On Trading Kipper and the Flames Goaltending Assets

If I were asked to put money on which of the big names will be moved from Calgary this summer, I'd have to bet on Miikka Kiprusoff.

It makes sense to move Kipper from a number of angles - he's coming off his best season in years (so his stock is high), his contractual NMC ends July first and he's a bad bet to have a repeat performance next year (he's 36 years old). Finally, Kipper's real salary drops to $5M next season and then to just $1.5M in 2013-14, thereby reducing the actual, financial risk to any interested trading partner.

The primary barrier to dealing Miikka will be a mix of sentimentality and risk aversion. As