Calgary Flames: Grading the Off-Season Moves Up Until Now

Lance Bouma Buyout: B

Lance Bouma was signed in 2015 on a three-year contract with an AAV of $2.2 million. It was a decent pay because he was coming off the season with 34 points in 78 games. However since that, he’s completely underperformed. He has just 14 points in 105 games in the last two seasons. Way too pricey for a guy who’s only getting seven points a season.

Calgary Flames

And something the Flames don’t do often is buyout players. So the fact that they were finally confident enough to place Bouma on unconditional waivers for the purpose of a buyout before he headed into the final season of his contract was huge. Mainly because the Flames are now basically paying him to not play for their team. That way they can make room for other players. Maybe cheaper players coming from the Flames’ farm team.

This got a B grade because they’re still losing money, but it’ll only be for one year, so it isn’t the worst thing in the world.

Spencer Foo Signing: B+

Like Kris Versteeg, Spencer Foo gets an A+ just for choosing the Flames over Edmonton. This one was especially nice because Foo grew up cheering for the Edmonton Oilers, and was offered a deal with Edmonton as well, but chose Calgary.

But Foo was one of the most highly rated college prospects. An undrafted player who has been playing with Union College and was recently a finalist for the Hober Baker Trophy.

Per Calgaryflames.com:

"Foo, a native of Edmonton, Alberta, just completed his junior year at Union College where he put up 26 goals and 36 assists for 62 points in 38 games and was a finalist for the 2016-17 Hobey Baker Memorial Award. He topped the 100 career points mark this season and had a program-record 21-game point streak in addition to tying for the ECAC scoring title; while leading the league in assists (25), multi-point games (14) and plus-minus (+20)."

Related Story: Spencer Foo Picks the Flames over the Oilers

I’m somewhat hoping he turns into sort of a Johnny Gaudreau type of thing with how Gaudreau wasn’t taken until the fourth round and now everyone knows his name. He’s also a right-wing, something the Flames needed to have more depth in, so looks like they’re fixing that problem. The Flames signed Foo on a two-year two-way contract with an AAV of $1.775 million. A little weird that it’s the same price as Micheal Ferland (given this is included bonuses), which is why this isn’t higher graded.

But we’ll just wait and see. Hey, maybe he will pull a Johnny Gaudreau and have a 60-point rookie season.