Calgary Flames Monday Roundtable: Expansion Draft
By Ramina Shlah
It’s time for another edition of our virtual roundtable. This week, we talked about the expansion draft surrounding the Calgary Flames!
Welcome to another edition of Calgary Flames Monday Roundtable! The segment we bring you every Monday where I ask the other writers here at Flame for Thought questions regarding a topic and we all give our take on it. Last week, we talked about the Flames defencemen. This week, let’s talk about the expansion draft.
An exciting time and a terrifying time for hockey fans everywhere. An expansion happening. It’s exciting because we all get to see a new team be born for the first time. But terrifying because this team will steal your players.
The last time an expansion happened, I was five or six years old, so I don’t quite remember. So this will be fun! Or scary, I haven’t decided yet. It could be fun if the Flames can rid some of their dead weight (as mean as that sounds). But again, it could also be very scary.
That being said, let’s have our virtual roundtable discussion.
Question 1: Calgary Flames fans are desperately hoping that Troy Brouwer gets picked up in the expansion. Realistically, do you think Vegas will pick him up?
Jonathan Boulanger
I wouldn’t mind. I’m not a huge fan of Brouwer and I don’t think he would be missed; he also has a pretty hefty contract that seems in hindsight to have been a bad decision. Any way the Flames could grab a get-out-of-jail free card for him would be welcome. I would much rather Vegas pick Brouwer than say Bennett or Lazar.
Alex Hoegler
If he’s left exposed, then I do think Vegas will take Brouwer. Sure, his contract may be a cause for concern — but the Golden Knights need to select a 15-20 goal scorer while he’s available. It’d be wrong of them to take a fourth-liner when they can take Brouwer without giving up any key assets in return.
Related Story: Flames should trade Troy Brouwer, not expose him
Dan Raicevich
I think there is a chance. He could provide them the cap hit in order to reach the cap floor. He can also mentor a young player on an expansion team with his leadership he brings. I feel like the familiarity of George McPhee and Brouwer can play a role too. After all, McPhee did trade for the gritty winger a year after Brouwer won the 2010 Stanley Cup with Chicago.
Calgary got the winger at the cost of no assets last summer in free agency. If they lost him in the expansion draft, I don’t think the team would be at a loss.
Ramina Shlah
I would personally love to see it happen, but I don’t think he’ll be picked up. As it stands right now and how he played this past season with the Flames, he’s a bottom-six guy. And like Jonathan said, his contract isn’t great, especially for the production he put up this season. He’s a solid bottom-six guy right now, but not for that price.