For the Calgary Flames, the 2023-24 NHL season has been a bit of a rollercoaster thus far. The team has been hovering around the .500 mark, starting the season with a six-game losing streak, and has since won two games in a row on three separate occasions. An influx of new blood has injected a bit of life into the Flames, as prospects Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil, Ilya Solovyov and Dustin Wolf have recently joined the team and immediately contributed to its success. This seemingly temporarily shifted the focus away from the Flames’ big-name unrestricted free agents (UFAs) and their ultimate re-signings or trades. Star forward Elias Lindholm and top four defensemen Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin have had rumours circling them since the end of last season.
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Rookie general manager Craig Conroy recently shipped off one former Flame UFA in Nikita Zadorov. The big Russian blueliner was a rare trade between the Flames and rival Vancouver Canucks, something that had happened just five times prior. Now that the first domino has fallen, many fans and media members are clamouring to try and determine which UFA goes next. However, what if the next Flame traded isn’t one of the aforementioned names? With that idea in mind, here are three dark horse trade candidates from the Flames.
Andrew Mangiapane, Winger
First up is Toronto, Ontario native Andrew Mangiapane. An original Flames draft pick, the 27-year-old forward was selected 166th overall back in 2015. He quickly made Flames brass look like a genius, totaling 261 points in just 195 junior games before swiftly progressing through the American Hockey League (AHL). Mangiapane made the full-time switch to the NHL during the 2018-19 season and has never gone back to the minors. He established career-high offensive stats in the 2021-22 season, with 35 goals and 55 points. The Flames re-signed him the following offseason to a three-year, $17.4 million contract.
In the first year of his fresh deal, “Mang” unfortunately disappointed. He regressed to 17 goals and 43 points, though he did establish a new career best with 26 assists. Many had hoped he would turn it around for the 2023-24 season, but so far, this hasn’t been the case. He has just five goals and 14 points through 26 matches and simply hasn’t looked like the player he once was.
While the Flames will likely never be able to move a big contract like Jonathan Huberdeau’s or Nazem Kadri’s, Mangiapane’s $5.8 million cap hit and one remaining year could be done. Surely, some teams also like what Mangiapane brings to the table or feel that they can re-ignite his scoring touch. He is only turning 28 years old this season, leaving plenty of room for progression.
Blake Coleman, Winger/Centre
Next up is a bit more of a long shot, with 32-year-old Blake Coleman up for analysis. The veteran will be suiting up for his 500th NHL game in short order, also playing for the Tampa Bay Lightning and New Jersey Devils. The Devils snagged him in Round 3 of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft. The 2023-24 season is his third with the Flames after he signed as a free agent back in 2021. This was after he won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Lightning, proving his worth as an effective two-way forward. Last season, he also set some career-highs with the Flames, recording 20 assists and 38 points in 82 games. He has begun this season with seven goals and 16 points through 27 contests and is leading the team in plus-minus rating with plus six.
The versatile American can play all three forward positions adequately, tremendously raising his value to any team. The Flames surely appreciate his career averages of 189 hits, 48 blocked shots, and 50 takeaways per season. When Coleman is on the ice, his team controls puck possession as well, constituted by his all-time 58.3 Corsi For percentage. Why trade him then? To start, he counts for $4.9 million against the cap, and after this season, he still has three more years left on his deal. Playing as voraciously as he does surely doesn’t age well, and his market value will soon be on the decline. As with Mangiapane, it is a big but manageable salary figure, and plenty of contenders would want to add a proven winner and fierce competitor to their bottom six.
Dillon Dubé, Winger/Centre
Last but not least is former Flames second-round pick, Dillon Dubé. One of the only NHL players born in Golden, British Columbia, Dubé broke in with the Flames in the 2018-19 season after captaining Team Canada to a gold medal finish at the 2018 World Junior Championships. He went back to the AHL for a brief stint, returning in 2019-20 and never looking back. The now-25-year-old has been playing up and down the lineup over the past few seasons, demonstrating his flexibility. Dubé seemingly took the next step in his progression last season, scoring 18 times and totaling a career-high 45 points in 82 games. He had previously never played more than the 15:10 of ice time he averaged during 2022-23, and he earned it simply by being one of the hardest workers on the ice each night.
Unfortunately for both Dubé and the Flames, he has taken a step backward to begin the 2023-24 campaign. In 26 games, he has just three goals and seven points, with a negative eight plus-minus rating to boot. He hasn’t really found a fit in this year’s Flames lineup and has been passed over for some of the aforementioned rookies.
Some have claimed he is nursing an injury. Some simply state last year was a one-off. Dubé is a restricted free agent at the end of this season, and his current play won’t help him in contract negotiations. At his best, he could realistically contribute 15-20 goals and 40-50 points, can play anywhere in the lineup and is still quite young. If the Flames don’t have the patience to wait and see, his value is at its highest right now. Any team could realistically afford his current $2.3 million price tag.
To conclude, Flames fans don’t want to see any of these players in other uniforms. Fans would rather they finish the year as Flames and help the team get to the playoffs. However, if the team continues to struggle or needs cap space to re-sign their big free agents, they could look to move some of these players. All of them are desirable and could give a leg up to contending teams.