Flames make big splash during draft
The draft weekend splash is becoming an annual Calgary Flames tradition.
For the third straight June, Flames general manager Brad Treliving swung a big deal at the draft, this time landing 26-year-old defenceman Travis Hamonic from the New York Islanders.
“He moves pucks. He’s a character kid. He’s got some bite to him. I think he’s going to fit good with us,” Treliving said of Hamonic, who came at the cost of one first round pick and two seconds.
One year earlier, Treliving sent two picks to St. Louis for Brian Elliott and a year before that, three picks to Boston for defenceman Dougie Hamilton.
Hamilton proved to be a big score, but Elliott fell flat as a potential No. 1 goaltender and was replaced earlier this month through another trade by Mike Smith, the long-time Coyotes netminder. Hamonic, who hails from tiny St. Malo, Man., had a rough final season in New York. He battled injuries and struggled when he did take the ice. The Islanders were out-attempted 64-50 per-60 minutes when he was on the ice in five-on-five situations — the worst mark on the team and a far cry from earlier seasons.
His return to form would further stabilize the club’s top four on defence — surely on a second pair with T.J. Brodie with Hamilton and captain Mark Giordano at the top.
“We like it on paper,” Treliving said of that group, noting the “edge” Hamonic added.
“At the end of the day, it’s like a lot of things — paper and reality are always two different things, but we like how we look.”
Also appealing to the Flames was Hamonic’s contract, which has three years left with a potentially reasonable US$3.86 million cap hit. Beyond the usual dealing, the Flames used their top pick at the draft on Juuso Valimaki, a long six foot two defender who had 61 points in 60 games for the Tri-City Americans this past season.