It wouldn’t be another 32 Thoughts Podcast day without some Calgary Flames news.
On the most recent episode, Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek took time to discuss Mikael Backlund’s new contract and just how important it was for the Flames to get him locked up with the C. They also touched on Elias Lindholm’s status and what may be the hold up on getting a new deal done. They also briefly brought up what led to Tyler Toffoli’s departure from Calgary.
Backlund’s tune changed after returning from the offseason
For most of the summer the sentiment was that Backlund was undecided on staying in Calgary and would likely not make a decision until later into the season. His mood at the post season press conference very much confirmed this. According to Friedman however that all changed once Backlund returned to Calgary a month ago.
“You’ll remember how everybody went home after last year, Backlund was one of the most vocal about it. This is why I always saw, time can change feelings. No matter how someone feels in the moment, there are opportunities to calm down and re-focus their energy.
Backlund had a chance over the summer, he came back by all accounts a very different person, with very different feelings. He told the Flames, I think he met with Craig Conroy not long after he got back and he kind of indicated I feel a lot better about things.”
– Elliotte Friedman, 32 Thoughts the Podcast
Friedman gives us some context here on why things from 0 to 100 so quickly when it comes to Backlund as it seemed like it was all quiet for months until the past couple weeks. This very much seems like a case of a player who was fed up after last season’s disaster under Sutter and voiced that after the season ended.
However after a summer of reflection and getting back to Calgary under a new coaching staff and management group it seems like he softened on the idea of remaining a Flame and realized it was where he wanted to be. I’m sure the open captaincy played a role as well.
Signing Backlund could have a positive impact on the teams remaining pending UFAs
The general idea has been that Lindholm has been the Flames main priority this summer and their most important pending UFA, however Friedman suggested otherwise.
“This was the guy the Flames had to get done first. I know there’s a lot of talk about Lindholm, but I do think if there’s going to be more here Backlund was actually the lynch pin.
If you ask the players there, and they felt last year there had to be a captain, they felt the captain was Backlund. He was the captain of the team and I think a lot of players look to him when things are going wrong, how are we going to fix this. I think if there was something they were hoping would tip some of their guys towards staying, I think Backlund being there for three more years and having the C on his jersey… I think it makes everyone else feel a little bit better on where the team is going.
I think what [signing Backlund] does do is make all those players feel a lot better about the dressing room knowing that Backlund is going to be there.”
– Elliotte Friedman, 32 Thoughts the Podcast
Based on the above it really shows just how respected Backlund is in the room. Friedman is clearly hinting at the idea that getting Backlund locked up and getting the C on his chest will be a big positive for the Flames when it comes to convincing their other pending UFAs to sign.
For that reason it makes sense why the Flames made it priority number one to get him locked up and named captain. Letting your unquestioned locker room leader and longest tenured player walk wouldn’t have been a great look.
Craig Conroy and the Flames are being very cautious with term
After Friedman reported that Backlund’s deal may be three years, there was a bit of a surprise that the Flames got him locked up for only two. Friedman says it’s become a clear mandate within the organization to be cautious with the term they hand out to older players.
“One thing [Backlund’s contract] says to me is that the Flames are very cautious of term… What this says to me… some of their older guys they’re going to say look we are gonna hold the line a bit here on term.”
– Elliotte Friedman, 32 Thoughts the Podcast
If you’re a Flames fan this is a great thing to hear. No one wants to become the next San Jose Sharks with years of term locked up in older players past their prime. With the Huberdeau and Kadri deals already taking up a huge amount of cap space well into their late 30’s the Flames aren’t in a spot to be handing out more long-term deals to aging players and it seems Conroy agrees.
AAV is likely to be the main hold up with the Lindholm deal
With Backlund now signed, even more attention will be turned to Lindholm and his contract status. Friedman speculated that the major hold up will be the money Lindholm gets.
“I speculated the number was about Horvat, that’s $8.5 million, I think it was higher than that and I said it might be $8.75 million to $9 million. There are some people wondering if that number might even be higher [than $9 million] because you’ve got Huberdeau at $10.5 million.
That’s always a tricky thing for an organization to do when a player comes in and he gets the big deal at $10.5 million, what do you do with the guys on your team who’ve been there for awhile.
I think that’s what the Flames are trying to juggle. I do think getting to the number here is going to be the thing that Lindholm’s camp at Newport and the Flames are going to have to navigate
– Elliotte Friedman, 32 Thoughts the Podcast
Yikes. Lindholm is a great player and a solid number one centre, but anything entering the $9 million plus range is a massive risk for the Flames. Friedman did also mention at one point that Lindholm is unlikely to take a contract less than the max term of eight years, so paying him $9 million or more until he’s 37 years old is probably not a good idea here.
I get his value to the team as their clear number one down the middle but he’s simply not a $9 million player, and if he’s looking to get even more than that so he comes closer to Huberdeau’s AAV the Flames will have to seriously consider if it’s worth it in the long run to hand out that kind of money for a player of his caliber.
Tyler Toffoli wanted an extension right away
“[Toffoli] wanted to know right away, he’s moved around a lot and I think he wants some stability in terms of where’s he’s going to be. He wanted to know from the Flames are you going to extend me now or not. When they said no, he wanted to go and the Flames found a deal they liked”
Elliotte Friedman – 32 Thoughts the Podcast
This was widely reported already this summer but Friedman confirmed that Toffoli wanted to get a deal done with the Flames right away after the season ended. Understandably so the Flames told him they weren’t in a rush to get an extension done and he told them he wanted out.
Credit to Conroy here as he stuck to his guns and didn’t feel pressured into getting Toffoli signed. When you have so many more important pending UFAs it makes sense to want to deal with them first before potentially handing out a multi-year deal to a 31 year old Toffoli.
