EHM The Blue Line

The Calgary Flames have announced a new GM for the upcoming season, GM Madball. This was after Brad Treviling decided to step down to Asst GM as he was intimidated by an obscure Australian executive and offered him his job.
Madball has learnt his craft in borderline professional leagues and various amateur leagues across the globe including winning the Speckler Cup in the Kenyan National League and the Barry Jones Shield with the East Winnipeg Cyclones in the Winnipeg Metro U-16AAA reserve girl's league.
Despite his lack of experience, Madball brings enthusiasm to the role and plenty of internet research abilities.

Madball went quick into rebuilding the Flames roster starting with trading Raphael Diaz to the Jets and receiving Tyler Toffoli from the Kings in a three-way trade.
Following this, on the 5th Sept 06, Zack Kassian was obtained from the Canucks.
Madball then fleeced the cap-strapped Kings on the 12th, getting Mike Richards for Brandon Bollig and a 3rd Rd pick.
Kevin Klein, unwanted by NYR, was obtained for a 7th Rd pick.
Patrik Berglund was gained from STL for a pick.
Matt Stajan was given away to the NYI for a 3rd Rd pick.
Chris Stewart was obtained for a 2nd Rd pick.
Zach Sill and Zac Rinaldo were obtained for picks.
Several players were released pre-season - Bryce Van Brabant, Bill Arnold, Corey Potter and Michael Ferland.
A big name player in Drew Stafford was picked up on waivers prior to season start from BUF and as a result Karri Ramo was sent to LAK for Martin Jones to free up some cap space.

Madball thus began the season close to cap maximum, but having already improved the lineup.
With Jiri Hudler and TJ Brodie 7th d-man, the opening night roster was as follows:

Raymond - Richards - Stafford
Glencross - Berglund - D.Jones
Rinaldo - Backlund - Stewart
McGrattan - Sill - Kassian

Giordano - Wideman
Russell - Klein
Smid - Engelland

Hiller - M.Jones

The Hockey News predicted the Flames to finish 27th this season.

Calgary benefited this season from an unusually weak North Western Division along with a surprising run in the latter part of the season. The Flames finished 3rd in the West, 1st in the N/W with a record of
42-35-5-89pts-236-231 - however their 89pts would have placed them 9th in the West if not for the weak division.

The Flames were busy all throughout the year making trades and call-ups.
Some of the major trades included Dennis Wideman to COL for Erik Johnson (26-1-8-9-8), in an attempt to shed a slight amount of salary and get younger.
Injured Jamie Benn (12-5-5-10-15PIM)to DAL for Jiri Hudler. Benn missed the first month after this trade due to LTIR. DAL saw this as a win-now trade, whereas GM CGY looked to the future.
Glencross went to BUF for prospects Linus Ullmark and Johan Larsson.
Kris Russell to BOS for pick.
Carl Klingberg (16-0-2-2-10) obtained from WPG for pick.
Chris Stewart, who disappointed the Flames during his short tenure to ANA for Kenton Helgesen.
Backlund to LA for pick.
Brodie to MIN for Kyle Brodziak (41-5-10-15-26)
Markus Granlund to CHI for Niklas Hjalmarsson (44-8-7-15-16).
Ramo to LA for Martin Jones.
Paul Byron to PIT for Simon Despres (55-2-12-14-20).



The Flames were lead by Patrick Berglund who scored 82-28-41-69 (good for 48th NHL) and Jonas Hiller who maintained a 63-36-23-4-2.38-0.916-6 record, handling the bulk of the load from Martin Jones 21-6-12-1-3.63-0.868.
Drew Stafford finished 2nd 72-18-31-49-48.
Big surprise was mid-season callup David Wolf 50-17-19-36-38
Mid-season call-up Trevor Gillies ran rampant in the NHL amassing 419PIMs and 25FMs in 41GP both which led the league, but also contributed 6-6-12. Brian McGrattan, the incumbent enforcer for the 1st half of the season and healthy scratch for most of the 2nd, contributed 41-3-5-8-83, 9FM. Zach Sill was 2nd in PIMs, 82-4-9-13-135.

The Flames are scheduled to play Chicago in the Qtr Finals.