Quote:
Originally Posted by gvitaly
You could be right, but a #5D making $3.75M seems like a luxury they wouldn't be able to afford if there's any plan for an upgrade at forward.
The Flames currently have 16 regulars(Including Kylington but excluding Pelletier, and Gilbert) under contract for next season, with a cap-hit of $80.5M. In a worst case scenario that gives them $3M to spend on 4-7 players. However, if the cap really does go up by $4M up to $86.5M then it would make things a little less tight with $6M in cap space, but I still don't think that's enough cap space for any meaningful upgrade at forward.
Also, half the team currently has NMC/NTC for next season.
NMC - Huberdeau, Kadri, Markstrom.
NTC - Coleman, Weegar
M-NTC - Mangiapane, Backlund, Hanfin, Tanev.
That's why, in my eyes, if we're still going for it next year Z seems like he's the odd man out.
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If you are looking to create cap space but still compete you need to look at who from the AHL can fill in a role for a more expensive player. The Flames have very little on d that can step in and Zadorov has been great.
I'd consider giving Zadorov a long-term extension this summer.
Mangiapane should be the guy that moves. Zary and Pelletier could easily replace him and out of Toffoli, Mangiapane & Coleman, Mangiapane is the youngest, makes the most and probably gets us the best return.
Selling on Toffoli could be smart too and his return could be the best of the 3.
With the additional cap space, I'm just not sure what this team can do. Unless you get a star, they are probably moving out a guy as good as they replace him with. Flames need a star, depth isn't an issue.