The Calgary Flames might be the most unpredictable team in the NHL this offseason as they have a new general manager, head coach, and lots of upcoming unrestricted free agents (UFAs) who don’t seem to want to be extended past next offseason. This has made for a lot of questions and concerns surrounding the team as Tyler Toffoli was the first to go in a trade. The big contract that will determine the offseason plans is that of Elias Lindholm who still reportedly has a big offer on the table.
At development camp, Craig Conroy revealed that there is no timeline for a new deal with Lindholm and Salim Nadim Valji of TSN noted that it seems like the Flames will go into training camp with him unsigned beyond this season. So what does this mean for the strategy of the Flames for the remainder of this offseason and what their team will look like in 2023-24?
Lindholm Stays, Flames Go for It
While Toffoli straight up asked for a trade after he said that contract talks were not initiated with him, that doesn’t seem to be the case for the rest of the 2024 UFAs. While nobody has specifically asked for a trade, some have indicated that they are not interested in re-signing. The problem here is that arguably the most important two not named Lindholm are the players who don’t seem to be interested: Noah Hanifin and Mikael Backlund. The others, Chris Tanev, Nikita Zadorov, and Oliver Kylington, are more easily replaceable and might actually benefit the team if one is moved to free up cap space.
The first needle was moved when the Flames traded Toffoli, and even though some believe that they didn’t get as much value as the team should have from the Flames’ 2022-23 leading goal scorer and point-getter, they did get a player back with upside and who can help the team immediately. This isn’t exactly a move of a team diving into a rebuild and panicking that their players don’t want to re-sign. But if Lindholm were to confirm he’s not interested in coming back sooner than later, that might change the complexion.
As of right now, it seems like Lindholm’s silence on a new contract has the Flames waiting in limbo for a decision, almost freezing the rest of their offseason plans. The team is at the cap and may be able to add one more depth piece. But they can’t maneuver to go after any other bigger fish on the free agent market or via trade if they haven’t and won’t make a decision on other players on their roster.
Can a Similar Roster Get it Done?
The Flames do look fairly different from the team in 2021-22 that led them to a strong regular season finish and second round of the playoffs, but the team did struggle last season. Factor in the players being sick of their head coach, uncharacteristically bad play in their own end, and the inability to score at a high rate, it resulted in the team falling well short of expectations and missing the playoffs.
The Flames won’t be projected to finish top-3 in the conference, but they will once again have higher expectations heading into this season, especially if no more trades are made. On paper, the roster that the Flames have should be able to at least tighten up defensively and score at an average rate. This should be enough to have them in the race until the end but at the cost of potentially losing most of their UFAs in 2024. I presume that Conroy is set to wait until at least the trade deadline to see if Lindholm wants to re-sign, then, in the playoff race or not, we might see somewhat of a fire sale.
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The Flames are at risk of losing a lot of value if they head into this season with no guarantees from their players that they want to re-sign. Regardless of if this roster assembled at the moment can get anywhere in 2023-24, there will have to be a reset next offseason. The only way that could happen is through sign-and-trades, being aggressive in the free agent market, making a few trades, or just accepting a rebuild and letting the young players take over. It wouldn’t be the worst thing if that were to happen earlier than later, but it doesn’t seem like the Flames are going in that direction at the very moment. Thus, we await a Lindholm decision to determine the future path of the Flames.