Though it is still two months away, anticipation is building as the 2024-25 NHL season approaches. Hockey fans get to spend that time speculating, projecting, and predicting how their favourite players or teams will pan out. Calgary Flames fans are likely more excited about the distant future, as the franchise is likely headed for its third straight season without making the NHL playoffs. The team still has a handful of veterans, but is more youthful now with a focus on development as they dive deeper into their much-needed rebuild. General manager Craig Conroy and his team have done an excellent job of moving proven talent and recouping assets in the form of prospects or draft picks. They made an impressive ten selections at the 2024 NHL Entry Draft.
Related: Calgary Flames’ Player Milestones for the 2024-25 Season
In today’s NHL, money is everything. The biggest current trade chip available is salary cap space; teams with the room (usually non-competitive ones) will take on large, unwanted contracts to alleviate the financial pressure of others. The Flames currently have the second-most cap space in the entire NHL, with $19.97 million. This is due to the aforementioned work done trading away established players who also carried a higher salary. While many 2024-25 Flames players have fair contracts, some offer poor value such as forward Jonathan Huberdeau’s; it was recently voted as the worst contract in the league. However, we want positives and to instead analyze the contracts that would be deemed as bargains or provide great bang for the franchise’s buck. In addition, we’ll offer NHL comparisons to accentuate our assertions. Here are four of the best contracts on the Flames for the 2024-25 NHL season.
Rasmus Andersson, Defense
The first contract that offers immense value is that of defenseman Rasmus Andersson. The 27-year-old is the second-longest tenured Flame, only behind captain Mikael Backlund. He was a second-round draft choice back in 2015 and is slated to suit up for his 500th game this season. A native of Malmo, Sweden, Andersson fits the characteristics of what many hockey minds view as the most valuable type of player: a top-four, right-shooting defender. It took a few seasons for him to figure things out, but over the past three he has averaged eight goals and 38 assists in 80 games played. “Ras” is a quintessential offensive defenseman that makes amazing first passes out of his own zone and doesn’t mind joining a rush to create a scoring chance. He is also a well-respected leader on the team, serving as an alternate captain since the 2022-23 season.
Usually, these types of players command daunting compensation, but Andersson signed a six-year, $27.3 million contract back in 2020 that has just a $4.55 million average annual value (AAV). For comparison’s sake, similar rearguards in age and production make more money. For example: Winnipeg Jets blueliner Neal Pionk has a yearly cap hit of $5.875 million and Flames teammate MacKenzie Weegar signed a contract that accounts for $6.25 million per season. Andersson has now become a bit of a second fiddle with the emergence of Weegar, but is still a top-pairing defender that will play a ton of hard minutes this season with the rest of the defence core being unproven, young, or a combination of the two. He has two more seasons remaining on his current deal, and should hopefully be a part of the team when it becomes competitive again.
Blake Coleman, Forward
Next up is rugged veteran forward Blake Coleman, whom the Flames inked as a free agent back in the summer of 2021. He earned himself a six-year, $29.4 million pact after performing well on the New Jersey Devils and Tampa Bay Lightning, where he won the Stanley Cup twice (2020, 2021). The American was headhunted for his remarkable defensive capabilities as a forward, who also had a sneaky knack for creating offence. This quality is a sneaky one no longer; at 32 years of age, he broke out in a big way with the Flames in 2023-24, scoring a career-high 30 goals, 24 assists, and 54 points. Coleman went from being a hard-nosed grinder to that as well as a legitimate scoring threat whenever he stepped on the ice. As he blossomed offensively, his defensive game didn’t suffer either; he tied his career-high with 57 blocked shots, had 128 hits, 43 takeaways, and finished 21st in Selke Trophy voting. For puck possession fans, Coleman also posted his fourth straight season with a Corsi For rating of 50% or greater.
