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Originally Posted by Roof-Daddy

I don't have an athletic subscription, but apparently Duhatschek said the Flames tried to get Vatanen as a rental from New Jersey when they attempted to acquire Hall, and he also stated he wouldn't be surprised if they circle back to him in free agency.

Anyone read this?

The pertinent part of his column today

Originally Posted by Eric Duhatschek

Is there a financial path forward that would allow the Flames to bid on both Pietrangelo and Markstrom?

The answer is probably yes. Currently, the Flames have almost $17 million in cap space because five of the defencemen who finished the season on the NHL roster are now UFAs (TJ Brodie, Travis Hamonic, Derek Forbort, Erik Gustafsson and Michael Stone) as well as goaltender Cam Talbot.

The Flames only have four NHL defencemen signed for next season, but believe that college free agent Connor Mackey can likely step in, at age 24, and on an entry-level salary that pays him $925,000.

Mackey is a left-shot defenceman, which is where there’s a crowd, because Mark Giordano, Juuso Valimaki and Noah Hanifin also play the left side. But if the Flames were to move Hanifin and his $4.95 million salary that would leave them with $22 million to spend and still fairly solid on the left side.

If Pietrangelo gobbled up an AAV of $9.5 million and Markstrom got $5.5 million, that would still leave them with enough of a cushion to sign Andrew Mangiapane to an extension plus fill in the gaps at the bottom of the roster at minimal price points.

If they managed all that, they’d have a starting goalie in place until Dustin Wolf is ready to play plus a revamped defence corps.

Beyond Pietrangelo, one lower-priced option to consider on the blue line would be Sami Vatanen, most recently with Carolina. When the Flames were bidding on Taylor Hall last December, before Hall was eventually traded to Arizona, they were also trying to get Vatanen included in the deal as a rental. If they were interested then, they probably would be interested again.