NHL calgary Flames

After acquiring his negotiating rights from the Florida Panthers during this past weekend's NHL Entry Draft, TSN is reporting on Tuesday night that the Calgary Flames have signed defenseman Jay Bouwmeester to a five-year contract with a $6.6 million salary cap hit. With Bouwmeester now locked in for the long haul, the Flames, on paper, have a rather scary looking defense with Dion Phaneuf, Robyn Regehr and Bouwmeester.

Trouble is, the salary cap situation is looking rather scary as well.

The Florida Panthers took quite a gamble at the NHL's trade deadline by holding onto soon-to-be free agent defenseman Jay Bouwmeester. In the end, the Panthers not only missed the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season, but now they've also lost their one-time franchise defenseman, as the team traded his rights to Calgary for Jordan Leopold and a third-round pick.

Leopold, like Bouwmeester, will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, assuming deals can't be reached before then.

While talking to Jeff Kealty, chief amateur scout of the Nashville Predators, and Tod Button, Calgary Flames director of scouting, about the NCAA vs. Major Junior debate a couple of weeks ago, we also briefly discussed the mindset behind taking the best available player in the draft vs. drafting for a specific need.

Unlike the NFL and NBA drafts, you're not going to get immediate returns on your picks in the NHL. It happens, sure, but for the most part, you're going to be waiting two, three, or sometimes even four years before a player makes the NHL and actually makes a sizable impact for your team.

It's officially the offseason, meaning the time is right to look into the future. We continue our division-by-division preview of the potential wheeling and dealing with the Northwest Division.

It appears we are setting up for an offseason of significant change in the Northwest Division. Only the Vancouver Canucks will have the same coach as last year, and there could be some real upheaval in terms of personnel. Not only that, but two teams (Minnesota and Colorado) have changed general managers.

---

---

There have been a lot of shocking developments over the years in sports. Tuesday's announcement in Calgary was not one of them.

Ever since Brent Sutter stepped down as head coach of the New Jersey Devils, speculation has had him taking over as head coach of the Flames, being that his older brother Darryl is the general manager there. Tuesday, it was all made official, as Brent Sutter was named to take over for the fired Mike Keenan.

After stepping down as head coach of the New Jersey Devils two weeks ago, rumors instantly started to fly about Brent Sutter taking over behind the bench of the Calgary Flames. After all, Brent's brother, Darryl, is currently the general manager in Calgary, while the team recently had its head coaching spot become available after Mike Keenan was fired following the Flames' opening round loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.

According to TSN, the Sutter family reunion is close to happening, as reports are indicating Brent is nearing an agreement to take over as the Flames' bench boss.

Ever since the Calgary Flames fired Mike Keenan after a disappointing end to their season, there has been much speculation about the future of New Jersey's Brent Sutter.

While Sutter has been successful with the Devils, his roots are in western Canada. Not only that, but his brother, Darryl, is the general manager of the Flames.

With that in mind, there appears to be a connection between Brent Sutter's decision to resign as the coach in New Jersey, and the fact that Darryl Sutter has yet to name Keenan's successor.

On the same day his team's main rival in Alberta named two familiar and formidable names to their coaching staff, the Calgary Flames may have taken a step toward filling their opening.

Last week, Mike Keenan was axed after two years, with general manager Darryl Sutter saying that the team wanted to move in a different direction as they try to bring Calgary a Stanley Cup. That direction might be backward, as Sutter is sending overtures that he wants his old job back.

After loading up at the NHL's trade deadline with Olli Jokinen and Jordan Leopold, the Calgary Flames went from run-of-the-mill playoff team to a legitimate contender in the Western Conference. Or so we thought. After being knocked out of the first round in six games against the upstart Chicago Blackhawks, the Flames have decided to part ways with head coach Mike Keenan after just two years on the job.

Just one win away from a series clinch, Chicago knew they needed a great effort from their goaltender to advance. It was the first chance for this young team to play in an elimination game, and they knew there would be a lot of heat on Nikolai Khabibulin. The homestanding Flames could be counted on to bring everything they had to try to force a Game 7.

For Khabibulin, it was a rather inauspicious start to a game day. Things ended well, however, as the Blackhawks advanced to the second round with a 4-1 win over Calgary.

---

---