• HOME
  • NHL Teams
    • North Division
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • East Division
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Central Division
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • Dallas Stars
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Nashville Predators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
    • West Division
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Arizona Coyotes
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • Minnesota Wild
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • Headlines
  • NHL Rumors
  • NHL Prospects
  • World Juniors
  • Archives
  • Podcast Network
  • More…
    • CHL
      • Ontario Hockey League
      • Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
      • Western Hockey League
    • Columns
    • Women’s Hockey
    • Other Leagues
    • NHL Entry Draft
    • Books
    • NHL History
  • Log in
The Hockey Writers
  • Site Index
  • NHL Salary Caps
  • Hockey 101: A Beginner’s Guide
  • Join Our Team
  • Free Newsletter
  • Store
  • Log in
The Hockey Writers
  • HOME
  • NHL Teams
    • North Division
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • East Division
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Central Division
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • Dallas Stars
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Nashville Predators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
    • West Division
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Arizona Coyotes
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • Minnesota Wild
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • Headlines
  • NHL Rumors
  • NHL Prospects
  • World Juniors
  • Archives
  • Podcast Network
  • More…
    • CHL
      • Ontario Hockey League
      • Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
      • Western Hockey League
    • Columns
    • Women’s Hockey
    • Other Leagues
    • NHL Entry Draft
    • Books
    • NHL History
Home
Calgary Flames

Calgary Flames 2014 Trade Deadline Primer

By Ryan Pike March 4th, 2014

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp

As many of the National Hockey League’s clubs scramble to prepare for the playoff stretch drive, the rebuilding Calgary Flames are preparing for their future. With president of hockey operations Brian Burke operating, temporarily, as general manager for the beleaguered team, expectations are high locally for big moves at the deadline.

Mike Cammalleri (Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE)

Mike Cammalleri (Jerome Miron-US PRESSWIRE)

Given the marketplace and the team’s assets, those expectations may be slightly out of whack.

Here’s a quick and dirty primer for the Calgary Flames’ wants, needs and desires at the deadline.

ASSETS

The Flames have owners that are financial solid – ownership group chairman Murray Edwards is one of Canada’s wealthiest people, and the remainder of the group are all pretty close to him – and have authorized the team to spend to the cap. That means that the Flames have the financial ability to eat expensive contracts, bury expensive contracts or buy players out. That gives them the ability to do teams favours trade-wise if they get something back in return. They have over $10 million in cap space this season, and more than three times that for next season.

Oh, and the Flames have both of their compliance buyouts still available to them. The club also has just 27 players under contract for next year, so they can be aggressive in terms of adding bodies with term left on their current deals.

Thanks to a few years of savvy drafting, the Flames (finally) have a core group of solid, albeit untested, prospects – NCAA standout Johnny Gaudreau, QMJHL star Emile Poirier, and others like Sean Monahan, Bill Arnold, Morgan Klimchuk, Sven Baertschi and Jon Gillies. They also have several depth options, as in players that don’t project to be stars at the NHL level quite yet, but could be useful role players – in the same way Lance Bouma’s emerged for the Flames this season.

Finally, and most obviously, the Flames boast a handful of pending unrestricted free agents that could be useful for a team poised for a playoff run – notably Mike Cammalleri, Lee Stempniak and Chris Butler.

NEEDS

The Flames need everything, to be blunt. Goaltending is a bit of a question mark, defensive depth beyond their top four is spotty, and they lack top scorers at the NHL level.

President of hockey operations and interim general manager Brian Burke laid out his philosophy behind team-building at a media availability prior to the deadline.

“My whole philosophy on trying to win a championship was based on a conversation I had with Bill Torrey probably 25 years ago,” Burke said, noting he was picking Torrey’s brain as to how he built the powerhouse New York Islanders teams of the 1980s. “He says, ‘To get to a Stanley Cup, you play four series. You’re going to play a big team, so you gotta be big enough to beat a big team. You’re gonna play a team that relies on special teams, so you need good special teams to win that series. You’re gonna play a speed team, so you need enough foot-speed that you can match a speed team. And one of those series is gonna be a hybrid, so you’ll need all of those things.”

The Flames presently lack a lot of size in their forward group. They have a few speedy players, but could use more. Their special teams are extremely streaky. They’ll likely try to upgrade positionally across their roster, but may have to settle for untried prospects from other organizations or for draft picks.

