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The NHL season is extremely young, but that doesn’t stop teams from making panic moves. We saw the epitome of that with the latest move from the Calgary Flames.
The Flames put Karri Ramo on waivers on Wednesday. They gave up on the guy they just re-signed. Word coming into the season was that the team was going to look to move Jonas Hiller. He was the guy who helped take the team to a surprise playoff run, but he was replaced in the playoffs. Ramo was supposed to lead this team to a better season. Now, the Flames have started 1-5 and are panicking.
Admittedly, Ramo has been awful to start this season. He started 0-3 with an .879 save percentage. He is allowing well over four goals per game. Those numbers are going to make any team a loser. Especially with the addition of Dougie Hamilton in the offseason, everyone expected the defense to carry this team. With both Hamilton and Mark Giordano at minus-6 already, it isn’t working out that way.
The Flames are 28th in the league in goals against. Ramo is a very big reason for that. Did I mention the season was six games old? Sometimes you really have to see how things play out. Jumping to a major move like this can cost general managers their jobs. I’m not saying that Brad Treliving’s job could be in jeopardy, but this is the type of move that could snowball a team’s season. You don’t want to do that in the second week.
The problem is there are a ton of goalies who have underperformed this season. Sergei Bobrovsky has been the worst goalie in the league for the Columbus Blue Jackets. Steve Mason has a GAA close to Ramo’s. Tuukka Rask has been about as good as the rest of the Boston Bruins. These teams aren’t rushing to get rid of their starting goalie already, despite a bad start.
Ramo has value. Despite his awful start, he could easily have been traded for assets. Maybe the Flames will get lucky and Ramo will pass through waivers, but too many teams need a goalie. Taking a chance on Ramo would be viable for many teams.
To be fair, the Flames have a very good goalie coming in to replace Ramo. Joni Ortio was only looking for an opportunity. That is why it was confusing in the first place that the Flames re-signed Ramo in the first place. Hiller has been just as bad as Ramo, so it isn’t inconceivable to think Ortio could end the season as the starter. The move to make room is not the issue. The issue with the move is losing Ramo for what could end up being nothing.
It is the first month, and every year a team makes a major panic move. The Flames are the first team, and probably won’t be the only team this season. Ramo will turn it around, and the Flames won’t look good at the end of the day.
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