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 $82.5MM 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* ($5.25MM, UFA)
F Trevor Lewis ($800K, UFA)
D Nicolas Meloche ($950K,UFA)
D Juuso Valimaki ($1.55MM, RFA)
G Daniel Vladar ($750K, RFA)
D MacKenzie Weegar ($3.25MM, 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 $2MM, 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 $1.86MM 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 ($5.35MM, UFA)
F Dillon Dube ($2.3MM, RFA)
D Noah Hanifin ($4.95MM, UFA)
D Oliver Kylington ($2.5MM, UFA)
F Elias Lindholm ($4.85MM, UFA)
F Kevin Rooney ($1.3MM, UFA)
D Chris Tanev ($4.5MM, UFA)
F Tyler Toffoli ($4.25MM, UFA)
D Nikita Zadorov ($3.75MM, 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 ($5.8MM, UFA)
To call last season for Mangiapane a career year would be an understatement. After his previous benchmark in points was 32, he passed that in 2021-22 with his goal total alone, notching 35 along with 20 assists in 82 games despite averaging less than 16 minutes a night. In the end, the two sides opted for what is essentially another bridge contract, one that gives him a significant raise on the $2.425MM AAV he had for the last two seasons without locking in a lot of long-term risk for the Flames if his production reverts back closer to his career averages. The pressure will be on now and Mangiapane will need to prove he’s a reliable 30-goal scorer to have a chance at getting that much on his next deal.
Signed Through 2025-26 Or Longer
D Rasmus Andersson ($4.55MM through 2025-26)
F Blake Coleman ($4.9MM through 2026-27)
F Jonathan Huberdeau ($5.9MM in 2022-23, $10.5MM from 2023-24 through 2030-31)
F Nazem Kadri ($7MM through 2028-29)
G Jacob Markstrom ($6MM through 2025-26)
Huberdeau was the centerpiece of the Matthew Tkachuk trade with Florida last month. He’s coming off a career year and even a record-setting one as he set a new NHL record for most assists by a left winger with 85. The Flames will have him on another below-market contract for the upcoming season before he becomes one of the most expensive wingers in the league on a deal that might not age well. Kadri’s deal was just signed a few days ago, giving him some long-term stability at a much higher rate than he has received in the past. Like Huberdeau, this contract may not look too great in the back half but if he can provide similar production to his output last year in the first few seasons, they’ll be okay with it in the end. Coleman is overpaid relative to his production (his career-high in points is only 36) but he provides plenty of physicality and is consistently strong in terms of possession. His contract won’t be thought of as a bargain but there’s more to his value than it might seem at first glance.
There was seemingly some risk to Andersson’s contract at the time, one that bypassed the bridge deal with the hopes that he’d eventually play his way into an impact role. He has done just that and is coming off a career year offensively with 50 points. Even if that type of production isn’t sustainable, as long as he can play top-pairing minutes and chip in with a point total that’s a little above average, Calgary will get a very strong return on this contract as well.
Markstrom’s first season with Calgary wasn’t the best but his second year was quite strong as he was the runner-up in Vezina Trophy voting. His AAV is a little higher than the median for a starter but as long as he performs at a level that’s better than a median starter, they’ll do well with this contract. There’s little reason to think he won’t be able to perform at that level for a few more years at least.
Buyouts
None
Retained Salary Transactions
None
Still To Sign
Ruzicka split last season between the Flames and AHL Stockton and was quite productive with the Heat, in particular, collecting 20 points in 16 games. He’s coming off his entry-level deal and didn’t have arbitration rights while he has just 31 career NHL appearances under his belt. A short-term deal is in the cards and at this point, the discussion is likely whether to do a one-year, one-way contract that’s closer to the league minimum or a two-year, two-way pact that’s closer to the $900K mark.
Best Value: Weegar
Worst Value: Lucic
Looking Ahead
Calgary is in pretty good shape for the upcoming season. They project to have some in-season space after Ruzicka’s deal gets done, a rarity among teams with an eye on contending so if they stay healthy, they should be able to bank enough room to add another piece midseason or closer to the trade deadline.
But it’s clear that their contention window is now. GM Brad Treliving has several significantly team-friendly deals on his roster, most of which will be expiring by 2024. At that point, they’re not going to be able to keep the core together; they’ll still be spending to the Upper Limit but will be getting much less bang for their buck. They have a couple of years to try to contend before that opening closes shut.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Hell, Backlund’s contract won’t *become* an overpayment. It already has been, for a couple seasons now. When he was a 20-goal scorer, a contract north of $5 MM AAV was good value. As someone no longer capable of top-six production, it isn’t.
And as far with how happy Flames fans are going to be five years from now with huge deadweight contracts on their hands, well … about as warm and fuzzy as the average Minnesota fan feels about the fact that Zach Parise and Ryan Suter *used* to be productive players for them, eh?
How happy Flames fans will be depends on how many cups they win in the five years before those contracts become deadweight. If the Wild had won a cup or two with Parise and Sutter I think they would feel very differently about their present cap situation.
Probably not, actually. How happy are fan bases in Chicago and Pittsburgh with clubs seen to be underachieving, even with multiple Cups in the previous decade?
I’m in Chicago and can tell you that the guys I know (granted not necessarily a representative sample) were ok until about three years ago. And they were not upset that there needed to be a rebuild. We all understood that. They’re upset that the team screwed up the rebuild.