Calgary Flames tender qualifying offers to seven pending restricted free agents, including Dustin Wolf

The Calgary Flames have tendered qualifying offers to seven players, retaining their exclusive negotiating rights as they prepare to become restricted free agents on Monday.

The deadline to qualify RFAs was 3 p.m. MT on Sunday. The Flames had nine players they could provide qualifying offers to, and they extended offers to seven of them.

Receiving offers were goaltender Dustin Wolf, defencemen Nikita Okhotiuk, Yan Kuznetsov and Ilya Solovyov, and forwards Adam Klapka, Jakob Pelletier and Cole Schwindt. Not receiving qualifying offers were forwards Dillon Dube and Riley Damiani, who both immediately become unrestricted free agents as a result.

Klapka and Solovyov are both eligible for salary arbitration based on their service time.

It’s worth noting that Okhotiuk has reportedly signed a contract with CSKA Moskva in the KHL for 2024-25 – per TSN’s Darren Dreger, though it has yet to be announced – and the Flames retain Okhotiuk’s NHL rights until he turns 27 as a result of qualifying him.

For the other six players given qualifying offers, they can accept these deals before their expiry on July 15 or merely use them as the basis for further negotiations. All qualified players sign offer sheets from other NHL clubs, but the Flames would have the right to match those offers. If an eligible player files for salary arbitration, they’re no longer eligible to receive offer sheets from other teams.

The big name not qualified is Dube, and the reason for that is quite simple: questions regarding his eligibility to play hockey due to his involvement in the ongoing sexual assault case involving members of the 2018 Canadian national junior team. While those allegations have yet to be proven in court and legal proceedings are ongoing, they obviously create complications regarding the continuation of his playing career.

The other player not qualified is Damiani, who was acquired prior to the trade deadline from the Dallas Stars. Damiani is a right shot centre, but he fell out of favour with all the depth in the Stars’ organization and he likely didn’t do enough with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers to cement himself in the Flames’ plans going forward.

Free agency opens on July 1 at 10 a.m. MT.