him, will likely be among the most physically mature of their recent prospects; at 6"2 and nearly 200 lbs. and as one of the older players in this year's draft class, he could be ready to step in and offer a helping hand if needed as early as next season--if not with the Flames, then with the Heat. Poll Is Sean Monahan the right choice for the Flames at sixth overall in this year's draft? Yes No 5 votes | Results

161 - Games played for the University of North Dakota over the course of four seasons. 52 - Goals scored over the last four seasons. In both the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons, Knight posted 16 goals. 19 - Knight's 19-game point streak this y...

CALGARY, AB -- The Calgary Flames announced today that they have acquired centre Corban Knight from the Florida Panthers in exchange for the Flames fourth round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. "Corban Knight is a player our scouts have been watchin...

Last week, we took a look at the centres where Jay Feaster could find value. This week, we'll take a look at the wingers. Certainly, the Flames have a ton of cap space. But Moneypuck isn't about only finding cheap players; no, it's more about getting value from the contracts you sign. Anecdotally, the higher the price in free agency, the less value you're likely to get out of the contract.You need to find value in contracts. Overpaying players by a million a season doesn't seem like much on the surface, but 4 or 5 or 6 of those guys and poof! Cap hell. It's easier to find value in cheaper and shorter contracts than it is in longer contracts, plain and simple.Shorter contracts also allow you to take more risks without as much consequence. Lots of positional redundancy (which Moneypuck-like tactics can create) in the NHL can benefit the overall franchise and realistically should be the goal for all but 5 roster spots on a given team. Odd that our first candidate doesn't fit that description exactly, but him along with the other three could create the exact situation outlined here.The TargetsNathan HortonThe Krejci-Lucic-Horton line took advantage of easy circumstances this year, but Nathan Horton has shown the ability to carry a line in the recent past. The former Panther has never had a negative Relative Corsi in his entire career and the past three seasons he's produced at a .65PPG rate, which is what is expected for a good 2W/borderline 1W.Despite that production, his PDO the last two seasons has been under 1000, meaning he hasn't had the best luck. Like I said above, however, there are some red flags. His high ZS% is definitely a concern, as well as the middling level of competition his line faced this year.It's also possible that playing with strong centremen like Krejci and Stephen Weiss has pumped up his underlying numbers somewhat. In addition, he has had some issues with concussions recently, but I believe that will drive his value down a little bit.The unknown here is we have no idea how badly teams might overpay for basically the only notable right winger on the market seeking his first UFA contract. Horton will be in high demand, so it's fairly unlikely he chooses to land in with the rebuilding Flames.In the end, I think he stays in Boston, though, so this might all be moot. (I also had this written before his outburst versus the Penguins, but it remains to be seen what his value will be.)Age: 28 (on 05/10/13)Assumed Cost: Likely a 4 or 5 year contract, around $5 million AAV.Pierre-Marc BouchardAnother guy with concussion issues who will likely come cheaper than he should as a result is the Minnesota Wild's best out-shooting player the past 4 seasons. Last year, he was 4th among Wild forwards with a +1.4 Relative Corsi, but the two seasons before he was ranked first with Relative Corsis of 20.5 and 12.0. His ZS% has been pretty close to average the past few years, within 2% either way of 50%. He's also had average PDO's, so his .58PPG the past three seasons can't be attributed to luck.Aside from the concussion issues, I can't see any reason why teams wouldn't want this guy. In my opinion, there are no statistical red flags. He can also play center, which is always a plus. In fact, I see him identified as a centre as much as I see him identified as a RW. Lastly, Wild fans seem to dislike him - so that's a huge plus.Age: 29 (on 05/10/13)Assumed Cost: Likely a 3 year contract at less than $3.5 million dollars.Clarke MacArthurMacArthur's an odd case: he scored at a .5PPG pace this year for the Toronto Maple Leafs, but because Randy Carlyle is clearly insane he was a healthy scratch for the Leafs' first two playoff games. MacArthur has long demonstrated a high-end outshooting ability; this year was no different. With a ZS% of only 45.7%, he vastly outshot third-line comp, posting a Relative Corsi of 16.2 (!) while spending extended periods of time hauling around Toronto's knuckle draggers.His zonw finish % was 49.3,

