Re: What's Next for the Flames?

by davetherave on Fri Jun 26, 2009 10:15 pm

6'2, 190...another big young Swede, who bolsters the blueline as The Sutter Clan seeks to re-ignite the Flames.

by Guest on Fri Jun 26, 2009 10:17 pm

Great pick.

by davetherave on Thu Jul 02, 2009 6:07 am

With Bouwmeester, Regehr and Phaneuf...the Flames begin the Sutter Brothers era with an impressive blueline.

A view from Calgary of JayBo's arrival, from one of Bouwmeester's former coaches...written just before the signing of the deal:

CALGARY PERFECT FOR STRONG, SILENT BOUWMEESTER, SAYS FORMER COACH
Scott Cruikshank, The Calgary Herald, June 30, 2009

CALGARY - This scenario, according to Rick Carriere, is worth a chuckle or two.

Sitting down for contract "talks" Monday afternoon in Edmonton were two famously tight-lipped parties--Calgary Flames boss Darryl Sutter (notorious for being a gruff dude of few words) and Jay Bouwmeester (a polite young fellow with a well-known shy streak).

"Imagine the conversation," Carriere--a family friend of the Bouwmeesters, a current coworker of Jay's father Dan, a former coach of Jay with the Medicine Hat Tigers--was saying.

He then laughs.
"It wouldn't be much. 'Yup' . . . 'Yup' . . . 'Yup' . . . 'OK' . . . 'What do you think?' . . . 'Yup' . . . 'Don't know' . . . 'Yup.' "

Of course, the Flames and their fans would dearly love to hear just one word from Bouwmeester-- yes.

Carriere feels it's possible.

Despite teaching with Dan at Vimy Ridge Academy in Edmonton, he possesses no inside information-- "I haven't seen his dad yet. That's the first thing I'm going to do--run in there and see what Jay is up to"--but he can envision the year's ripest free-agent plum happily coming to terms with the Flames.

"Knowing that he wasn't going to be back in Florida, you're waiting for the shoe to drop," he says. "Saturday, I was out shingling at a buddy's place and I just happened to catch the news. And I thought, 'Geez, wouldn't that be something if he ended up playing in Calgary?' Because Calgary would be a great place for him to play.

"He wants to play somewhere where hockey is more of a front-page news item . . . rather than buried at the back of the sports section."

A one-time cog in the Tigers' hockey operations--coach from 1997 to 2000, general manager from 2000 to 2004--Carriere had the pleasure of dealing with a teenage Bouwmeester on a professional, as well as a personal, level.

In other words, he knows the lad.

"One thing about Jay--he's always had a quiet, level-headed disposition about him," says Carriere. "He doesn't get real emotional. He doesn't get wound up, one way or the other. There's a great even-keeledness about him. A real good demeanour. And he certainly doesn't talk out of turn.

"I remember I drove him to the (2002 Hershey Cup) all-star game in Red Deer and I thought, 'Ah, great, a chance to get caught up with Jay, to see how things are going.' I tell you, if I didn't ask question after question after question, there would have been no conversation because there was nothing coming back that would have led me into more conversation.

"But he's polite. Very respectful. Lots of time for everybody. Just a regular guy when you get him away from the rink. Awesome family. Mom. Dad. Sister. Great, great people. I've known Jay since he was a baby."

However, can Bouwmeester's reserved personality jibe with a hockey-mad market like Calgary? Where press responsibilities and fan requests arrive daily? Where the spotlight can be blinding?

"I think he'd do well," insists Carriere. "It's an area he's been doing some work on--his interaction with media. I'm sure he's very aware and conscious of that. He'll do just fine. The fact that there's other people like Jarome Iginla around . . . that's really going to help that, too. There's some top-end marquee guys there. Robyn Regehr's a levelheaded guy--Jay's no different than that. I don't hear Regehr talking anyone's ear off, either."

Besides, the Flames aren't a debate club.

Nor is bleating at reporters a priority.

