Regardless of how the rest of this season goes, major changes are coming to this team based on expiring contracts and the expansion draft. Calgary will have a lot of financial freedom to make some big decisions. How would you fill the gaps? Here's how I see it playing out.
Out - Wideman, Engelland, Smid, Jokipakka, Elliott, Chiasson, Bollig, Bouma (expansion)
That frees up something like 20M in cap space. What will they do with it?
First order of business...
Re-sign - Versteeg, Johnson, Kulak, Bennett, Ferland, Hathaway
Then, Here's a list of the impending free agent crop, as it stands today.
https://www.capfriendly.com/browse/free-agents
Some real gems in there. Shattenkirk (d), Alzner (d) and Oshie (rw) interest me the most. If Johnson can maintain the pace he's set thus far, I think they re-up him and let him run with it for another year. Get Gillies in as his backup, and hopefully pass the mantle in 1-2 years rather than tie up a lot of money in an expensive free agent.
So you roll with
Gaudreau - Monahan - Oshie
Tkachuk - Backlund - Frolik
Versteeg - Bennett - Brouwer
Ferland - Stajan - Hathaway
Giordano - Hamilton
Brodie - Shattenkirk
Alzner - Kulak
Johnson
Gillies
That's merely one possibility. What would you like to see happen?