- pic via stat19 It was noted this evening by Edmonton radio host Bob Stauffer that the Flames may be making a play for former Panthers 5th rounder Corban Knight. A 22-year old center from High River, Knight recently completed his fourth season at the University of North Dakota where he scored 49 points in 41 games.Knight's stock has increased since being picked by Florida in 2009. He was a better than a point-per-game producer in college after his freshman season and at 6'2", 200 pounds has the sort of size people are looking for in centermen.Jason Gregor wrote an excellent profile of Knight recently:Knight was very poised, polite and extremely humble during our phone interview. I’d say he offers more than just little offensive upside.He was one of the 10 finalists for the 2013 Hobey Baker Award, handed out annually to the top NCAA men’s hockey player. Knight had a stellar senior year at UND. His accomplishments include:Finishing in the top 10 in scoring in the nation;A 19-game point streak, the longest at UND in the last 25 years;Getting points in 29 games, second most in the nation;Winning 60 per cent of his faceoffs. In fact, Knight’s past three seasons have been very consistent as he’s averaged 58 per cent in the faceoff dot....Knight was very adamant that the strengths of his game are his defensive awareness and faceoffs, but he clearly possesses an offensive touch. He has steadily improved as a player, but he believes college allowed him to grow as a person.Knight and his agent recently told the Panthers organization they would opt for free agency, which is why the player is available. He sounds like he falls in the org's wheelhouse given how much Weisbrod and company have foregrounded things like character, hockey sense and collegiate atheletes since taking over.Knight would also add another decent prospect at center, which is where the team would desperately like to build strength moving forward. I don't think he has a high upside as a scorer in the show given his numbers, but at 22 and already a complete two-way player he could be much closer to jumping in and providing value relative to any of the kids the Flames will be taking in the draft.Assuming they actually acquire and sign him of course. We'll update this article if that happens.

Every so often, a hockey rumour comes up that makes you sit in awe and confusion. Even rarer, you get the awesome plot twist of there being merit to the speculation. Usually, when that's the case, it involves Flames GM Jay Feaster or Avalanche GM Greg Sherman. Occasionally, the two will band together to create the Watch The Throne of puck absurdity, like the Ryan O'Reilly offer sheet that nearly ended in waivers earlier this season. Fast forward to now, and we have another fun "what if" to discuss.As reported across the hockey world, the Flames want to make a significant impact at this year's draft. Since they weren't able to completely tank, trading for the first overall pick is the best way to do it, and Colorado is the team in possession of that top spot. Feaster's plan of attack? He offered picks 6 (Calgary's original pick), 22 (from St. Louis) and 28 (from Pittsburgh) for first overall. Sherman and the Avalanche have since rejected it, but it's lead to some debate. Should they have taken it? After all, three first round picks are nothing to scoff at. Here's a look at every 1 for 6/22/28 scenario possible since the draft had at least 28 potential selections: table.tableizer-table { border: 1px solid #CCC; font-family: ; font-size: 12px; } .tableizer-table td { padding: 4px; margin: 3px; border: 1px solid #ccc; } .tableizer-table th { background-color: #8C1010; color: #FFF; font-weight: bold; } Year To Calgary (1) To Colorado (6) To Colorado (22) To Colorado (28) Win? 2013 Nathan Mackinnon Darnell Nurse Zach Fucale Kerby Rychel TBD 2012 Nail Yakupov Hampus Lindholm Olli Maatta Brady Skjei TBD 2011 Ryan Nugent-Hopkins Mika Zibanejad Tyler Biggs Zack Phillips TBD 2010 Taylor Hall Brett Connolly Jared Tinordi Carlie Coyle TBD 2009 John Tavares Oliver Ekman-Larsson Jordan Schroeder Dylan Olsen TBD 2008 Steven Stamkos Nikita Filatov Jordan Eberle Viktor Tikhonov TBD 2007 Patrick Kane Sam Gagner Max Pacioretty Nick Petrecki TCTC 2006 Erik Johnson Derick Brassard Claude Giroux Nick Foligno COL 2005 Sidney Crosby Gilbert Brule Matt Lashoff Matt Niskanen CGY 2004 Alexander Ovechkin Al Montoya Lukas Kaspar Mark Fistric CGY 2003 Marc-Andre Fleury Milan Michalek Marc-Antoine Pouliot Corey Perry COL 2002 Rick Nash Scottie Upshall Sean Bergenheim Jonas Johansson CGY 2001 Ilya Kovalchuk Mikko Koivu Jiri Novotny Adrian Foster CGY 2000 Rick DiPietro Scott Hartnell David Hale Justin Williams COL 1999 Patrik Stefan Brian Finley Maxime Ouellet Kristian Kudroc CGY 1998 Vincent Lecavalier Rico Fata Simon Gagne Ramzi Abid CGY 1997 Joe Thornton Daniel Tkaczuk Nikos Tselios Brad DeFauw

