Flames Re-Sign Bouma

The Calgary Flames avoided the hassle of arbitration with one of their key free agents on Thursday, signing forward Lance Bouma to a new 3-year, $6.6 million deal.  Bouma was scheduled to have his hearing yesterday, on the 22nd, and it is unclear if they had the hearing or not, but the ruling wasn't needed, as the two sides came together to form a very solid deal for both sides.

The Flames still have a few restricted free agents left to deal with, including Paul Byron and Josh Jooris, who are headed for arbitration cases in the next week.

Bouma crept into the pool-worthy conversation in the 2015 season, as he finished with 16 goals and 34 points in 78 games, which had him ranked 232nd overall in pool scoring.  Of course, he'll be more of a late round pick, but he should be firmly established in that spot for next season.

The 25-year old forward has been bummin' around the Flames system since he first debuted with the team in the 2011 season and his role has increased dramatically since he didn't figure into the shortened 2013 season at all.

There may just be room for some gains in the 2016 season, although his role of a forechecking forward, somewhat of a grinder, may hinder his overall point totals, but I think his confidence and the security of a new deal should help out his cause.

The Flames are rounding out their roster on paper already and it has some real potential to be better than the year before, despite all the analytics suggesting that they could be in for a fall.  As long as the Flames have good heart players in the core, they should still head in the right direction.