The Calgary Flames are boldly entering the off-season and looking to shake things up.
“If you ask teams who the most aggressive teams out there are, in terms of working the phones, it is the Calgary Flames,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman said during Saturday’s Headlines segment.
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The young Flames are in great shape with more than $22 million in cap space, giving them plenty of room to play.
This ‘aggressive’ mindset does have its limits, says Friedman, explaining that the Flames won’t do anything that “jeopardizes their ability to sign Mark Giordano, Sean Monahan or Johnny Gaudreau long-term.”
It’s no secret the Flames are lacking in size — that much was clear in their Stanley Cup Playoff series loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
According to Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, the Flames could benefit by targeting the St. Louis Blues in a trade, a team that is due for a change themselves. A big body up front (think David Backes or Patrik Berglund) would immediately inject a sizeable upgrade at centre.
It also wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Flames go after a goaltender in an attempt to replace Jonas Hiller and Karri Ramo.
One Flames player that has garnered some interest around the league is veteran Jiri Hudler, who has one year remaining on his deal.
“From what I understand,” explained Friedman, “the team’s response was… ‘you’re really going to have to make it worth our while.’”