We're less than 2 weeks away from one of the most pivotal drafts in the history of the Flames franchise so, naturally, there's plenty to talk about. Elliotte Friedman reported during the last game of the Stanley Cup finals that the Flames are already aggressively pursuing a "move up" strategy, offering all of their first round picks for Colorado's first overall (which has been summarily rejected, of course).It seems like a steep price to pay, but I think it's a worthwhile venture. The difference in quality between your typical top-3 player and evern top-6 is usually steep, to say nothing of the lottery tickets available later in the first round. As such, there's a very good chance a guy like Nate MacKinnon would be worth more (perhaps orders of magnitude more) than whoever else the Flames could pick at 6, 22 and 28, combined. Which is, of course, why the Avs rejected the offer (well...that and still being mad about the whole ROR offer-sheet thing).The good news is, the Flames apparently aren't gun-shy about paying the price to move up. Whether this actually gets them anywhere near a MacKinnon or Barkov remains to be seen.Of course, the other rumor circulating has to do with Calgary quietly seeking to augment their executive staff by hiring a new president of hockey ops. As mentioned here on Saturday, Brendan Shanahan was in town this past week talking to the powers-that-be, so he's obviously a leading candidate. Friedman was on the FAN960 this morning and mentioned a number of other names including Brian Burke and Colin Campbell (shudder).I'm not sure what was the impetus for this search, but I am supportive of getting some new blood into the office and shuttling Ken King back a few steps so he doesn't have his hands in the hockey decisions. That said, the list of proposed names thus far kind of leave me cold - it's either a collection of the drastically unproven (Brendan Shanahan) or of old-school warhorses who, while established figureheads in the league, don't exactly bring a lot of new ideas or fresh perspectives to the organization.Frequent commenter Clyde bristled a bit at my dismissal of Brian Burke in the comments of the previous article on this topic during the weekend. I'll clarify as to why I am against a chap like Burke getting a prominent seat at the head of the Flames table now -Let's first establish that Brian Burke is a smart dude. He's accomplished a ton at the NHL level in various aspects of the business and has been the head of a Stanley Cup winning team in Anaheim. He's also been the architect of some pretty ballsy trades in the past, including the incredible Sedin heist of the '99 draft and the Phaneuf thievery, of which all Flames fans are unfortunately familiar.The problem with Burke from what I've seen over the last 5 years or so is he seems to be at the point of his career where he's no longer interested in learning about the game. That comes off like a ridiculous critique of a guy who has been operating at the highest level for decades, but the truth is the game never stops changing, be it in terms of what we know and are able to analyze, to how each successive generation of talent, rule changes, equipment upgrades, etc. alters the way the hockey is played, understood and won.Burke was an ardent proponent on old-school, tough guy hockey during his time in Toronto as well as an outspoken critic of advance, statistical analysis. During his tenure as the Leafs GM Burke had his wins and losses in isolated moves here and there, but overall it became clear he didn't really know what was needed to get the club to the next level. He completely misread the value of guys like Colton Orr and Mike Komisarek and put way too much on the line with the Phil Kessel gambit. Now, Kessel is probably the best player on the club currently, but he's not a talent who appreciably shifts and shapes a team's fortunes like, say, a Pavel Datsyuk.Which is to say, nothing Burke did in Toronto impressed me much, aside from perhaps r

CALGARY, AB -- The CHL was well represented at the NHL Scouting Combine with 11 of their players finishing first in fitness testing. Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman Tyler Lewington was the definite standout after finishing first in three tests. ...

CALGARY, AB -- As the recipient of the Daryl K. (Doc) Seaman Trophy as the Western Hockey League's scholastic player of the year, Josh Morrissey is pretty bright. Smart enough to know not to pay too much attention to the fact that the Calgary F...

What Marko Dano accomplished this season didn't seem to faze him much, but it was something no other player in this year's draft class was able to achieve. Dano, a 5-foot-11, 183-pound center, is No. 12 on NHL Central Scouting's final ranking o...