Breaking down the many pending Flames qualifying offers

LW Dillon Dube

• Qualifying offer: $840,000, two-way
• Arbitration rights? No
• 2020-21 season: 11 goals, 22 points in 51 games
• Dube doesn’t have arbitration rights, is a productive NHLer, and his qualifying offer is pretty small. He’s definitely getting a qualifying offer.

C Glenn Gawdin

• Qualifying offer: $750,000, two-way
• Arbitration rights? No
• 2020-21 season: 0 goals, 1 point in 7 NHL games (and 4 goals, 13 points in 22 AHL games)
• Gawdin looked decent in a few NHL games last season and at the very least is a productive AHL player. He’s definitely getting a qualifying offer.

LW Justin Kirkland

• Qualifying offer: $750,000, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 2 goals, 7 points in 16 AHL games
• Kirkland’s a borderline case. He’s a good AHLer and a useful veteran, but he’ll be 25 when the season starts and he might be taking a roster spot that a younger player with more upside could be filling.

D Oliver Kylington

• Qualifying offer: $826,875, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 0 goals, 1 point in 8 games
• Man, what do you do with Kylington? On one hand, he’s useful depth and he’s definitely an NHL calibre player. On the other hand, he’s stuck behind a lot of defensemen in Calgary. He doesn’t have a great arbitration case and there’s no real risk to the Flames being burnt by qualifying him, but you also get the sense that maybe he’d benefit from a fresh start somewhere.

D Carl-John Lerby

• Qualifying offer: $874,125, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 0 goals, 7 points in 22 AHL games
• Lerby already signed a contract for next season in Sweden with Malmo of the SHL. If he’s qualified the Flames retain his rights but he won’t count against their reserve list or contract limit. He wasn’t a great AHL player so there might not be tremendous value in his NHL rights, but there’s not much downside in qualifying him.

D Connor Mackey

• Qualifying offer: $874,125, two-way
• Arbitration rights? No
• 2020-21 season: 1 goal, 3 points in 6 games (and 3 goals, 16 points in 27 AHL games)
• Mackey’s waiver exempt for 2021-22 and has already established himself as, at worst, a borderline NHL player. He’s definitely going to get qualified.

G Tyler Parsons

• Qualifying offer: $771,750, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 0-1-0, 5.00 GAA in 1 AHL game
• Parsons missed the majority of the season recovering from an injury. He’s likely already received his qualifying offer, as he was the only goalie in the organization who could’ve been exposed in the expansion draft.

RW Matthew Phillips

• Qualifying offer: $750,000, two-way
• Arbitration rights? No
• 2020-21 season: 0 points in 1 game (and 8 goals, 21 points in 30 AHL games)
• Phillips is a productive AHLer with untapped/undefined NHL potential and no arbitration rights. He’s getting qualified.

C Luke Philp

• Qualifying offer: $787,500, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 8 goals, 17 points in 30 AHL games
• Philp is a pretty productive AHL scorer. He might not have NHL upside, and he seems primed to get nudged down the Stockton pecking order as younger players join the pro ranks. But he’s at the very least a good minor leaguer. He’ll likely get qualified.

D Colton Poolman

• Qualifying offer: $787,500, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 1 goal, 6 points in 21 AHL games
• Poolman was a pretty useful depth defender in the AHL. Given he’s so early in his pro career, it’s probably worthwhile giving him at least another season to see if he can be a bit more.

RW Dominik Simon

• Qualifying offer: $750,000, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 0 points in 11 games (and 0 points in 1 AHL game)
• Simon was a healthy scratch for much of the season and spent good chunks of the year on the taxi squad. He won’t be qualified.

D Juuso Valimaki

• Qualifying offer: $874,125, two-way
• Arbitration rights? No
• 2020-21 season: 2 goals, 11 points in 49 games
• Valimaki is a regular NHL player who’s already quite productive and useful. He’ll be qualified.

D Alexander Yelesin

• Qualifying offer: $874,125, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 2 goals, 7 points in 28 AHL games
• Yelesin has already signed with the KHL’s Lokomotiv Yaroslavl for 2021-22. The Flames could qualify him to retain his NHL rights, but that’s all it would accomplish.

G Artyom Zagidulin

• Qualifying offer: $750,000, two-way
• Arbitration rights? Yes
• 2020-21 season: 0-0-0, 4.25 GAA in 1 game (3-3-0, 2.86 GAA in 6 AHL games)
• Zagidulin had a weird season, barely playing because he was a taxi squad goalie and bounced back and forth between the NHL group and AHL group. With Dustin Wolf going pro and Tyler Parsons being qualified, it’s unclear where Zagidulin would fit in within the goalie heirarchy. Based on that, we’re guessing he won’t be qualified.

The rundown

• Already qualified: Parsons
• Definitely getting qualified: Dube, Gawdin, Mackey, Phillips, Philp, Poolman, Valimaki
• Could go either way: Kirkland, Kylington
• Probably not getting qualified: Lerby, Simon, Yelesin, Zagidulin