Goaltending is the number one priority IMO. Hiller appears to be done as an NHLer and while Ramo has been good in stretches he's not consistent enough to be a true number 1. Ortio may still surprise us, but I suspect he'll be Ramo v. 2.0. This years UFA crop seem to mostly be guys who have never been starters (Raanta, Darling), or who came from a 1a/1b situation (Reimer). Only Ward has had any real success as a starter, but his career numbers are average at best and he'll likely be expensive. If the Flames do go the UFA route, Carter Hutton might be an interesting choice. He's out-performed Raanta and Darling this year and probably wouldn't be too expensive.
Andersen is probably the best candidate for next year. He's relatively young and could still develop into a starter. I doubt Mrazek will be available. The Wings would sooner trade or buy out Howard than give up Mrazek IMO. If Howard were a few years younger or on a shorter contract, he might be a good guy for the Flames to pick up, but as things stand, I wouldn't be interested. As for the longer shots, Mason might be an interesting choice. He's quietly put up good numbers in Philly even if he hasn't had a super win-loss record.
The Flames second priority should be special teams IMO. This is likely a coaching issue, so it may be time to cut ties with the coach responsible (Gelinas?) and bring in someone new. Better goaltending would also help the PK.
Wideman is likely gone come fall. The Flames would also do well to ship out Stajan, Raymond, and Engellland if possible or perhaps buy them out.
Forward depth is a fairly low priority IMO. The Flames are middle of the pack in terms of goals for (even with a terrible PP) and if they had even average goaltending and special teams, they'd probably be in a playoff spot right now. Monahan, Bennett, and Backlund give them good depth up the middle and they have several young forwards in their system who have had success at lower levels (Klimchuk, Mangiapane, Poirier, Agostino, Ferland, Shinkaruk, Arnold, Jankowski) but are as of yet unproven in the NHL who could potentially help fill out the roster for next year. Come the draft, they will add one of Puljujarvi, Laine, Tkachuk, Nylander, Gauthier or (if they win the draft lottery) Matthews. Bottom line, I see no reason to spend 5-6 million on a top flight winger. If the team is in contention next year but needs some more scoring, perhaps it may be worth looking at acquiring a top 6 forward at the deadline.
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