Flames Pour on More D

Calgary made the biggest move of free agency by jumping ahead of the line to swing the deal with Florida to obtain a few days of exclusive negotiating rights with Bouwmeester. Sutter has to be congratulated for his courage to take that gamble and then successfully negotiating the contract before July 1. At 25 Bouwmeester is the new breed of young free agent and he would have been the most sought after one this year.

What Sutter has done is add top notch depth to the area where the Flames already were the strongest. In an era where teams are looking for one or two top flight defenders, the Flames now have four quality horses back there. Bouwmeester, Regehr, Phaneuf and Sarich give Calgary the deepest defense in the NHL. These four will eat up the minutes in a dominating fashion with the smallest of the group standing at 6’3. Bouwmeester and Phaneuf give each pair an offensive edge while Regehr and Sarich are rocks on defense.

While there is nothing negative to be said about the makeup of this defense, the only concern is whether Sutter is investing too much of his cap on the back end. Including Kiprusoff’s salary, the Flames have $26.5 million of the cap committed to five players focused on keeping the puck out of the net. What does that leave them with up front?

Iginla has always been the focus on offense, but with that amount of money committed to the back end there is precious little left to provide him with support. The team was already thin up front last year, but the signing of Bouwmeester made it impossible for the Flames to keep Cammalleri or to sign a skilled replacement for the top two lines. Cammalleri was a great compliment for Iginla and his 39 goals will be missed.

The Flames can still put together a strong first line but there is not much left to provide a threat from any of their other lines. This allows the opposition to focus on shutting down Iginla’s line. The problem is intensified in that Iginla does not have a true playmaking center to play with so he often has to create his own scoring chances as well as put the puck in the net. With Iginla’s style of play the season becomes long without a threat from the other lines and he can get pretty worn down come playoff time.

While very thin at the wings, the Flames do have Jokinen and Langkow as their top two centers. Jokinen was a late addition last year and the team is counting on him to take some of the scoring pressure off Iginla. He has the size and skill to be a great fit for Calgary and should be motivated since he will be a UFA at the end of the year. Langkow will also be counted on to provide scoring and he is the only center with a contract beyond this year so expect changes next year.

Kiprusoff is still one of the top goalies in the game but he could use more rest during the season. While the Flames may not be able to cut back much on the number of games he plays, the defense should be able to make his life a little easier between the pipes.

Brent Sutter takes over the coaching of the team so you know that he will be in step with his brother.

While it appears that the Flames are set with the big four on defense, I would have liked to see Sutter try to move Phaneuf for additional scoring up front. The Flames will again rely on Iginla to drive the offense and hope that Jokinen can take some of that burden off him.

Calgary should not have a problem making the playoffs this year, but with the strength of the conference I do not see them cracking the top four.