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 | While Brad Treliving may not have been the busiest of general manager's during his first summer in charge of the Calgary Flames organization, he most certainly made one hell of a splash with the signing of free agent netminder Jonas Hiller. | | Edmonton - July 11, 2014 - With the completion of many a prospect camp across the National Hockey League nearing their end and the dust finally settling on what was a record breaking free agent frenzy, the dog days of the NHL offseason are now upon us.
All 30 GM’s are able to step away, take a deep breathe and look over the carnage that was NHL free agency. Many will be pleased with their body of work and will be content until training camps open in September. Others will be left wondering if they could have done more, and will continue to pick up their phone to see if there are still deals that make sense for their club.
When Calgary Flames general manager Brad Treliving takes a look at his body of work he will likely be quite satisfied with what he was able to accomplish but did he do too much?
The additions of Brandon Bollig and Derek Engelland were solid depth signings and will make the 2014-2015 squad much tougher to play against. The Engelland contract could go down as one of the worst contracts in recent memory, however the club has a boatload of cap space and the Engelland contract will not cripple the team in any shape or form.
Mason Raymond was another quality signing and should fit in well with Calgary’s style of play. The Cochrane, Alberta native had career resurrecting season with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013-14 and should help fill the void of Michael Cammalleri’s departure to the New Jersey Devils.
The signing that was a bit of a head scratcher was Swiss goaltender Jonas Hiller. The former Anaheim Ducks tender brings a respectable career .916 save percentage and 2.51 goals against average with him to the Flames and make no mistake, Hiller is a bona-fide National Hockey League starting goalie. That said, will Calgary’s “rebuild” benefit from adding the veteran netminder to their line up?
With Karri Ramo coming off a surprisingly solid year, is the plan to have him share the net with Hiller in ’14-’15 or does he become nothing more than a caddy? While both posted very similar numbers during the 2013-14 campaign, Hiller benefited greatly from backstopping a far more talented and deeper squad, allowing the thirty-two year old to put together a rather impressive 29-13 record on the year.
Another thing to consider, the decision to bring Hiller on board will give goaltending prospect Joni Ortio another year or two to develop his game in the AHL. The twenty-three year old Finnish tender made a great impression during his first taste of the NHL, his wins and losses at four a piece while posting a 2.51 GAA, rushing goaltender’s into the NHL is never a good idea and having Hiller around should keep the organization from doing exactly that.
Some will argue that the addition of Hiller could hurt the Flames chances for a lottery pick at next year’s NHL Entry Draft, which some scouts are dubbing as one of the deepest drafts in recent memory…thanks in large part to the availability of both Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel.
While passing up on the opportunity of acquiring such high-end talent can’t be easy, what general manager in their right mind would chose to tear it all down and start from scratch? In today’s NHL it is very rare and with the top end of draft producing the type of quality it has in recent years, most teams have taken to the approach of surrounding their budding stars with a solid supporting cast in hopes of turning things around within a couple years.
The Jonas Hiller signing will be debated heavily over the coming months but the move sends the Calgary Flames fan base a very clear message…this team is not about to roll over. The addition of solid veterans within their young forward core and a #1 goalie has to be sweet music to Flames faithful. All they have to do is take a glimpse up the QE2 and ask fans of the Edmonton Oilers how much they have “enjoyed” that style of rebuild.
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