Everybody loves to find a bargain.
Every time my wife comes home with a new pair of shoes -- and that's often -- the first thing out of her mouth is what the regular price would have been.
Twenty-two years of marriage and not once has she paid regular price for shoes and there's a mountain of footwear in my closet that would make Imelda Marcos jealous.
Well, safe to say if my wife was an NHL general manager, she would never go shopping on July 1.
When you head to the mall on Canada Day as 30 GMs do annually, you do so not looking to find a steal, but more so to buy something that you really need that is of limited quantity.
While you can find solid, versatile and durable shoes anywhere, anytime, same cannot be said for solid, versatile and durable hockey players.
Sure, you can spend less if you wait and go shoe shopping at Winners or Marshalls later in the summer, but then you're picking from the leftovers that nobody else wanted, you end up settling for something you didn't like nearly as much.
Sometimes you're better off paying a little bit more to get the exact thing you need.
"Building your team on July 1 is a recipe for disaster but is there an ability for you to fill holes or address needs? Absolutely," said Flames GM Brad Treliving on Friday afternoon from the Saddledome. "It's a balancing act. Prices can be driven up and you have to manage that, but the supply is always less than the demand."
At the end of the day -- literally -- Treliving said he was happy with both of his signings Friday in which Calgary added Troy Brouwer via a four-year/$18-million deal and goaltender Chad Johnson on a one-year/$1.7 million deal.
"These are two guys we were focused in on," he said, adding that both players were in demand. "And it's one thing when a guy goes out on the market and you're competing against new teams, but when players can potentially stay in their same market, that's always a difficult time.
"You have to be very careful, but we felt comfortable with the deals we did today."
Brouwer Fills a Huge Need
The Flames had a need and a very specific need. They were looking for a player capable of being a top-six right winger and ideally, for once, wanted it to come in the form of someone playing his natural wing.
"In Troy's particular case, he's a right shot. So that opens up opportunities. You look down the middle and we have four left-shooting centres," said Treliving. "To have that ability to have a right shot on your power play is a completely different look, which we haven't had from a forward position."
Statistically, the 6-foot-3 Brouwer consistently puts up 20 goals per season. If you're my age and grew up watching hockey in the 80s, that may not sound like a lot but in today's NHL, 20 goals is the old 30.
Over the last seven seasons, only 16 right wingers have scored more times than Brouwer with 140.
That said, you're overlooking at least half of his resume if you're judging him on his point totals alone.
Brouwer brings leadership and experience in spades. He plays both special teams. He admitted he's not shy about speaking up when something needs to be said in the dressing room. Plus, he has 98 games of playoff experience that includes winning the Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2010.
Add up all the other forwards that could be part of the Flames opening night roster and you only get 152 playoff games -- 35 of them from depth forward Brandon Bollig.
Adds Leadership and Experience
"We've added three men here in the last week," said Treliving, alluding to draft day trade acquisition Brian Elliott as well. "These are guys that I think are going to be excellent in what they do from 7 to 9:30 on the ice but the other part is the practice habits.
"We have a lot of young players around here and you learn from what you see, you learn from what you watch, and these are guys that do it right every day. They're coming here to win, the habits that they have, both practices and in games, are habits that we want our young kids around. As much as it's about what they do on the ice and that's a big part of it, we've added some people that are going to be excellent role models for the group."
Treliving emphasizes that when your core forwards Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan and Sam Bennett are ages 22, 21, and 20 respectively, you need to surround them with experience.
"Those are people we're building around here. So how do you best support them," said the GM. "Part of this thing is having guys that do it right, having guys that push each other. But there are times to have a hug too, and say 'listen, I've been through this before, it's not the end of the world when we have a bad night or a bad shift. Having that experience, plus it brings us a little more juice."
Brouwer says he looks forward to being part of a new team with such a bright future,
"I see a lot of potential. I see a good mix of what you need to win. Good, veteran presence with a lot of young legs and a lot of enthusiasm. I think they've done a great job the last couple weeks shoring up the goalie situation," he said.
Brouwer also acknowledged he knows the club is coming off a disappointing season and is looking to rebound.
"I know last year they're not happy with missing the playoffs and that's something that burns in you. You want to improve, you want to get better and that's something I wanted to be a part of."
Johnson a Value Short-Term Add
Chad Johnson comes to the Flames as an established NHL goaltender. Joni Ortio was not that.
Johnson's save percentage over the last four seasons, while playing behind a carousel of average-at-best defences in Boston, Arizona, Buffalo and Long Island, is a respectable .917.
Since 2012-13, Johnson ranks 22nd among goalies with 80 or more starts.
Over that period:
1. Carey Price, .925, $6.5M
2. Cory Schneider, .924, $6M
3. Cam Talbot, .924, $4.2M
4. Tuukka Rask, .923, $7M
5. Ben Bishop, .922, $5.9M
6. Corey Crawford, .922, $6M
7. Henrik Lundqvist, .922, $8.5M
8. Brian Elliott, .920, $2.5M
9. Braden Holtby, .920, $6.1
10. Sergei Bobrovsky, .920, $7.4M
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22. Chad Johnson, .917, $1.7M
No, it's not at the same level as the others, but it's not that far off either. Plus, at $1.7 million, he's making considerably less money also.
Stabilizes the Crease at Half the Cost
"The last week, being able to add Brian Elliott and now being able to add Chad Johnson to our goaltending position, has solidified and strengthened that position on our team," said Treliving.
Plus, that stability comes in the form of a one-year deal so it allows the organization a chance to reset at the end of the year, evaluate Johnson, assess how Jon Gillies' development is coming along and go from there.
Living year-by-year has become routine for Johnson, who has played for five different organizations in the last five years. But he hopes he can find some stability in the city he grew up in..
