Price Is Right for Calgary

This, it seems, is cost constraint.

Or, maybe, this is merely a harmonic convergence that can never be sustained.

Or, maybe, the Calgary Flames are just a good hockey team, one that fits neatly into a jigsaw-puzzle-like budget.

The Flames are not looking to be a financial model, they are happy to be a bunch of hit-and-run lugs playing their Alberta-loving tails off and are two victories shy of giving Canada its first Stanley Cup winner in 11 seasons.

Trouble is, both sides of the labor battle can cite the Flames as Exhibit A to support their arguments.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman sees a small-market team that will have difficulty extending success beyond this season. NHL Players Assn. officials see a case where the current system works, as a team with a payroll that is 19th among the 30 NHL teams has the Stanley Cup in its reach.

What Darryl Sutter, the Flames’ coach and general manager, sees is a slick tap dance around a financial minefield. He has produced a team that has a 2-1 lead over the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Stanley Cup finals heading into Game 4 tonight at Pengrowth Saddledome.

Sutter was able to make four key moves during the season without sinking the Flames into a sea of red. Each step was carefully balanced, both in terms of what he got on the ice and what it meant on the spreadsheet.

“We deal on a different level than a lot of teams,” Sutter said. “It would be great to make whatever deal you wanted and not have to worry about what it cost you. But, you know, there’s some of us that have to work on that schedule.”

That didn’t prevent him from making moves that were on display before a sea of red at the Saddledome in Game 3.

Goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff, acquired from San Jose in November, made 21 saves in the 3-0 victory over the Lightning. Left wing Chris Simon, who came from the New York Rangers in March, scored the game’s first goal with an above-and-beyond effort at the crease and also had an assist. Left wing Marcus Nilson -- who came from Florida in March -- and Ville Nieminen -- acquired from Chicago in February -- went across the ice banging any Lightning player they came across.

All four were squeezed into a $32-million payroll -- $7.5 million of which goes to forward Jarome Iginla -- that, coincidentally or not, is about what the league is said to be seeking under its collective bargaining agreement plan.

“I can’t tell you to the nickel what it was,” Sutter said about the money side of the trades. “To bring in a guy like Chris, who I think was making $1.5 million, you break it down. You put what the guy makes, what is going out, and what is coming in, and that’s it.”

It is indeed, for those who are spin-doctoring the stalled labor negotiations.

Union officials cite a Calgary-Tampa Bay Stanley Cup final as an example that the system can work for teams that have tin cups instead of deep pockets. They support that case with the Mighty Ducks and Carolina Hurricanes, similar-market teams that made the finals the last two seasons.

“Under the current system, all the teams have a chance to do well if they are properly managed,” Ted Saskin, the union’s senior director of business affairs, said last week. “If you look at the playoffs in recent seasons, teams from different markets have been able to compete.”

Bettman has a different picture on his screen. He pointed out last week that the Ducks and Carolina did not make the playoffs the year after making the final, crumbling under the increased payroll that often follows a successful season.

“There is a tremendous instability and if you are looking at the ability of the small-market team to, on a one-shot basis, you know, shoot the moon, you get to see that, but the ability of a team to sustain itself in any rational economic basis is simply not there,” Bettman said.

The Flames, meanwhile, are not concerned about labor rhetoric. They just appreciate that Sutter was able to bolster the roster.

“It says a lot about what Darryl brings to the team,” Flame center Craig Conroy said. “He had to do two jobs and brought in some great players. Kiprusoff, that speaks for itself. But the three guys he brought in at the end of the year with a budget and the situations, I mean you couldn’t have found three better guys.”

Kiprusoff was easy. When Flame goaltender Roman Turek went down with a knee injury, Sutter began shopping around. Detroit’s Curtis Joseph, a proven veteran with a hefty contract, was available.

“There wasn’t much available other than the $8-million one and obviously that doesn’t fit for us,” Sutter said.

As San Jose’s coach for five-plus seasons, Sutter knew Kiprusoff, who was third on the Sharks’ depth chart. He came cheap, with San Jose getting a conditional draft pick in return.

Kiprusoff, who missed 19 games with a knee injury, had a league-low 1.69 goals-against average during the regular season and is a nominee for the Vezina Trophy. His play in the postseason has been brilliant, as he showed with his fifth shutout of the playoffs Saturday.

Simon, Nilson and Nieminen came nearly as cheap. As Sutter said, “With our team, you are not going to trade actual assets for a player.”

Simon gave the Flames a brutish power forward who showed his skills on his goal Saturday. He took a pass from Iginla and got off three rapid shots. The first two were blocked, the third he tapped into the net.

Nieminen and Nilson have made huge contributions during the playoffs as well. Nieminen scored a goal and assisted on a game-winner in a 4-1 victory over San Jose in the Western Conference finals. Nilson scored in overtime in a 2-1 victory over Detroit in Game 1.

“We knew the type of players that were being brought in,” Calgary defenseman Andrew Ference said. “We knew they would be great fits.”