A salary-cap deep dive for the Calgary Flames

Navigating the salary cap is one of the more important tasks for any GM. Teams that can avoid total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2022-23 season. This will focus more on players who are regulars on the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Calgary Flames

Current Cap Hit: $80,363,333 (under the $82.5M Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Jakob Pelletier (two years, $863K)

Pelletier has yet to play in the NHL but the 2019 first-rounder is coming off a strong season in the minors that saw him put up 27 goals and 35 assists in 66 games with AHL Stockton; that performance will give him a good chance to push for a regular roster spot in training camp. At this point, a bridge contract is the likeliest scenario for him but two strong NHL seasons could change that.

Signed Through 2022-23, Non-Entry-Level

F Milan Lucic* ($5.25M, UFA)
F Trevor Lewis ($800K, UFA)
D Nicolas Meloche ($950K,UFA)
D Juuso Valimaki ($1.55M, RFA)
G Daniel Vladar ($750K, RFA)
D MacKenzie Weegar ($3.25M, UFA)

*-Edmonton is retaining an additional $750K of Lucic’s cap hit

Potential Bonuses:
Lewis: $200K

Lucic’s struggles on this contract have been well-documented. He’s not the high-end power forward that he was in the prime of his career and at this point, he’s best utilized in more of a limited capacity. It’s likely that he’ll be going year-to-year on any future contracts with a cap hit that is below $2M, if not less. Lewis was second among Calgary forwards in hits last season and has been a capable fourth liner for several years now; he should give them some positive value on this deal.

Weegar is coming over from Florida where he spent most of the last two seasons on their top pairing and has developed a quality offensive game over that stretch as well. He’s likely to play a similar role with the Flames which has him well-positioned to more than double his current contract on the open market next summer. The fact that he’s a right-shot defender, the side that is always in high demand and short supply, only stands to help his value. Valimaki spent most of last season in the minors and didn’t do quite as well as either side had hoped. He’s now waiver-eligible which could help him stay on the roster at least but as things stand, he’s likelier to be non-tendered than receive a $1.86M qualifying offer. That’s a surprising turn of events for someone believed to be a part of their future plans. Meloche saw extended NHL action with San Jose last season for the first time, helping him secure a one-way deal in free agency. If he can hold onto a spot on the third pairing with regularity, another small raise on the open market next summer would be achievable.

Vladar’s first full NHL season had some ups and downs with the end result being a 2.75 GAA and a .906 SV% in 23 games. Those numbers aren’t excellent but they’re backup-level and with the escalating salaries for second-stringers, Vladar could easily double his current cap hit next summer if he has a similar performance in 2022-23.

Signed Through 2023-24

F Mikael Backlund ($5.35M, UFA)
F Dillon Dube ($2.3M, RFA)
D Noah Hanifin ($4.95M, UFA)
D Oliver Kylington ($2.5M, UFA)
F Elias Lindholm ($4.85M, UFA)
F Kevin Rooney ($1.3M, UFA)
D Chris Tanev ($4.5M, UFA)
F Tyler Toffoli ($4.25M, UFA)
D Nikita Zadorov ($3.75M, UFA)

Backlund has spent parts of 14 seasons with Calgary and has been a key cog down the middle for most of those. Now 33 and with a couple of middlemen ahead of him on the depth chart, he’s likely to play a lesser role moving forward and while he’ll still be one of the stronger defensive centers in the league, this contract will quickly become an above-market one. Toffoli was added in a midseason swap with Montreal to give them some extra scoring on the wing and he did just that en route to his sixth 20-goal campaign. He’s basically making second line money so as long as he stays in that role and keeps producing his usual level of production, the Flames will get some good value here.

Lindholm has really seen his career take off since coming over from Carolina four years ago. He has continued to be a high-end defensive player while he has gone from being more of a secondary offensive producer to a legitimate top-line center. His contract is certainly a sizable bargain for now as he’ll have an opportunity to potentially double his current AAV two years from now if he continues to produce at this pace in their new-look lineup. Dube did well offensively in very limited minutes last season and is poised to play a bigger role in 2022-23; if he can increase his production accordingly, he’s someone that could have a shot at doubling his price tag as well in 2024. Rooney has been a serviceable fourth liner the past couple of seasons and will play in that role with Calgary; it’s unlikely he’ll be able to command much more than that in his next trip through the open market.

Hanifin is coming off a career year offensively and while he hasn’t become the consistent two-way threat Carolina thought he’d be when they made him the fifth-overall pick in 2015, he is a legitimate top-pairing defender. The market value for those players is considerably higher than what he’s making now, making this another team-friendly deal. His next contract will be a few million higher than this one.  Tanev has stayed healthy the last two years which isn’t normal for him which has allowed Calgary to get a better-than-expected return so far. He’ll need to be scaled back a bit over the next couple of years which will put him in line for a bit of a smaller deal in 2024, one that will almost certainly be a short-term contract.

Zadorov had an underwhelming first season with the Flames but the market wasn’t there for him so he opted to stick around. If he can’t become more of a core piece for Calgary over that stretch, it’s hard to imagine that he’ll get another deal like this one; size and physicality aside, depth defenders rarely command this type of contract. Kylington went from being a depth piece to a full-time regular last season, providing some secondary production in the process. Interestingly, he signed a deal that walks him straight to unrestricted free agency at 27 so there’s a chance for another sizable jump in his contract in 2024.

Signed Through 2024-25

F Andrew Mangiapane ($5.8M, UFA)