Flames Update

The Flames have finally made it to the final weekend of their regular season and it couldn't have come any sooner. Actually, the Flames probably would have preferred it did. For the past few weeks, the team has been limping toward the post-season. Now they find themselves two points back of the division leading Canucks and face two must-win games back to back against the hated Oilers.


The Injury Bug

Calgary is literally limping at this point. Injuries to Rene Bourque, Mark Giordano, Andre Roy, Rhett Warrener, Cory Sarich and Robyn Regehr have crippled several aspects of Calgary's game and they are paying for it in the standings. Daymond Langkow was also out for an extended period of time and some now are speculating that Dion Phaneuf could be battling an injury. Luckily, it appears they should be able to get most of, if not all, of these players healthy for the playoffs.

Davis Moss Signs on the Dotted Line

Darryl Sutter managed to get David Moss to re-sign with the Flames for three years at $1.3 million per season. This is great news as many were predicting the American could be looking at around $2 million a season much like Alex Burrows of the Vancouver Canucks. Moss finally hit the 20 goal plateau this season and will be a strong presence on the Flames' second line and on the powerplay for the next three seasons. Once again, it looks like players are willing to take a little less to stay in Calgary. Next up, Mike Cammalleri. Well, maybe not.

Cap Issues

Due to the amount of injuries the Flames have been dealing with, there has been a revolving door on the Flames' locker room. Trying to keep up with the call ups from Quad City and who is heading back to the AHL club is a chore by itself. Now they've reached the breaking point. Currently, the Flames only have 17 skaters on the roster and are only $246 000 from the salary cap ceiling. At points recently, the have been just hundreds of dollars clear of the cap limit. They've had to send Dustin Boyd down to the AHL just to clear up some salary room.

There is good news. When the regular season ends, NHL players no longer collect a paycheck from their clubs. They essentially play in the post-season for free, not counting bonus clauses in their contracts and what not. So the salary cap is a non-factor come game one. This means that the Flames are free to stock their roster with any player in the organization, including AHL players and players who have previously been on the injured reserve, even if their contracts would normally exceed the salary cap.

The only exception to the rule is Anders Eriksson, who because of his contract, age and years in the league would need to clear re-entry waivers to come up to the NHL team. Essentially, a team ranked lower than the Flames could claim him and not have to pay his salary, but would be responsible for his per-diem and his accommodations. Another hitch though, they would not be allowed to play him. As an example, if the Flames finish third in the Western Conference and play the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round, Columbus could claim Eriksson before the Flames, but would only do so to deny the Flames that player. I'm not saying it's going to happen, but a team looking for any sort of advantage could be desperate enough to brew some bad blood between the teams.

Just for Fun

From local band SubPlot A, comes this delightful diddy based on Hey There Delilah by the Plain White T's about Calgary's most beloved hockey player. It's worth a listen and may bring a smile to your face.



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