Big shake up in Flames town

Wow, you take a few weeks out of the blogosphere and your favorite hockey team completely shakes things up. And I mean COMPLETELY.

Here's my take on the recent deals of my Calgary Flames.

MIKE KEENAN

I will be the first to admit, I was not a big fan of former coach Jim Playfair behind the Flames bench. When the team was near the top of the league on home ice, and then near the bottom on the road, it's not hard to see that the coaching was not what it needed to be. In saying that, I had no idea that the man replacing Playfair would be none other than Iron Mike Keenan.

Years ago, I was a backer of Mike Keenan. I thought he did a phenomenal job in Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York. As time went by, he seemed to lose a bit of his balance for toughness and touch. His time in St. Louis, Boston, Vancouver and Florida were not anything to write home about, and were in fact, down right awful.

Which Mike Keenan we'll see in Calgary is unknown. I will not judge him just yet, I'll wait to see results. In saying that, the Flames lacked discipline last year and Keenan will bring that in spades. I only hope that's enough to make this a smooth transition.
I'm just glad Keenan's only the coach and not the General Manager. His strength has always been coaching, that's where he should be.

NEW SIGNINGS, ACQUISITIONS

I've been very impressed at how active Calgary's been in the free agent market. While some teams, like my home town Canucks, have been sitting on the sidelines, the Flames have stepped up with big commitments and big dollars. Here's my take on the major names.

• D Cory Sarich (5-year, $18 million) - This is a great pick-up from Tampa Bay. Sarich has been a solid all around player, exactly what the Flames need on the blue line. He has lots of playoff experience and is set to make an immediate difference.


• LW Owen Nolan (Coyotes, 1-year) - I've always been a big fan of Owen Nolan, ever since he was selected first overall by the Quebec Nordiques in the 1990 Entry Draft. Although he's aged over the years, he's still a goal scorer who can hold his own on the ice. Great pick-up.


• D Adrian Aucoin (Via trade from Blackhawks) - This is the one deal I'm a little unsure about. There is no doubt about Aucoin's talent, it's his health that's the question mark. Aucoin has had a string of injuries the past couple years and that certainly hurts, especially given his big salary. If he ends up playing 70+ games, great pick-up. If he's injured early, it could be tough slugging.
  

SIGNIFICANT RE SIGNINGS

It looks like both Jerome Iginla and Robyn Regehr will be locked up, and for long term. These are perhaps the biggest deals of them all. Iginla and Regehr are the backbones of this team and I'm ecstatic the Flames have stepped up to keep them.

OVERALL OUTLOOK

In the end, I'm excited about what this new Flames team has to offer. If anything, it's nice to see them step up to try and get back to the next level. Status-quo was not an option.