Coleman has become super important in all on-ice situations for the Flames; his 2023-24 average of 1:31 of shorthanded ice time led all full-time Flames forwards (Kevin Rooney played 2:34, but only dressed in 33 games). His average of 55 seconds of power play time per game was also his highest ever and he tied his career-high with three goals with the man advantage. No Flame bested his plus/minus rating of plus-19. But Coleman’s most impressive feat? Seven of his 30 goals last season were game-winners, tying him for 15th place in the NHL. So he’s clutch and can score, hit, block, and check, all for an AAV of $4.9 million. There isn’t any exact comparable to Coleman, but the New York Islanders’ Anders Lee and St. Louis Blues’ Brayden Schenn are close and carry $7 million and $6.5 million AAVs, respectively. Thank goodness the Flames have Coleman for another three years at this price.
Martin Pospisil, Forward
Third comes 24-year-old Slovak forward Martin Pospisil. The 6-foot-2, 173-pound 2018 fourth-round pick of the Flames made his NHL debut in 2023-24 and never looked back, skating in 63 contests in the big leagues. He quickly figured out his most effective ways of contributing to the team: creating disturbances on the ice and space for his teammates to operate. Pospisil was a pain in the neck for the opposition every night; he delivered booming body checks, was nasty in every puck battle he was involved in, and bilked opponents into taking penalties on numerous occasions. Even though he didn’t play in all 82 games, Pospisil led the entire Flames roster in both hits and penalty minutes with a whopping 238 and 109, respectively. He also registered 22 blocked shots and 26 takeaways, and his plus-14 rating was third behind Coleman and the departed Chris Tanev.
Pospisil is far from a one-trick pony, however. The rookie scored his first career goal during his NHL debut and followed it up with seven more as well as 16 assists for 24 total points. There were a handful of instances where the youngster seemed impossible to knock off of the puck, and exhibited surprisingly softer hands than your average NHL agitator. Pospisil gelled extremely well on a line with Nazem Kadri and Andrei Kuzmenko, taking some of the attention off of them and thus giving them more room to create offence. His entry-level contract expired this summer but the Flames thankfully re-upped him with a two-year, $2 million extension. For comparisons, Buffalo Sabres grinder Beck Malenstyn just signed for $1.35 million per season and the Vancouver Canucks just got Kiefer Sherwood for a $1.5 million AAV. Pospisil should have a fantastic opportunity to continue to grow with more experience and hopefully heightened responsibility in 2024-25.
Dustin Wolf, Goaltender
The last contract we feel is an absolute steal is goaltender Dustin Wolf‘s. The ink is still fresh from the two-year, $1.7 million contract he just signed to remain a Flame. He has long been considered to be among the best goaltenders outside of the NHL and finally got an opportunity to flex his chops in 2023-24. The 23-year-old appeared in 17 contests, finishing with a record of 7-7-1. He had a 3.16 goals-against average (GAA) and a .893 save percentage (SV%). Now, those numbers are not exactly world-beating, we know. However, NHL goalies are fragile beings that require a lot of time and patience. Luckily for Wolf, the Flames have an abundance of both.
What makes his contract a bargain is Wolf’s massive potential; in junior he was the Western Hockey League’s Goalie of the Year twice, and was named the Canadian Hockey League’s best netminder as well. At the American Hockey League level, he won the 2023 league MVP award as well as two Goaltender of the Year awards in 2022 and 2023. The pure talent and skills are there, Wolf’s game is just raw and he needs a long enough leash to be able to learn how to succeed at the NHL level. Former Flames starter Jacob Markstrom was recently dealt to the New Jersey Devils. Now only Wolf, backup Dan Vladar, and minor leaguers Devin Cooley and Walterri Ignatjew are in the fold. It’s hard not to think that the crease is Wolf’s to lose. Recent young goalies with similar ages and stats, Samuel Ersson (Philadelphia Flyers) and Arvid Soderblom (Chicago Blackhawks), were given $1.45 million and $962,500 AAVs, respectively.
At the end of the day, the Flames did a great job of evaluating talent when they initially signed these men to their current contracts. All three are positive contributors to the franchise both on and off the ice and do so in a multitude of ways. Hopefully, the team can continue to exemplify magnificent financial literacy with more team-friendly contracts. Doing so will help ensure there is enough cap space to operate and continue the rebuild.
