Ian White Trade – His Fate Was Sealed

If Ian White was surprised by today’s trade sending him to Carolina, he shouldn’t have been. His fate was sealed three weeks ago.

That’s when the Calgary Flames signed fellow defenceman Mark Giordano to a five-year contract extension worth $4-million a year. In doing so, the Flames essentially chose Gio over White.

Both defencemen were due to become unrestricted free agents at the end of this season. Both are about the same age. Both are emerging offensive talents with similar upsides.

Given Calgary’s already-pricey blueline corps, there was little chance they’d be able to afford to keep both. And while the team does have other more expensive defencemen – Jay Bouwmeester and Robyn Regehr – both of them have no-trade contracts, so they probably weren’t going anywhere. Once the Flames announced Gio’s contract, it was pretty clear White’s days were numbered.

Gio is a more physical guy and, this season, has been the much more poised and consistent of the two. It made sense for the Flames to side with him over White, who has been one of many disappointments on the Calgary roster this season.

The trade, in case you missed it, was White and recently demoted farmhand Brett Sutter for decenceman Anton Babchuk and forward Tom Kostopoulos.

Sutter – son of the Flames GM, nephew of its coach – was still in hot water for an assault charge in a late-night bar incident on the team’s road trip to Phoenix last week, but maybe didn’t realize just how mad Daddy was. A pretty severe spanking that could make for an interest family Christmas up in Viking, Alta. next month, but at least he’s been dealt to the team where his cousin Brandon plays.

The Flames get a defenceman in Babchuk who is also set to become a free agent netx summer, but his $1.4-million contract is less than half of the cost of White. He’s also been putting up similar offensive numbers the past couple of seasons, he’s a much bigger body, and he reputedly has a big shot from the point – something the Flames power play has sorely missed since dealing Dion Phaneuf to Toronto (ironically, in part for White)  last winter.

Kostopoulos is a veteran checker who comes pretty cheap – $900,000 cap hit annually over the next two years.

The fact that Calgary traded a defenceman but added another in return, though, suggests they may not be done yet. The blueline is still overcrowded – eight NHL-capable defencemen carrying a combined annual cap hit of nearly $21-million, and that’s not counting most of Giordano’s big pay raise, which doesn’t kick in until next season.

Id’ say that’s tweo more bodies and at least $5-million more than they’d like to be carrying back there.

For the Flames, the big contract of Bouwmeester would almost certainly be one they’d happily shed, especially if they got a scoring centre and/or a serious prospect in exchange. But given the contract size and the on-trade terms, more likely we’ll see Steve Staios and/or Cory Sarich (combined cap hit: $6.3-million) moved in the next month, likely either for draft picks or a forward who can hit the back of the net.

So who might be in the market for Flame rearguards? Well, the New York Rangers have been sniffing around Calgary for a couple of weeks now, and while some believe they are more interested in prying away struggling superstar Jarome Iginla, they also have a pencil-thin defence that gives up a lot of shots and could use  the help. (Apparently they have been dangling young forward Ryan Callahan (16 points in 17 games) as trade bait, though the Flames are said to covet an even youngwer, even cheaper Ranger forward, Brandon Dubinsky (17 points in 18 games), over Callahan.)

The Colorado Avalanche are also desperate for defencemen, due to a rash of injuries. And Anaheim is thin on the blueline, an area where they have traditionally focused as a team strength, so they may be willing to make a deal.

Stay tuned. The Flames are just getting started.