Martin Gelinas coming back?

This story from the PalmBeachPost.com website seems to make it seem like a real possibility.

Article

Now while Gelinas isn't exactly a spring chicken anymore, his play hasn't gone down since he left The Flames to the Panthers, in fact his play has improved since then. He is still consistent and if he could be signed from $1 million to $1.5 million I think it's something The Flames have to look at for a variety of reasons 1) His familiarity to the organization, and even Mike Keenan 2) His family lives here 3) He's a good locker room presence 4) He can still play.

He would add alot of depth and leadership, and I for one would welcome this signing with open arms.

Flames Sign (F) Wayne Primeau and (D) David Hale

According to The Fan 960 Calgary, The Calgary Flames have signed Forward Wayne Primeau to a 3 year deal, and Defenseman David Hale to a 1 year contract.

Thoughts: I really expected Primeau to sign elsewhere as a UFA but am happy to hear he's here to stay, he's a solid hard working big guy out there, good in any situation and a good team player. Hale should get a good look this season, the games he did play in I was impressed with his stability. His medical condition may limit the amount of games he gets but when he plays he should be pretty respectable.

edit: As per David Hale's comments on The Fan 960, his medical condition is completely under control and should not be a problem next year.

Flames take (C) Mikael Backlund 24th Overall

The Flames have selected Forward Mikael Backlund out of Västerås Sweden 24th overall, trading their 18th pick for the 70th Pick from St. Louis.

He looks like a good kid, good size for his age and looks to play a solid game, has some knee injury issues that he will need to get sorted out but looks like a really solid sure fire NHLer in the future.

TSN's Take on Backlund:

Pos: Centre Shoots: L Height: 6'0" Weight: 194 lbs. Born: 3/17/1989 From: Vasteras, SWE Team: Vasteras (SWE-2) RANKINGS TSN: 15 CSB: 2 E ISS: 10 RLR: 35 McK: 19 THN: 37	The TSN Insider's Forecast: Swedish forward Mikael Backlund is a smart, hard-working, two-way winger who understands the game at both ends of the ice and who, according to our survey, is entrenched as no worse than a mid-first round pick. But the X factor on the playmaking Swede is the knee problem he experienced this season. He eventually required knee surgery but he was able to bounce back from that and most scouts are encouraged it's not going to be a major issue. He certainly played well at the Under-18 tourney last summer. From NHL Central Scouting: A smart center with excellent speed. Has soft hands and high-end passing ability. Sees the ice well and has good hockey sense. Has a strong shot and a nose for the net. Did not play a lot this season due to injury. Helped lead Team Sweden to a bronze medal at the 2007 Under-18 World Championships after defeating Canada 8-3. Was the leading goal scorer (7) at the Under-18 World Championships. Was named Most Valuable Player of the 2006 Mac's Midget Tournament. From ISS: Backlund was expected to come flying out of the gates looking to improve on his fine rookie season. However, he struggled early in the season, wasn�t producing offensively and then suffered a knee injury. He has good hands. Handles the puck well at top speed. Forechecks hard. Ultimately, we feel it will be tough for a team to overlook a player with the offensive potential that he brings to the table.
	Year	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	Pim
	2006-2007	Vasteras (SWE-2)	41	20	26	46	60
	2007 Playoffs	Vasteras (SWE-Jr)	5	1	0	1	4

NHL.com Story on Backlund

Flames Aquire D - Adrian Aucoin for Andrei Zyuzin + Prospect

The full deal on the trade:

To Calgary: Adrian Aucoin and his $4 million salary

To Chicago: Andrei Zyuzin and Prospect Steve Marr

Outside of a net gain of about $2.5 million this trade heavily favors The Flames, Zyuzin was quite useless last season and was scratched quite often. I actually thought he was gone as a UFA this summer... So there is absolutely no loss there.

