The Flames are in such a unique situation here, one that I can't remember having seen before in the NHL. Has there been another team that finished 1st in the West and one year afterwards was poised to enter a rebuild? The key difference being that we have 5-6 high quality players to trade away for futures. I feel most rebuilds have started with trading 2-3 strong players for futures (i.e. Iginla & Bouwmeester 10 years ago), rather than the aforementioned amount of players the Flames have available to deal with value.
Additionally, the Flames should be willing to retain the max 50% on each of these contracts heading into their final year. That would be so valuable to many of the contending teams in the league and their cap structure.
Feels like the Flames have a bit of an embarrassment of riches here if they are truly wanting to go down this path. Plus, with these players dealt we have Mangiapane who will play higher up the lineup next year, and we can deal him next summer one year in advance of his UFA status as well. The cap space we will have can certainly be weaponized to take on some unwanted contracts this year.
To try to keep the team competitive into next year seems ill advised. Sure, Markstrom could bounce back, Huberdeau could improve significantly, Dube could take another step forward, etc.... but these are all big question marks and I still don't see the team being strong enough to make a run. Why squander this rebuild opportunity that seems to be on a silver platter?
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