| Jonathan Volpe. 18th January, 2008 - 3:50 pm
 Imagine trying to choose between llya Kovalchuk and Alexander Ovechkin. Although Flames' general manager Darryl Sutter doesn’t have to make that tough decision, the decision he has to make this season is not so easy in itself.
Daymond Langkow, Kristian Huselius and Craig Conroy are all unrestricted free agents this year while Dion Phaneuf is a restricted free agent, which puts Sutter in a difficult position. Luckily for Sutter the options are aplenty.
Sutter can either choose between Huselius and Langkow, both of whom scored 77 points last year, or decide to deal Alex Tanguay to free up cap space. Huselius and Langkow have performed well in Flames uniforms as Huselius is a point-per game player this season and Langkow is trailing Huselius by six points. This is why dealing Tanguay seems like a viable option.
Tanguay is making $5.375 million this year and will make that same amount next year. Dealing him for the underachieving Michael Ryder makes salary-cap sense.
By doing so Sutter will free up enough cap space to either keep Huselius and/or Langkow and sign Phaneuf to a long-term contract.
Acquiring Ryder, who has a measly seven goals this year, is a low risk, high pay-off deal. Ryder has notched 30 goals twice in his NHL career and managed 25 in the 2003-2004 season so he does have the ability to be a solid goal scorer. Maybe Ryder needs a change of scenery to hit stride again and become the player he once was, which would cover for Tanguay’s loss.
Although these are just speculations, Sutter wouldn’t be in this mess if he hadn’t jumped the gun and signed rearguard Cory Sarich in a mind-boggling move. In the off-season Sutter signed Sarich to a $3.9 million contract for this season (he will make $3.4 next year), a high number for a guy that has four points this year and has a plus-1.
I bet Sutter wishes he had a mulligan on that one.
Don’t be surprised to see Tanguay shipped out of Calgary for either Ryder or another player who is an unrestricted free agent next year. |
