Ranking the Calgary Flames’ 2025 Free Agents

As the Flames’ backup goaltender for the past four seasons, Dan Vladar has consistently put up the sort of numbers that don’t inspire much promise. He began the season as part of a tandem with Dustin Wolf — in fact, the 2024-25 season saw him put up a career high 30 games — but quickly lost even the 1B spot as Wolf proved himself not only a true starter, but a bona fide top goalie in the league. Vladar last had a SV% over .900 in the 2021-22 season, when the Flames won the Central Division with 111 points. It’s fair to say at this point that he has a ceiling, and that unless there are truly zero other available backup goaltenders on the market, the Flames should look elsewhere unless they’re willing to tolerate that ceiling.

6. Kevin Rooney

Kevin Rooney played most of the season as the Flames’ dependable fourth-line centre, stabilizing the second penalty kill unit and giving the team respectable defensive results and absolutely no offence at all. Kirkland, Rooney’s occasional linemate, played nearly 50 fewer games and only had two fewer points. The Flames were not a great defensive team last season, but more than anything else, their offence was completely anemic — they scored 225 goals total, sixth-last in the NHL. Rooney would be a good fourth-line centre on a team that usually doesn’t struggle much to score, but unless they make some big swings in free agency, the Flames are probably not that team.

5. Morgan Frost

Morgan Frost was acquired in a mid-season trade that sent him and Joel Farabee to Calgary from the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Jacob Pelletier. While Farabee still has three years left on his contract, Frost is a restricted free agent this season. Both players — they were traded as a package deal and are described as one off-ice — struggled to produce after the trade, but should be able to recover some of their previous production with a training camp to settle.

Frost is a relatively young centre with a cheap qualifying offer ($2.4 million). This is the first player on the list that would make sense as a re-signing. 

4. Anthony Mantha

Anthony Mantha’s season was cut extremely short by an ACL injury suffered 13 games in. During those games, he played on the first line with Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil, creating a physical and imposing checking line that doubled as the team’s primary scoring line. The sample size is tiny, and there are always concerns about how a player recovers from injury, so the Flames might not see a fit. That being said, his veteran presence and potential power for the dollar he commands could be a good idea — just so long as this time he stays healthy.

3. Joel Hanley

Hanley had quite an impressive season in 2024-25; he played as a top-four defenceman down the stretch and into the end of the season, mostly or in part replacing the unsteady Daniil Miromanov on clear number one MacKenzie Weegar’s side. He’s quiet in a good way; he’s a lefty, so he wouldn’t get in the way of young right-handers Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz; he can kill penalties.

There are, however, two drawbacks to this potential re-signing: first, that he also doesn’t provide much offence, although a shutdown second or first-pair defenceman is a more valuable asset than a shutdown fourth-line forward. The second is age — Hanley recently turned 34, and a contract for a player that age is always a big risk. A repeat of the previous contract, or something short and under $1 million, would be a safe option for a solid defensive guy.

2. Connor Zary

Connor Zary played in the top-six for most of the Flames’ season after breaking properly into the NHL last season; unlike the majority of this list, he regularly demonstrates genuine offensive vigour, he’s young, and he’s improving. Unfortunately, he’s been injury-prone in his short NHL career so far, only managing 54 games this season with several injuries keeping him out of the lineup. Regardless, keeping Zary should be a no-brainer. He’s already a proven scorer with a big upside and developmental room to grow.

1. Kevin Bahl

Kevin Bahl proved himself last season as the Flames’ third defenceman after Weegar and Rasmus Andersson. He played big minutes at even strength and led the team in penalty kill time. Like Hanley, he’s a lefty and won’t get in the way of the development of the Flames’ right-handed defensive prospects; unlike Hanley, he’s on the right side of 30 and is not about to hit the aging curve.

Bahl would be a great stabilizer in the middle-six, especially as a shutdown partner for one of a pair of young, volatile defencemen or even as Weegar’s partner. He is exactly what the Flames need on defence, and should be their top contract priority.

As the Flames head into what should be a busy offseason, one of their top priorities should be re-signing the players they hold the negotiation rights to and believe would fit into next season’s plan for the team. If they intend to make the playoffs next year, they should move on from fourth-liners and solidify the defensive group, making room for the prospects who are ready to make the jump.