The Calgary Flames are in an awkward spot
Daily Faceoff: Frank Seravalli on the Calgary Flames being in an awkward spot after a slow start and a group of pending UFAs but are now back in the playoff race and have a good shot at the playoffs if they keep things up.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
“You have this team that stumbles out of the gate. Now they seem to be playing over these last couple of weeks, like the team that many of us thought they could be. And they’ve got all these pending UFA’s that they could cash in on and begin to reboot things and do things a little bit differently. But now they’re squarely in the playoff race and in fact, the percentages might point to them being a playoff team.”
Senators interim GM wanting to be patient with Smith and help may have to come internally
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: The Ottawa Senators have games left to get back in the playoff race despite being near the bottom of the league standings. New ownership surely didn’t envision them in this situation this year.
Steve Staios certainly has a lot more on his plate than he had envisioned as well. They want to be patient with coach DJ Smith despite the fans calling for his firing. Staios doesn’t want to fire him but there may come a time when he needs to.
Teams have inquired about forward Drake Batherson but the Senators don’t want to go down that road.
Forward Dominik Kubalik, a pending UFA could get traded before the Senators need to sign Shane Pinto. His suspension is up in January.
Turning things around may have to come internally and not from a trade.
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“The answers will have to come from within. That’s the only option,” a league executive told Postmedia Saturday. “There’s so many teams that don’t have any cap space and it’s pretty hard to make a move. Teams are going to have to wait until closer to the deadline.”