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Five Calgary Flames players who could be cap casualties

July 16, 2019, 10:52 AM ET [52 Comments]
Todd Cordell
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​The Calgary Flames need to clear some money off the books. There's no way around it.​

​They currently have less than $9.5 million in cap space with Matthew Tkachuk, David Rittich, Sam Bennett and Andrew Mangiapane still without contracts. Even conservative projections probably have that quartet costing $14 million or more.​

​A player or two has to be shipped out just to keep the rest of the crew in tact. Perhaps even more need to go if the Flames wish to add external help.

​With that in mind, let's take a closer look at five candidates ​to be traded and/or bought out in the coming weeks.

​LD/RD - T.J. ​Brodie​ – one-year, $4.65 million​

​It's very possible Brodie is traded. I have no problem with that given the marriage between he and the Flames will last another year at most. They have the defensive depth to overcome a move, too. With that said, I don't think you trade Brodie with the selling point being dollars out. If the Flames get a cheaper player back, great, but they need something tangible to help this year's team if they're moving Brodie. For all his faults, he has produced at least 31 points in six consecutive seasons and is capable of playing 20+ minutes every night. If the Flames want to contend right now – they do, and should given their best two-way player is 35 – they can't take a player of his caliber off the roster with futures coming back.

​RW - Michael ​Frolik​ – one-year, $4.3 million​

The relationship between Frolik's camp and the Flames seems to have soured. Rightly or wrongly, Bill Peters and his staff aren't in love with Frolik and his usage at times reflected that. On the flip side, Frolik didn't seem to appreciate being given a lesser role on aggregate. Given some of the wingers coming – Andrew Mangiapane looks ready to play a much bigger role, and Dillon Dube seems poised to play *a role* – Frolik is one guy I could see being moved for a more futures-oriented package.

​RD - Michael ​Stone​ – one-year, $3.5 million​

Be it via trade or buyout, the Flames need to cut bait with Stone. They just do. He produces nothing offensively and is a big-time possession anchor. Oddly enough, for a player regarded as a defensive defenseman, the Flames allow more shot attempts and goals per 60 minutes with Stone on the ice than any other defender on the roster. He's not good in the one aspect he's supposed to be good at. Realistically speaking, he's the team's No. 8 defenseman. The Flames would be much better off reallocating that money elsewhere.

​C - Mark ​Jankowski​ – one-year, $1.675 million​

This one is a bit of a long shot but if the Flames really need to get creative and cut costs, they can trade Jankowski, play Derek Ryan at 3C, go bargain bin shopping for a 4C (or use an internal option), and clear ~$1 million in salary.

​LW - Sam ​Bennett​ – RFA, arbitration rights

​Though Bennett hasn't panned out the way anyone hoped or expected, he is still a useful player and brings some attributes to the table the Flames don't have a lot of. The Flames would like to keep him around, especially considering they're already concerned about a lack of sandpaper (I think that played a part in taking a run at Micheal Ferland in free agency).

In saying that, Bennett is not a play driver, he's not an efficient point producer, he's not a key cog on special teams, and he's not going to cost pennies. You could make the case he is, or should be, the 4LW (behind Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, and Mangiapane).

For a team tight against the cap, an argument could certainly be made against paying $2.5-3M annually for a player in that slot. He could be dealt if the Flames feel the same way.

​numbers via naturalstattrick.com and capfriendly.com​

Recent posts:

O​n James Neal regression and David Rittich's next contract​

Potential landing spots for T.J. Brodie

Flames lose out in Micheal Ferland sweepstakes

Arbitration dates set for four members of the Flames

On the Nazem Kadri trade that never was

The Flames should go after Nikita Gusev

Reviewing the Flames' 2019 draft class

Five pieces the Flames could use as trade bait
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