And what Bouwmeester brings to a team is plenty. Endurance (top minutes per night in the NHL), durability (the full complement of 82 games in five of the past six seasons), savvy at both ends of the rink, and his calling card--that tremendous stride.

"You know what? He never drops his head at all--it's up all the time, on offence and defence --and his skating is phenomenal. Fun to watch," says Carriere. "He's able to log the minutes because he's so efficient.

"Because he was in Florida, he's probably a hidden gem. If he comes up here to Calgary, people will see him for what he is. Every year, you see him get more and more comfortable with taking the reins, with being the guy, and all that.

"He patterns himself after Bobby Orr--you couldn't ask for a better role model, on or off the ice."

Even though negotiations are ongoing (this article written before the deal was concluded--Ed.), Carriere admits that he's pictured Bouwmeester in a certain shade of red.

"I think the Flames have been so close to being so good the last couple years," says Carriere. "If they freakin' land Jay Bouwmeester? That's an unbelievable defence."

by **SensFan71** on Thu Jul 02, 2009 7:25 am

I would say Calgary is done in the UFA market now, their cap must be pushing the limit at this point. The only moves they make now would be via trade. Phaneuf for Heatley straight up looks good right now since that bum wouldn't waive for Edmonton.

by Hockeyhero22000 on Sat Jul 11, 2009 6:15 pm

calgary signs ex sen Mcgrattan

as per tsn.ca
The Calgary Flames have added an element of toughness on Saturday as the team announced the signing of free agent forward Brian McGrattan. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
One of the most feared 'heavyweights' in professional hockey, the
29-year old Hamilton native earned 22 penalty minutes in just five
games with the Phoenix Coyotes last season.
Originally selected in the fourth round, 104th overall, by the Los
Angeles Kings in the 1999 NHL Entry draft, McGrattan broke into the
league with the Ottawa Senators in the 2005-06 season.
In 148 career games, McGrattan has two goals, eight assists and 309 minutes in penalties.

by Guest on Sat Jul 11, 2009 6:17 pm

Awesome, now him and Phaneuf can do all the coke in Calgary together.

by **wprager** on Sat Jul 11, 2009 6:53 pm

I really do not understand that move. Is his shoulder fixed, at least?

by davetherave on Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:23 pm

Here's how the McGrattan deal is seen from Cowtown...evidently, with little fanfare. Perhaps the hope there is that Mr McGrattan has put his issues behind him.

Flames sign tough guy McGrattan
Keith Bradford, The Calgary Herald, July 11, 2009

The Flames have a new tough guy: former Ottawa Senators pugilist Brian McGrattan.

The six-foot-three, 235-pound Hamilton native, taken 104th overall by the Los Angeles Kings in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, was an unrestricted free agent.

As per team policy, contract details were not revealed.

McGrattan, 27, played more than 140 games for the Senators before he was traded to the Phoenix Coyotes for a fifth-round pick in June, 2008.

After just three games with the Desert Dogs, he voluntarily entered the substance abuse program administered jointly by the NHL and the players’ association.

McGrattan replaces enforcer Andre Roy, who played 44 games for the Flames last season but is an unrestricted free agent.

by **wprager** on Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:47 pm

So they swapped one former Sens bad boy for another. Yet I still ask, Why? Is there a lot of staged fighting in the West that I don't know about?

by Hayden on Sat Jul 11, 2009 7:51 pm

I really hoped McGatton would have grown into an actual hockey player at some point - i though i saw some talent behind all the crap.

That ship has pretty much sailed - i can't believe he's 27 already.

by **Tuk Tuk** on Sat Jul 11, 2009 8:34 pm

He was a decent player in the OHL, got about half a point a game.

by **SpezDispenser** on Sun Jul 12, 2009 12:17 am

WTF, the Flames signed Grats!?? :h:

by **caissie_1** on Sun Jul 12, 2009 10:58 am

Really he's still in the league... Wow... i tought he was done in Phoenix.

by **Dash** on Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:24 am

The West needs tough guys to go up against the lieks of Fedoruk, Boogaard on a nightly basis.