Frank Seravalli discussed Calgary Flames’ potential off-season plans on Monday’s Barn Burner

With 12 games remaining on the Flames 2023-24 slate, most, if not all, eyes have turned to the offseason. With Ryan Huska at the helm and, along with the team’s leadership group, helping to create a strong culture to move forward with, how will the team go about its business after the postseason is over and free agency hits?

Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli went on FlamesNation’s Barn Burner to discuss a variety of topics, including what the Flames should do with Andrew Mangiapane for the rest of the year and the fact that Flames management is looking to free agency this year to bolster parts of their lineup.

“I was certainly surprised to hear this when Craig Conroy said it, but he’s excited and looking forward to free agency,” Seravalli said. “I think we would all be sitting back and saying retooling, rebuilding, whatever R-word you want to use for the Calgary Flames, spending money in free agency isn’t typically one of those avenues you see teams take. They’re not going to be big game hunting in free agency this summer, but I think they’re going to be all over a bunch of mid-tier guys to try and keep this team as competitive as they possibly can.”

Considering the Flames’ current lineup, it’s hard to see a spot where there could be major upgrades made that aren’t in-house, but considering the cap space they have available, it sounds as if they aren’t afraid to use it. It’s also worth mentioning that, at this point, according to Seravalli (and some common sense as well), they will not be actively tanking for a better draft pick despite where they sit in the standings.

“They’re not going to be tanking, that part isn’t really a surprise,” Seravalli said. “I think they needed to turn things over to the young guys. But when you’ve got 18 or 19 million bucks to spend, and you can have a couple of guys come in on two, three, or four-year contracts that can prop you up in between, that seems like that’s the target the Flames want to go for.”

As for who the Flames might target in free agency with their cap room (the ninth-highest according to CapFriendly), Seravalli says that along with potentially a right-handed defenceman, the Flames could target some middle-six forwards, which, as we’ve already addressed, where they fit and who they play above at this stage of the roster’s development would be an interesting predicament.

While the Flames’ playoff outlook continues to look grim, their off-season plans are both becoming more clear and more intriguing. There is a high likelihood that they will receive a top draft pick for the 2024 NHL Entry Draft, so their approach to the player they draft (if they are looking for mid-tier forwards and defencemen) will be interesting to watch as well. Nonetheless, there are some interesting ramifications and rumours that could pop up here and there as the 2023-24 season comes to a close.