There’s a lot of intrigue about what the Calgary Flames will do with protecting some of their players. We all know that their star players will be protected but it’s some of the last forwards and the goaltender spot that will be the biggest question. I have the Flames going with the seven forwards, three defenseman, and one goaltender model which has been reported that they’re going to go that route. Let’s take a look at who they’re going to protect at each position.
Forward decisions
A lot of the forwards that the Flames have are very obviously going to get protected. They’re definitely going to protect Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan as both are locked up long term and both put up great offensive numbers for them. They will also protect Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund as both of them are also very important to the Flames. Backlund is very underrated as a center and Frolik had 17 goals this past season and is potentially going to be a 20 goal scorer for them soon. The other pretty easy forward that they’ll protect is Sam Bennett, who will get a nice contract since he’s an RFA. There’s been a few trade rumors surrounding Bennett but he’s a really young player and his breakout is likely coming soon. He’s also one of their top two centers.
After those five, there’s two more forwards that they’ll have to protect and both are really tough decisions. It can go in either direction but I think it’s going to be Micheal Ferland and Curtis Lazar.
That would mean that Troy Brouwer is exposed after signing a long term deal with the Flames and being a bit of a let down as he only had 13 goals this season.
Ferland is a restricted free agent and a bottom six forward but had his coming out party this year as he had 15 goals and 25 points in 76 games. He’s a good bottom six winger for the Flames and Calgary also likely values that he can go to the dirty areas and get chippy with players.
With Ferland taking the sixth spot, the last spot is likely between Alex Chiasson and Curtis Lazar. I think they’re going with Lazar since they paid a hefty price to get him. They got him from Ottawa for a second round pick this past trade deadline and it’s believed that they really want him to develop more. It still wouldn’t shock me at all if they protect Chiasson over him as he played top line minutes for Calgary a lot this season.
Defense decisions
The defensive decisions are basically set in stone as they have three great defenseman that they’d protect. Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie, and Dougie Hamilton are all locks to be protected and that would take up their three defenseman. They’re the three best defenseman on the team and are also all locked up long term. They’re also great offensively as they can all three drive play. If the Flames choose, they could put all three on a different pairing as all three could be number one defenseman on a lot of teams around the league because they’re that good.
Goaltender decision
This is a tough decision for the Flames as Brian Elliott had a miserable year after being acquired from the Blues. His save percentage was only .910 which is way below league average. They’ll have to make a decision whether to extend him or not.
Chad Johnson is also a free agent this offseason but his save percentage wasn’t much better. I think that they’ll want to sign Chad Johnson to be their backup and then go out and get a different starter. It’ll be interesting to see what they do on the goaltending front this offseason.
Predicted Players and their cap hits
Forwards
Johnny Gaudreau – $6.750M through 2023
Sean Monahan – $6.375M through 2024
Michael Frolik – $4.3M through 2021
Mikael Backlund – $3.575M through 2019
Sam Bennett – RFA
Curtis Lazar – RFA
Micheal Ferland – RFA
Defenseman
Mark Giordano – $6.75M through 2023
TJ Brodie – $4.65M through 2021
Dougie Hamilton – $5.75M through 2022
Goaltender
Chad Johnson – UFA
Top two options on who they would most likely lose
If the Flames decide to protect the players that I have here, they could lose Matt Stajan or Lance Bouma as both are bottom six forwards and will be left unprotected. Those are likely the two biggest options that Vegas would take from them or they could potentially also look at Alex Chiasson since he’s a restricted free agent.
If Calgary were to make a trade that could alter their protected list
I think the Flames could potentially trade one of their forwards so that they can make sure that they protect someone like Micheal Ferland. There isn’t a lot of smoke coming out of Calgary but it can all change very quickly if Vegas comes calling.
Follow Hunter on Twitter @HunterHodies