FlamesNation Top 25 of 2020: #5 — What the Flames have done, didn’t do, and might still do

What the Flames have done, didn’t do, and might still do

Jacob Markstrom. We’ve been all over this one for several weeks. In signing Markstrom to a six-year, $36 million contract on Friday, Calgary landed their unquestioned number one offseason target. It was my belief the Flames coveted Markstrom prior to the NHL’s shutdown back in March on the off-chance he got to free agency. Well, he did, and Calgary wasted no time in making a competitive, long-term pitch.

So that leaves us with the biggest unanswered question of the offseason: what change is still to come up front? Calgary isn’t signing Hall and Tyler Toffoli, another potential forward target, has signed in Montreal. Mikael Granlund and Mike Hoffman are still on the market, but are either the type of signing that would allow the Flames to trade a player like Sean Monahan or Johnny Gaudreau?

Calgary has just under $6 million of cap space and has a pair of RFA’s to deal with in Kylington and Andrew Mangiapane. With a hole on defence to fill and an assumed desire to shake things up at forward, it feels like any move for Gaudreau or Monahan would fall under the category of “hockey trade”. That would be a deal involving impact NHLers on both sides as opposed to one for cost-shedding reasons.