Flames re-sign blueliner Joel Hanley to two year contract ($1.75 million AAV)

The 34-year-old Hanley originally joined the Flames off the waiver wire two-thirds of the way through the 2023-24 season. He began his run with the club as a depth blueliner, even serving as the Flames’ seventh or eighth defender for the first chunk of the 2024-25 season. But once he got an opportunity to play regularly, and play regularly with defensive ace MacKenzie Weegar, Hanley was basically impossible to remove from the lineup. In 53 games, he had two goals and nine points.

Now, we know what you’re thinking: “Hey, isn’t it risky to give a multi-year deal to someone who turned 34 last month?”

Well, yes and no.

On the “yes” front, yeah, his age is his age. And Hanley is someone who, while he had a really strong season last year – especially given that he was thrust into a top-four role out of necessity and did a great job – doesn’t have a huge sample size as an NHL regular. His career high in games played prior to this season was 44, and much of his tenure with the Dallas Stars saw him as a beloved depth player who never played a ton.

On the “no” front, we point to two things. First, the fact that he hasn’t been a regular in the lineup anywhere until now means that he doesn’t have a ton of wear and tear on him. Being an NHL blueliner sucks for your body, because you’re constantly crashing into the boards, other large humans, or both. Hanley is 34, yes, but he has just 246 NHL games under his belt. Comparatively, teammate Jake Bean, who’s seven years younger, has played more games than Hanley. So in terms of getting through the rigours of the NHL schedule at his “advanced” age, Hanley may be in good shape.

Second, uh, this is an extremely low cap hit given what Hanley brings to the Flames. His $1.75 million cap hit is the same as Bean’s. And, all due respect to Bean, Hanley was a much bigger part of the Flames’ success in 2024-25. If Hanley doesn’t work out and time catches up to him – it could happen – his palatable cap hit can mostly be buried in the AHL and life goes on.

So if Hanley continues his strong play or regresses a little bit, it’s an extremely friendly cap hit for him. If he falls off a cliff or time catches up with him, it’s an extremely easy deal to hide under a tarp (or with the Wranglers) and not worry about. For a really useful player in Hanley, this is some very tidy work.

With Hanley’s signing, the Flames have 21 players on one-way contracts for 2025-26 – two goalies, eight defencemen and 11 forwards – and roughly $19.84 million in remaining cap space. (They still have restricted free agents Connor Zary and Morgan Frost to re-sign, too.)