DESIRES

Change.

For the past several years, the Flames have slogged around in the mushy middle of the NHL as (1) then-GM Darryl Sutter seemingly drove himself mad trying to recreate the 2004 Stanley Cup finalist club and (2) Jay Feaster was brought in to effectively clean up Sutter’s mess. The departure of Jay Feaster and arrival of Brian Burke have seemingly signaled that the organization is headed in a new direction and that the club’s rebuild will be accelerated.

That said, we haven’t seen much movement from Brian Burke, so what stamp he’ll place on this club has been a big question mark. Burke noted that he expects to see a lot of movement on Deadline Day. He’s also pretty blunt about the team’s needs.

“Face it, we are in the standings where we are for a reason,” said Burke. “We need to get bigger. We need to get better.”

The first big hockey moves of Burke’s Flames tenure are pending, and fans and media are anxious to see how much bigger and/or better he can make the team by the 2014 trade deadline.

  • Tags
  • 2014 NHL Trade Deadline
  • Brian Burke
  • Mike Cammalleri
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp

Get theScore App Now!
Recent Posts
Jan 15th 6:25 PM
Montreal Canadiens

Canadiens’ Romanov Fired Up to Face Oilers’ McDavid and Draisaitl

Jan 15th 6:00 PM
San Jose Sharks

Sharks’ Second Line Shines in Season Opener

Jan 15th 5:50 PM
Toronto Maple Leafs

Maple Leafs’ Marner Looking to Add Goals to His Stats

Jan 15th 5:35 PM
Buffalo Sabres

Three Takeaways from the Sabres’ Season Opener

Jan 15th 4:50 PM
Edmonton Oilers

Oilers News and Rumors: Smith, Barrie, Forsberg, Puljujarvi, More

Jan 15th 4:40 PM
Edmonton Oilers

Oilers Have Rough Season Opener but No Need to Panic

Jan 15th 4:20 PM
Column

Jets News & Rumors: Scheifele, Laine, Hellebuyck, Lewis & Quicksand

Jan 15th 4:10 PM
New York Rangers

Rangers Bring More of the Same in 2020-21 Opening Night

Jan 15th 3:45 PM
Column

Red Wings News & Rumors: Ryan, COVID, Markstrom & More

Jan 15th 3:30 PM
Boston Bruins

2020-21 Season Openers: Flames Lose Again, Islanders & Capitals Excel

Editor’s Picks
World Junior Championship All-Time Leading Scorers

World Junior Championship All-Time Leading Scorers

2021 Guide To the World Junior Championship

2021 Guide To the World Junior Championship

Masthead

Newsletters

RSS Feeds

Privacy Statement

Contact Us

About THW…

Founded in 2009, The Hockey Writers is a premier destination for news and information on everything hockey. Updated daily with news and features from over 130 writers worldwide. Over 2 million monthly readers now come to THW for their hockey fix.

© The Hockey Writers 2020. All rights reserved.
logo
  • HOME
  • Hockey Headlines
  • NHL Rumors
  • North Division
    • Calgary Flames
    • Edmonton Oilers
    • Montreal Canadiens
    • Ottawa Senators
    • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Vancouver Canucks
    • Winnipeg Jets
  • East Division
    • Boston Bruins
    • Buffalo Sabres
    • New Jersey Devils
    • New York Islanders
    • New York Rangers
    • Philadelphia Flyers
    • Pittsburgh Penguins
    • Washington Capitals
  • Central Division
    • Carolina Hurricanes
    • Chicago Blackhawks
    • Columbus Blue Jackets
    • Dallas Stars
    • Detroit Red Wings
    • Florida Panthers
    • Nashville Predators
    • Tampa Bay Lightning
  • West Division
    • Anaheim Ducks
    • Arizona Coyotes
    • Colorado Avalanche
    • Los Angeles Kings
    • Minnesota Wild
    • San Jose Sharks
    • Seattle Kraken
    • St Louis Blues
    • Vegas Golden Knights
  • World Juniors
  • CHL
    • Ontario Hockey League
    • Quebec Major Junior Hockey League
    • Western Hockey League
  • THW Podcast Network
  • Store
  • FREE Newsletter
  • Search THW
  • More…
    • Join Our Team
    • The THW Archives
    • Prospects
    • The Goalie Page
    • NHL Salary Cap Information