On the Calgary Flames …
Daniel Goffenberg of Sportsnet: Flames GM Brad Treliving was on Sportsnet 960 yesterday talking about RFAs Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau. He’d like to get both signed to long-term deals.
“What they on their side want to manage is what does that number look like if they’re to commit for six, seven, eight years, what does that number look like in three, four, five years in terms of the marketplace,” said Treliving. “So, the preference for us would be to have some cost certainty with them, get them under contract for term, but again it takes two to make a deal here and we’ll continue to work away at it.”
The Flames currently have just under $15 million in salary cap space and they want to leave a little room for future depth moves.
“We’ve done a lot of modelling here. The cap system here there’s only so many shekels to go around here so we’re leaving space obviously,” said Treliving. “I think there’s maybe a little bit more room to do something if something else that makes sense comes up, but obviously getting those two under contract is a priority.
“The timing of which, we’ll continue to work at it. I wish it was yesterday, but we don’t play till October.”
The Flames are looking for a left handed defensman either through free agency or trade.
On the Tampa Bay Lightning, Ben Bishop and the Dallas Stars …
Chris Nichols of Today’s Slapshot: Darren Dreger on TSN 1050 on after the Lightning signed Andrei Vasilevskiy to a three year extension, if the Lightning are going to trade Ben Bishop at some point, the Stars could be the logical landing spot.
“That would be the target for me too, is the Dallas Stars. Jimmy Nill felt like he rectified the situation of goaltending this past year in Dallas. Yet as the season wore on, and into the playoffs, goaltending became a bit of a question mark for them again, and a bigger one as Nill and the Stars went into the off-season. But it’s still a little premature to push the panic button there.
“And the price for Ben Bishop has to be significantly high, in terms of the quality of maybe the young prospect that you’re going to have to give up, or the draft picks that you’re going to have to give up. He’s still under contract for this year. And then on top of that, of course, is how do you lure him away from unrestricted free agency.”
The Flames would have preferred to Bishop over Brian Elliott, but Flames GM Brad Treliving didn’t like the asking price and was terrified of a potential seven year extension at over $6 million per season.