My take is that Backlund, Huberdeau, and Kadri are here for the duration of their contracts.
That precludes that Flames from "tearing it down to the studs".
If Calgary does not finish in the bottom 10 next season, Montreal will take the Flame's first round pick instead of Florida's.
To avoid that scenario, I would trade Mangaipane, Markstrom, and Kuzmenko a.s.a.p. (certainly no later than the TDL).
Mangiapane was a 6th round draft pick, Markstrom was signed as a UFA, and Kuzmenko was a salary dump by Vancouver in the Lindholm trade.
Calgary has very little invested except for money so pretty much anything the Flames receive in return for them would be a win (asset management wise).
Heck, I'm even willing to endure the pain of losing short term so that the Flames can draft in the Top 10 three years in a row.
That may well help to have an exciting team when the new arena opens in 2027.
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