Are the Flames done after signing Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom?

After nearly a decade of short-term fixes and reclamation projects in net, the Calgary Flames have finally spent big bucks on a goalie. The rumours connecting Jacob Markstrom and the Flames began to pick up almost immediately after the UFA period opened on Friday and continued for hours before the two sides eventually settled on a six-year, $36 million contract in the early afternoon.

Make no mistake: Markstrom is the Flames’ clear-cut number-one goalie. His contract boasts a full no-movement clause, unprecedented in deals given out by Flames general manager Brad Treliving. He’s now the Flames’ fifth-highest paid player, falling behind only Matthew Tkachuk ($7 million), Johnny Gaudreau ($6.75 million), Mark Giordano ($6.75 million), and Sean Monahan ($6.375 million) on the team’s economic hierarchy.

There’s a lot to like with Markstrom. He played phenomenal hockey for the Vancouver Canucks last season, winning 23 out of his 43 games played and posting a .918 save percentage despite facing, on average, more than 33 shots per night. He finished fourth in voting for the Vezina Trophy, annually presented to the NHL’s top goaltender. Despite playing behind that leaky Canucks defense, he still ranked seventh among the 85 NHL goaltenders listed on the Evolving Hockey website as playing in the NHL in 2019–20 by saving 11.56 goals more than the average goaltender over the course of the season. (His goals saved above expected (GSAx) figure of 3.77 ranked 17th-best in the league, far better than what Cam Talbot (35th) and David Rittich (74th) mustered last year).

Essentially, the Flames signed one of the league’s most impressive goaltenders last year who, at 30, should feasibly have many good years ahead of him. At the very least, it made Lanny McDonald happy.

Does Markstrom’s deal have warts? Sure. Is he good enough to deserve the ninth-highest salary in the league for a goaltender? If he continues playing like he did last year, probably. That’s a big “if,” though, particularly given how the goaltending position is generally fraught with inconsistency and randomness. The Flames haven’t found a long-term solution in net in recent years, but their brief commitments to the likes of Brian Elliott and Mike Smith have allowed them to easily cut bait when things are looking south.

Now, for the first time since 2011, the Flames have a goaltender on their roster with more than two years remaining on his contract, and that’s an understatement — Markstrom is signed for three times that length. It’s a gamble, but it’s also a play that represents a newfound commitment on the part of the Flames to finally put the post-Miikka Kiprusoff goaltending issues to rest.

With Talbot having moved on to be the #1 in Minnesota, the Flames are left now with Markstrom and Rittich as the presumptive tandem heading into the 2020–21 season. While Markstrom has the longest leash in the world with the Flames, it’s the opposite story with Rittich, who enters this year staring down unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2021. Rittich had a substandard 2019–20 season and particularly stumbled as the year progressed, winning just seven of his last 18 games and posting an .889 save percentage and a 3.55 goals-against average in that span. He’s scheduled to make $2.75 million this season, bringing the Flames’ total allotment in the crease to $8.75 million.

It remains to be seen whether Rittich sticks around much longer. The Flames are no stranger to cutting bait with players a year before they hit the UFA market: they traded Micheal Ferland to Carolina in 2018 with one year remaining on his deal and they tried to do the same with TJ Brodie and Mark Jankowski last July. Assuming he can return to form, Rittich theoretically gives the Flames a very strong goaltending tandem in the NHL, but with many competent backup options still remaining on the UFA market and some teams looking to shed money in other areas, it’s possible the Flames might be able to swing a deal where they send Rittich to a club with excess depth at forward or on defense that’s also looking for a 1B-type goalie. The Flames have a bit of flexibility to potentially help a team save a bit of money, so long as it also helps them fill their holes at right defense or in the middle-six.

The Flames did make a move to address their lack of depth on the right side late on Friday night, returning to the Vancouver well and signing defenseman Chris Tanev to a four-year, $18 million contract. It’s a big commitment to a player whose best years look to be behind him, but the Flames no doubt like the shutdown attributes for which Tanev has been heralded for a long time. Tanev’s contract will take him until he’s 34 years old and he’ll probably spend a lot of that time on the opposite side of Noah Hanifin and Juuso Valimaki, two growing young defenders who could probably learn a thing or two from a partner with over 500 games of NHL experience.

Treliving is probably hoping that Tanev turns back the clock to the mid-2010s when he was one of the NHL’s premier defensive defensemen being relied upon to play over 21 minutes a night (and doing a great job of it). These days, despite often playing with Quinn Hughes, Tanev is no longer nearly as effective as he was. If he plays like he did last season, with mediocre analytics (at best) across the board, Tanev will probably be a substantial downgrade from the departed Brodie. But it also remains to be seen whether he meshes with Hanifin, Valimaki, or even Mark Giordano.

With Tanev in the fold, the Flames’ top-four (Giordano, Hanifin, Andersson, Tanev) appears to be set with Valimaki likely to be the #5, but question marks still surround their sixth defensive spot. Connor Mackey and Oliver Kylington are both intriguing young players but they both shoot left, and the Flames’ final opening is on the right side. Alex Petrovic probably isn’t good enough to play every day and Alexander Yelesin probably isn’t there yet, either. The Flames may still be interested in a guy like Trevor van Riemsdyk or Mark Pysyk on the open market to fill that spot.

Up front, things are no less interesting. The Flames have every main piece of their forward group except for Andrew Mangiapane locked in for next season, but they still have roster and cap flexibility to make a move. If they don’t land Taylor Hall, who has been endlessly connected to his hometown Flames in rumours for the last year, it’s feasible they might show serious interest in Tyler Toffoli. A right-shot goal-scoring winger, Toffoli spent two years playing alongside Sean Monahan in junior on the Ottawa 67s. He’s a solid play-driver with a Stanley Cup ring. The Flames would obviously hope for more Jiri Hudler and less James Neal should they sign a guy like Toffoli.

After day one of unrestricted free agency, the market is still full of high-quality players with the ability to make a difference for whichever team signs them. The Flames got off to a good start by signing goaltender Jacob Markstrom and made another splash by signing Chris Tanev but, with plenty of questions surrounding their overall depth, they will probably stay active in pursuing cheap supplemental options at forward and on defense. At this point, adding a solid top-nine forward would be gravy.