Pool Outlook for Calgary

Well, now that we've completed the teams out of the playoffs, we can start with the teams that were eliminated in the first round and we'll add a picture, just to mark their achievement.

The Flames start our alphabetical tour of the eliminated teams and a relatively positive regular season led to another first round defeat this year, but it was foreshadowed by a tough finish to the season, where wins were hard to come by. In terms of the fantasy leagues, the Flames did put up some pretty reasonable numbers. Four Flames finished in the top 100 in pool scoring in the year.

The Flames managed to keep the best goalie in the pools in 2009, as Miikka Kiprusoff won 45 games, including 4 shutouts and 3 assists to register 101 points. Kiprusoff played in 76 of the Flames' 82 games in 2009, which gave him ample opportunity to register those points. After another season with over 100 points, he could very well be the number one overall pick in my Draft next season, as he is a big favourite around here.

The Flames didn't use their back-up, Curtis McElhinney, much in the year. It actually took him until the last game of the season before he registered his first win of the season (and his career).

The forwards were of course led by Jarome Iginla, who finished the year with 39 goals and 43 assists in 82 GP, which ranked him 12th in the league for pool points. Iginla led a pretty good core of forwards through the season, including Mike Cammalleri (82 points in 81 GP) and Olli Jokinen (57 points in 76 GP), who both finished in the top 100 in pool scoring. Emerging as a good scoring talent, Rene Bourque had 40 points in 58 GP (0.69 ppg), which is a very reasonable scoring pace, but the injury at the end of the year, really took it's toll on his final point tally. The same injury problem also hit Todd Bertuzzi, who only played in 66 games, but still had 44 points (0.67 ppg).

On the blueline, it was a somewhat of a disappointing season for Dion Phaneuf, who finished with 47 points in 80 GP. His pool ranking dropped significantly, from 86th to 151st, and down to 14th among defensemen. It wasn't to say that he wasn't a bad pick for your pool, he just wasn't worth the high pick you took him at. In support, Adrian Aucoin had reasonable numbers (34 points in 81 GP), while Jordan Leopold didn't quite make a big impact after the trade deadline, but finished with 24 points in 83 GP. Depending on how deep your pools go, those three should be automatics for your list.

2010 Season Outlook
The summer will prove to be an interesting one in Calgary, thanks in large part to the salary cap. The Flames have a good number of players signed on for the 2010 season, but the cost may be determined to be too much. GM Darryl Sutter has said that the core of the team won't change, but it's hard to believe that they will be going forward with some players, since money issues are very apparent.

Forwards	Defense	Goaltenders
Jarome Iginla	Dion Phaneuf	Miikka Kiprusoff
Olli Jokinen	Cory Sarich
Daymond Langkow	Mark Giordano
Craig Conroy	Robyn Regehr
Rene Bourque	Jim Vandermeer
Curtis Glencross
David Moss
Eric Nystrom
Wayne Primeau

The team listed above (9 forwards, 5 defense & 1 goalie) have an approximate cap value of $47.2 million, which is less than $10 million away from the 2009 salary cap and could be even less to the 2010 cap. The defense corps are the more expensive of the positions, with an average cap cost of $3.45 million.

The Flames biggest concern will be their crop of UFAs and whether or not they will be able to keep any going forward. Mike Cammalleri, Todd Bertuzzi, Adrian Aucoin, Jordan Leopold, Jamie Lundmark and Andre Roy are all qualified to become UFAs on July 1st and most of them are going to look to pick-up a substantial paycheque for their services. You can only speculate how the Flames will go about dealing with these players or if they'll move players in order to sign a player or two from this list.

On the RFA list there are only a few players that had any significant time with the team. Dustin Boyd, Adam Pardy and Curtis McElhinney will all need new deals heading into the year. Boyd saw some improvements in his numbers, thanks to playing more regularly and he'll likely get a reasonable deal this summer. Pardy was instrumental while the team dealt with injuries and he will be rewarded for his efforts.

The Flames are slowly building their system with better young players, some of which are really showing some promise in the lower ranks. Mikael Backlund immediately comes to mind as one to watch this Fall. He has played exceptionally well for the Kelowna Rockets and team Sweden at the WJC tournament and he could make a big jump this year. Leland Irving may get a long look at camp this Fall as well, trying to earn the back-up job behind Kiprusoff. Irving does have a lot of upside to his talent and could be ready to go soon.

The Flames are in a sort of limbo as to which direction they are going to take in the off-season. The core has a good chance of staying together, while supporting players like Cammalleri and Bertuzzi will likely depart. The rumour mill continues to churn about possible deals for the Entry Draft. Nevertheless, if you're looking for some solid pool picks, you can easily look to the Flames for a few forwards, a couple defensemen and a workhorse of a goalie. Keep a close eye on how they fill those extra holes, they might get some residual scoring.