Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on the Jeff Marek Show talking about the Calgary Flames sending Andrew Mangiapane to the Washington Capitals and what it may mean for the rest of their roster.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Matt Marchese: “Yeah, you mentioned Washington in there, his former team. So they pick up Andrew Mangiapane for a second-round pick. How much of this is realizing they had an issue to score goals and how much of this is keeping the team competitive while Alex Ovechkin takes aim at Wayne Gretzky’s goal record?
Friedman: “I think there’s some of that but I just think in general they want to be, they, like they made the playoffs this year, but they got wiped out. And I just don’t think they felt that was good enough.
NHL Rumors: Blue Jackets, Blackhawks, Hurricanes, and the Senators
I think, the main thing that that tells me is that Mangiapane was a year away from unrestricted free agency. The Flames just did not see him as part of the future. So I think that’s one of the things that’s going on here. That was obvious to me.
I think this is, like I think the Flames have set themselves out to be one of the most fascinating teams in the league over the next year. They continue to remodel themselves. They’ve got a ton of draft capital. You know, what else are they thinking of doing here?
I think it’s really, really interesting. And, you know, one of the things I kind of wonder about too is, like I’m sure some of the other players on that roster are probably asking the same question. They’re like, ‘Okay, what exactly are we doing here?’
So I’m curious to see what they are going to do at free agency. They’ve, they’ve made it very clear. They’re going to be looking at things. They’ve said that they’re going to be very careful on term. They’re not looking for seven, eight-year deals, but you can find good players on shorter deals, especially if you bump up the AAV a little bit.
NHL Rumors: Boston Bruins, Utah, Vegas Golden Knights, Calgary Flames, and Toronto Maple Leafs
So I’m really fascinated by this. They’ve, you know, I think that, I think that they’ve sent a bit of a message that they are willing to be more creative, or more willing to turn over their roster than a lot of people expected.”