"Nobody wants to keep switching teams, but it takes time," said Johnson, who played his minor hockey for Bow Valley, before moving on to the Buffaloes. "This is an opportunity for myself. Brad thinks highly of both of us and for myself, that's important to me. to possibly, with a good season, get that extension and be here long term."
Coming off a Solid Season
In 45 games last year with Buffalo, biggest workload yet in his NHL career, his .920 save percentage ranked him 15th among goalies with 25 or more starts. One spot ahead of him was Henrik Lundqvist, two spots behind him was Frederik Andersen.
"It was a good stepping stone in the sense that everybody saw that I could play consecutive games, that I could be that relied-upon guy," said Johnson.
He says when you've been a back-up all your career, it becomes a label.
"It's changing that reputation, changing their perspective of what people think I am," he said. "Last year opened up a lot of people's eyes. Hey, this guy can play a lot of games, this guy can compete, win his teammates over and be that relied upon guy to be the starter. That was big for me last year."
While Brouwer has no family ties to the city, his decision to build in Calgary the result of it being halfway between his family in B.C. and his wife's in Saskatchewan, Johnson grew up in Calgary and was a huge Flames fans as kid. Throughout his time in the NHL, he always spends his summers in Calgary.
His wife -- they just got married -- is also from Calgary and in a bizarre story, the house that his wife grew up in, is now the house that Brad Treliving lives in. Yep, one owner in between but Treliving bough the house that was built by Chad Johnson's wife's parents. Wild.
About the Flames Cap Space
So now what, is Calgary done or are there more changes coming? My sense is the focus is now shifting to Gaudreau and Monahan and getting those deals done.
Treliving said the team had two needs -- top right winger and back-up goalie, they got both, so they seem content.
Doing some loose projections this morning and by no means am I a certified capologist, I figure that the GM still has a little bit of space of salary cap room to work with but not much.
How I arrived at that is an exercise in projecting, estimating, plus with an executive decision or two along the way because there are variables involved:
How much will Johnny Gaudreau re-sign for? How about Sean Monahan? What about Tyler Wotherspoon?
Will or can the Flames trade Dennis Wideman?
Will Ladislav Smid be healthy or is he bound for long-term injured reserve? If the latter, how much of his $3.5 million can Calgary re-capture?
In order to give us tangible numbers to work, I filled in all the blanks above and here is the math that I came up with.
2016-17 NHL Salary Cap - $73 million
2016-17 Projected Flames NHL Roster - $70.9 million
14 Forwards - $39.2 million
7 Defence - $27.5 million
2 Goalies - $4.2 million
That leaves Treliving with a little over $2 million as I approximate it. That said, maybe Monahan costs more, maybe Gaudreau costs less, maybe Bollig remains with Calgary, etc. But the bottom line is the team should be OK.
Here is a look at how the Flames roster could look come opening night:
Forwards (14) - $39.2M
Starters (12):
Gaudreau 22, $7.25M* - Monahan 21, $6.5M* - Brouwer 30, $4.5M
Bouma 26, $2.2M - Backlund 26, $3.6M - Frolik 28, $4.3M
Tkachuk 18, $925K - Bennett 20, $925K - Chiasson 25, $800K
Ferland 24, $825K - Stajan 32, $3.1M - Pribyl 23, $925K
Extras (2):
Bollig 24, $1.25M, Hathaway 25, $690K
Extra Salary (1):
Raymond, $1M (buy-out)
Defence (7) - $27.5M
Starters (6):
Giordano 32, $6.75M - Brodie 26, $4.65M
Jokipakka 24, $900K - Hamilton 23, $5.75M
Wideman 33, $5.25M - Engelland 34, $2.92M
Extra (1):
Wotherspoon 23, $1.3M*
LTIR (1):
Smid 29, $3.5M
Goaltenders (2) - $4.2M
Starters (2):
Elliott 31, $2.5M
Johnson 30, $1.7M
Final Word
As summer finally begins around the NHL, the draft and the madness of July 1 behind us, Calgary's roster is finally starting to round into form.
Joe Colborne is gone, so is Joni Ortio, so is Mason Raymond. At season's end, the GM spoke candidly about evaluating everyone and everything and the changes have been sweeping. Can't forget there is also a new coach in Glen Gulutzan.
Whether the results will improve, that remains to be seen, but looking at the roster as it stands today, one can't argue that it is a better team on paper.
Now we sit back and wait.
By the way, have you liked Flames From 80 Feet on Facebook yet? Go there and do so now. It's just another way to be alerted to new Calgary Flames articles that I've written.
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Recent Flames Reading:
Dragons' Den: RFA Decisions Reveal a Cold, Business Side to Flames GM - We learned this week in his handling of his 13 RFAs -- Joe Colborne especially -- that Brad Treliving has a cold-hearted business side to him and that's not a bad quality to have. (June 29, 2016)
Gold Star: Eight Takeaways From an Excellent Draft Weekend for the Flames - What a weekend it was for Brad Treliving and the Flames. In looking back, I examine the emphasis on skill, the legend of pick 166 and other weekend storylines. (June 26, 2016)
Practical over Sexy as Flames Bring in Brian Elliott to Shore up Their Goaltending - There were more alluring options in first round pick Marc-Andre Fleury and big start Ben Bishop, but as it turns out, Elliott was the good fit. (June 25, 2016)
Eight Nuances of the Flames 2016-17 Schedule - Easy start, brutal stretch after that, ripped off for Saturday games, strange Flames-Oilers schedule, longest set of home-and-home ever, no Stamps-Flames conflicts until Grey Cup. All this and more quirks. (June 21, 2016)