Calgary Flames Should Make A Claim For David Rundblad
With Kris Russell’s production for the Calgary Flames trailing off somewhat this year, a waivers claim for Chicago Blackhawks defenceman, David Rundblad wouldn’t be a bad move.
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Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times recently reported that the Chicago Blackhawks had placed Rundblad on waivers; this is a 25-year-old defensemen with somewhat of an NHL pedigree and a minimal cap hit of $1 million for this season and the following one.
Compare that hit to the likes of Ladislav Smid at $3,500,000, Kris Russell at $2,600,000 and Deryk Engelland at nearly $3,000,000 and it screams out bargain.
Now granted Rundblad has been playing for the Chicago Blackhawks and has played limited games, but he has offered up two assists across nine games this year, and offered up 14 points in 49 games last year. Compare that to Kris Russell, who sits on 11 points in 32 games for the Calgary Flames this season and it’s a good deal.
Their points production could be seen as roughly equal, Rundblad is three years younger than Russell and over $1,000,000 cheaper. Or if we look at him in comparison to Smid or Engelland, he’s significantly younger, puts up significantly better production and could easily fit in within the Calgary Flames third defensive pairing.
Obviously, as with any waivers claim there’s no guarantee that the Calgary Flames would get their man, but it’s worth a shot surely.
The Toronto Maple Leafs seem to have made an absolute steal on a young defenseman when they picked up Frankie Corrado from the Vancouver Canucks, what’s saying a move for David Rundblad wouldn’t turn out to be an absolute steal for the Calgary Flames.
Adding Rundblad would make it almost a done deal that one of the Calgary Flames blue line was available for trade approaches, but the same issue remains that the defensive lines are weighed down by some hefty contracts on ageing players.
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Are the Calgary Flames management team smart enough to see a chance at picking up another piece to the blue-line jigsaw or will they overlook the Chicago Blackhawks potential waiver mistake? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.