The free agent period is now less than two weeks away from opening up and there are several prominent players set to hit the open market while many teams have key restricted free agents to re-sign. Here is a breakdown of Calgary’s free agent situation.
Key Restricted Free Agents: F Sam Bennett – Even though he just completed his second full season in the NHL, Bennett’s entry-level deal expired since the first year was burned in Calgary’s playoff run in 2014-15. The fourth overall pick back in 2014 was unable to build off a solid rookie season and wound up taking a step back this past season. There are questions as to whether or not he’s still a part of their long-term future but at the age of just 21 (as of next week), it’s still early to make that call. Accordingly, Bennett becomes a strong candidate for a short-term bridge contract to show whether or not he can become that top six center they were envisioning. His qualifying offer checks in at just under $875K and despite a quiet season, he should get a nice bump on that in this next deal.
F Micheal Ferland – After playing a predominantly physical role, the Flames asked Ferland to step into more of an offensive role at times this year and the winger responded with a career season offensively with 15 goals and 25 points. Power forwards with a bit of an offensive touch are hard to come by and that’s certainly going to be a point argued in contract discussions. Ferland is arbitration eligible and should receive a decent jump in pay from the $900K he earned in 2016-17.
Other RFAs: F Alex Chiasson, G Jon Gillies, F Garnet Hathaway, F Curtis Lazar, D Kenney Morrison, G David Rittich, F Linden Vey
Key Unrestricted Free Agents: G Brian Elliott – Elliott didn’t pan out as the starter after being acquired in a trade last summer from St. Louis. With their prospects not ready for full-time NHL duty yet, GM Brad Treliving decided over the weekend to bring in another veteran stopgap in Mike Smith from the Coyotes. That seals Elliott’s fate that he won’t be back and he’ll be off to hit the open market. Given the lack of starting jobs out there, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him take a short-term deal in the hopes of securing a bigger pay day next time around.
D Michael Stone – This was far from a good season for someone in his walk year. The start was delayed by a torn ACL from 2015-16 and then he was back on the shelf barely a week after making his season debut with an upper body injury. Stone never really recovered from that with Arizona and was moved to Calgary near the trade deadline where he fared much better in a secondary role. That said, he was still far removed from the 36 points he put up in his last full season with the Coyotes, one that earned him a $4MM deal. Though he’s just 27 and in a weak free agent market, he may be hard pressed to get the big ticket contract that looked much more likely just a year ago.
W Kris Versteeg – After a strange summer that had him signing in Switzerland before the contract was voided and then joining the Oilers on a tryout before landing in Calgary late in the preseason, Versteeg should have a better case this time around and not need as long to find his next home. He picked up 30+ points for the fourth straight season and secondary scoring isn’t in high abundance on the open market. The Flames should have interest in keeping him as a middle six winger but this time around, it should take more than $950K he earned this season to get him to put pen to paper on a contract.
Other UFAs: F Brandon Bollig, D Deryk Engelland, D Mike Kostka, D Dennis Wideman
Projected Cap Space: Calgary has a lot of space to work with currently as they have just $55.5MM committed per CapFriendly. That said, only 14 players are signed for the big club so there are lots of spots still to be filled. However, by the time they deal with all their RFAs, they should still have enough to go after a bigger fish in the free agent market or via trade if they so desire.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.