What we gain with adding Adrian Aucoin, He has a Rocket shot and was clocked in a 102.2 MPH at the All Star game in Minnesota a couple years back, he's also a great leader and was the Captain of the Blackhawks prior to being traded to Calgary. Aucoin and Phaneuf will make for a terrifying tandem of one-timer doom on the power play and I feel bad for any shot blocker forced to stand in their path.

Aucoin does have a history of injury problems, but I think that is due to him being "THE" horse on every other team he's played for. In Calgary his minutes should fall dramatically less and he should flourish here with his former coach Mike Keenan.

Moss Signed

The Flames have re-signed David Moss to a 1 year deal worth in the area of $575,000

Flames Daily - Potential Look at next year's new RBK edge Uni's?

I'll kick this one off with the newly introduced logo's of our new AHL Affiliate "The Quad City Flames" as it turns out it's more or less what I had expected. A Flaming Q and a Flaming C, it is a tad too simple but I think it works with the new RBK edge uniforms.

First here are the logo's:



I have received these photos via an email going around from fellow fans in the city, check them out.

Dark Jersey's



White Jersey's



What is the significance of these images? First it's just to show the Quad City designs, but I also believe that when The Calgary Flames reveal their new uniforms that the overall design in terms of the striping pattern should be identical to those above. I have heard rumors of a new shoulder patch involving the province of Alberta as the Old Flaming Horse is now a retired logo by the organization. With this rumor I've taken it upon myself to create a logo that may be somewhat close to what we'll see on the shoulder of The Flames new uniforms.

Behold!



Pretty simple yeah? Well there's one small thing I wanted with this logo... I wanted the logo not to only to represent the province but to focus on Southern Alberta, hence the Flames where the rocky mountains are located using the outside Flames from The Flaming C. Yeah yeah, I know this isn't the most exciting logo ever but I had to take a crack at it.

News Clips:

Quad City News on Logo

Until Next Time.
Flames Daily
ConroyToIginla
flamesdailyblog@gmail.com

Welcome to Flames Daily - Your One stop shop for Daily news, and fan Commentary of all things Calgary Flames

It's been a busy time in Flames land the past few days. We will start off by talking about the biggest story of them all, The Hiring of New Head Coach "Iron" Mike Keenan.

My Thoughts:

As a Season Ticket holder, I was not happy at all with our team's success last season to the point I nearly dropped the rights. I didn't like the way the team lost it's identity as a hard working group game in and game out, win or loss, at home or on the road.

Yes, the offense was fun... But I don't take pride in it and nor should the players. To win in hockey you are required to do what it takes at both ends of the ice every shift.

We would see the odd game of true Flames hockey and feel satisfied with the effort and not just the scoreboard but not any consistency, especially on the road where we had the worst road record of all the 30 NHL teams. This was unnaceptable as a fan.

Let me talk about Jim Playfair, when he was first hired I had been pleased with the hiring. I've attended numerous practices and Jimmy has been leading that ship for the past couple of years and has been doing a good job of that. But I was worried about his intensity and his ability to whip the players when the needed it, and to hold them accountable at all times. Jim Playfair the head coach failed in that respect. When The Flames were in a rut, the man looked nervous and I can't imagine the impact it had on the players, especially on the road where there weren't 19,000+ fans in red giving the team a much needed boost.

So as you can imagine, when I first read on TSN.ca that The Flames were close to hiring Mike Keenan, my first thought was "Whoa" and then it was "Yes, this is what we need". Within an instant The Flames had an identity, even before the end of June. I am excited again that we will see a Flames team that will carry no passengers, if there are some guys that are intimidated by his style, quite frankly I don't want them on my team. This was a move made by Darryl Sutter, almost an extreme move to tell the returning players that last year was not acceptable. It's time to buck up and get the Hardhats back on.

I am also very pleased that Jim Playfair will remain with the club as an associate coach. He is a great "players coach" and should be the good cop behind the bench, and his relationship with Defenseman and his ability to teach the X's and O's of the game are extremely valuable.

This was a move, to move forward.



News Links:

Story from ABC News
Calgaryflames.com Story
Calgary Herald Story on Mike Keenan

See You Next Time!
Flames Daily