Calgary Flames Shouldn’t Keep Michael Stone as a Defenceman
By Ramina Shlah
Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving has made a point to mention how the team would like to keep D Michael Stone. Here’s why they shouldn’t.
After the trade that brought D Travis Hamonic to the Calgary Flames, it seems as though the blue-line is almost set. The top-four looks dangerous right now and is easily in the top three in the entire league for best top-four defencemen with Mark Giordano, Dougie Hamilton, T.J. Brodie, and now Travis Hamonic.
So there may not be room for D Michael Stone, who has spent the majority of his career playing as a top-four defenceman. Or so we think.
After the Hamonic acquisition, GM Brad Treliving has said that the Flames are still open to the possibility of re-signing Stone who will be a free agent on July 1st. Stone was brought back in February in a trade involving the Arizona Coyotes. Coyotes retained half of Stone’s $4-million salary for the rest of this season.
Related Story: Flames Acquire Yet Another Michael from the Coyotes
This past season, Stone had two goals and six points in 19 games with the Flames. And when he came, he even somewhat sparked a ten-game win streak for the team – a tie for the highest in franchise history (10 games), back when they were the Atlanta Flames in 1979. However, was it because of Stone, or was it because anything was basically better than Dennis Wideman at the time?
At first, people weren’t completely opposed to keeping Stone as that last part of the top-four. But with the Travis Hamonic acquisition and the Flames fixing their top-four problems, there really isn’t much need for Stone, even though Treliving is still open to the possibility of re-signing him.
Via Sportsnet:
"“We’re still working away at it. We’re still working away at our team,” Treliving told reporters at the United Center. “Stoney came in and was a good fit for us. We’ve got some picks to make today. We’ll keep working to see if we can make our team better.”“You can never have enough top defencemen…I think we’ve got two pairs there that can play against anybody and that’s a big asset,” Treliving said."
Like Sportsnet pointed out, “Stone anchoring a third pairing would make a strong Flames defence even stronger. Whether or not they’ll be able to afford him is perhaps a more important question.”
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They most likely wouldn’t. With how much Stone got paid last year and how he somewhat sparked a win-streak for the Calgary Flames that helped them into a playoff spot, he’ll most likely not be asking for less than $2.5 million. Which is a slight overpay for a bottom-two defenceman.
What would be a better option for this young team with lots of defence potential and prospects is to not re-sign Stone, but have the younger guys rotate. With this top-four, they can easily play 45 minutes a night between the four of them, maybe close to 50 even.
Right now, the Flames still have Matt Bartkowski, another mid-season add, for just $612.5K AAV. And he still has another year left on his contract, which is a two-way contract anyways. The Flames should rotate him along with the guys in Calgary’s farm team, the Stockton Heat, who are ready for their shot at the NHL.
Brett Kulak has already played a few games last season. But there’s also more guys waiting for their turns like Oliver Kylington and Rasmus Andersson. There also seems to be a lot of promise in prospect Adam Fox, who just won the Whitelaw Cup with Harvard University. Last season, he had 40 points in 35 games with Harvard and helped his team to an NCAA championship. He also won world junior gold with Team USA in January.
There may still be a couple of years for this kid, but if there’s Bartkowski, Kylington, Andersson, and Kulak who are ready for the NHL, and will really only have about 10-15 minutes a night, that’s perfectly fine and it can save the Flames some cap room.
Of course, there’s the worry about injuries. But I’m confident that Kulak and Bartkowski can play on that second pairing if needed. Re-signing Stone and not giving these kids a chance at the NHL isn’t the way to go. And with these rotations that could happen, it could still give these kids playing minutes with Stockton for a good amount of the season.
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The Calgary Flames feel like they’ll be legitimate Cup contenders this upcoming season. Why not give some prospects a chance to taste what that’s like?