Calgary Flames

- 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...

CALGARY, AB -- Calgary Flames prospects Patrick Sieloff and Jon Gillies may have the opportunity to defend the Americans World Junior Championship title after earning invites to the United States National Junior Evaluation Camp later this summer. ...

A change in the rules of the Canadian Hockey League Import Draft could bring an end to European goalies playing junior hockey in the league. The annual import draft is a two-round process that allows the 60 teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hock...

There's a good chance power forward Kerby Rychel will hear his name called in the early rounds of the 2013 NHL Draft on June 30 at Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. The same could not be said for his father, Warren, who almost three decades ago...

It isn't too far-fetched to believe that Everett Silvertips defenceman Mirco Mueller one day could be reunited with his old partner in the Western Hockey League. During the 2012 NHL Draft in Pittsburgh, the Columbus Blue Jackets chose Silvertip...