There must be something about ate June that inspires action in the Sutter clan. Warm weather, the end of seeding in surrounding farms? Or maybe Darryl Sutter takes an evil pleasure in keeping Brian Burke from being the story with TSN watching his every move.
Regardless of the reason, draft time is DO time for the Calgary Flames, and the 2009 draft as it turns out was no different.
The Scoop
Day one at the draft was quiet on all fronts with the Pronger to Philly deal the only real news maker. Sutter did his thing though, moving down three spots for the 84th overall pick from the Devils, and then selected Tim Erixon 23rd overall. Erixon, the son of former NHLer Jan Erixon, is a big solid two way defenseman that the Flames had targeted in that area.
Day two started with a boom for Calgary however, as they took the extra pick and the rights to Jordan Leopold and moved them to Florida for the rights to Jay Bouwmeester. Sutter was understandably noncommital about his chances in signing the player stating “all we did was give our selves a chance to talk to him”.
Later in the morning Sutter gave a hint that he must feel somewhat comfortable in his chances of landing the Western Canadian’s signature when he moved Jim Vandermeer and his 2.3M contract to the Phoenix Coyotes for very recent popular Flame Brandon Prust.
With both Adam Pardy and Bouwmeester unsigned, the move leaves the Flames a little thin on the blueline.
If the Flames do get “JayBo” inked they have three of the ten defensemen often mentioned for Team Canada in February on the Flames roster. That puts a lot of money in goal and on the blueline, perhaps leaving the Flames a little thin up front, but there is some room to rectify that prior to camp.
Of greater concern is that a signed Bouwmeester will essentially tie the Flames to 7 players and 38M heading into what is a declining salary cap for the 2010-11 season. That doesn’t leave a lot of wiggle room to fill out a roster. The next season will be fine with the cap sitting pretty much still, but the Flames will be in a world of hurt if the decline is big, or if any of these seven “stars” become dead weight.
But that’s for another day.
The draft was meant for the Lawton and Gainey, for Burke and for Murray … and yet Sutter steals the thunder once again. Reggie Jackson was Mr. October, but it appears in Calgary Sutter is Mr. June. With Bouwmeester in the fold June could be a very good time in Calgary.
Draft Summary
23. Tim Erixon D – Sweden
74. Ryan Howse F – Chilliwack (WHL)
111. Henrik Bjorklund F – Sweden
141. Spenser Bennett F – Surrey (BCHL)
171. Joni Ortio G – Finand
201. Gaelan Patterson F – Saskatoon (WHL)
