The Calgary Roughnecks made a bit of a splash before the free agent period in the NLL got underway as they announced a two-year contract extension for goaltender Mike Poulin, who would have become a restricted free agent otherwise.
Locking down their all-time leader in minutes played the day before the free-agency period began takes one headache out of the equation as the busy part of the offseason gets going.
Calgary still has a number of decisions to make in the coming days, as the have four more players on the restricted free agent list and two on the unrestricted free agent list.
Defenseman Scott Carnegie and transitions Travis Cornwall, Curtis Manning and goalie Frankie Scigliano currently remain on the restricted free agent list, while team captain Andrew McBride and forward Scott Ranger are now unrestricted free agents.
Prior to the Poulin signing, Calgary made qualifying offers to forwards Dane Dobbie and Daryl Veltman, along with transition Peter McFetridge, avoiding free agency for that trio.
It seems likely that the Roughnecks will move to quickly sign McBride, Manning and Scigliano, who were all key contributors to Calgary’s season and their deep playoff run, which ended with them one goal shy of their third Champion’s Cup. The rest of the free agents may have question marks attached to them.
Scott Carnegie missed the entire 2014 season due to injury, leaving his status up in the air for 2015. Cornwall managed only four points and 29 loose balls in 10 games in 2014, a lacklustre season for a former first-round draft pick. And while Ranger was productive in 2014, notching six goals and 14 assists in nine regular season games as well as five goals and four assists in five playoff games, his time was also limited by injury, along with personal and work commitments.
The net result is that each of these players may be faced with a situation where the Roughnecks may pass on them in hopes of filling holes through trades, free agent signings or the upcoming draft.
Time will tell how all this plays out—and it certainly wouldn’t be surprising to see Calgary stand pat, re-sign all these players and try to make another run at the championship with the same group of athletes—but GM Mike Board will have several tough calls to make as the summer winds down.
