Christmas has come and gone, which means it’s time for another time-tested tradition of the holiday season: Boxing Day deals.

Now, by the terms of the CBA, the Calgary Flames (and the NHL’s other 31 teams) are prohibited from making any changes to their roster before 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, but that doesn’t mean we here at FlamesNation can’t get in on the fun a little early.

After all, the Flames have plenty of pieces potentially up for grabs between now and the March 7 trade deadline — not to mention more than a few entries on their own shopping list. Whether they find the right-handed centre they’ve been after or merely flip a few of their players on expiring contracts, the Flames should be at least somewhat active in the market over the second half of the season.

For now, we’re only going to look at Flames players whose existing deals are up for renewal at the end of the current season. There will be plenty of time to talk about what the future might hold for Rasmus Andersson, Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman, and the like. Ultimately, the Flames will be forced into making decisions on the following four players at some point over the next few months; talks surrounding Andersson and Co. could drag on into next season and beyond.

Let’s take this opportunity to check in on where things stand with the Flames’ top pending UFAs.

Vladar started the year in a nice little groove and looked to be back at his best after recovering from hip surgery in the offseason. Unfortunately, he’s now in a more negative stretch, having allowed three or more goals in seven of his last nine appearances. While it’s difficult to pin many of his recent losses specifically on him, Vladar’s numbers have taken a bit of a tumble lately and he now ranks near the bottom of the league with an .886 save percentage in 17 games.

The Flames originally acquired Vladar, at that point a relatively untested prospect, from the Boston Bruins ahead of the 2021-22 season in exchange for a third-round pick. By most accounts, Calgary is looking for a second-rounder in return if they do end up moving on from Vladar at some point this year. That’ll be easier said than done if he keeps trending the way he currently is. Vladar hasn’t posted a single-season save percentage above .900 since 2021-22.

Vladar is due for a more favourable run of opponents and luck after being thrown to the wolves to a certain extent over the first half of the season. That 8-3 loss to the Lightning makes his numbers look a lot worse than they’d otherwise be. But for Vladar to have any value to playoff contenders, he’ll need to show he can actually perform better on a consistent basis than the guys they already have. That means more wins, fewer goals against (especially on low- and medium-danger shots), and better performances on the PK (where he’s allowed eight goals on 36 shots).

Now that Mackenzie Blackwood is off the market, Vladar should be one of the top targets available for teams in search of a goaltender before the trade deadline. But it’ll be far easier for teams to justify replacing their incumbents with a Vladar at a .905 save percentage than one working on his third consecutive year in the .880-.895 range.

It’s been a disastrous year for Kuzmenko, who joined the Flames as a cap dump from the Vancouver Canucks in the Elias Lindholm trade but looked to be on the upswing with 14 goals and 25 points in 29 games to conclude the 2023-24 season. Now, just six weeks before his 29th birthday, Kuzmenko’s scoring touch seems to have vanished.

You’d have to go back all the way to October 15 to find Kuzmenko’s last goal with the Flames. He’s still sitting at just the one tally through 28 games this year. Given his general inefficacy away from the puck (and his inflated $5.5 million cap hit), it’s hard to imagine teams wanting to give up anything at all in a deal for Kuzmenko. If anything, the Flames might even have to pay to move him.

At this point, the best course of action for the Flames is likely just to ride it out. If Kuzmenko shoots the lights out in the new year, he might be able to play his way into a trade. If not, he’ll potentially find himself in the press box more often than not — particularly now that Jakob Pelletier appears to have stolen his top-nine spot. And if things don’t improve for him in a big way, this season could be Kuzmenko’s last in the NHL.

Depending on what happens with Vladar, it might just be Rooney who ends up being the Flames’ top trade chip this March. Go ahead, raise your hand if you saw that coming at the start of the season!

Rooney has firmly re-established himself as a full-time NHL forward with the Flames this year, only missing time in October while recovering from an upper-body injury sustained in the season opener. After falling out of favour with Darryl Sutter and being banished to the AHL, Rooney managed to regain his spot under Ryan Huska midway through the 2023-24 campaign and has been a bottom-six mainstay this season.

It wouldn’t be at all surprising to see a playoff-bound team part with a mid-round pick to bring Rooney into the fold as veteran depth. It’d be especially fun to see the New Jersey Devils, with whom Rooney began his NHL career back in 2016-17, make a move to reacquire the 31-year-old centre. He’d make a solid addition to a resurgent Devils squad.

Rooney might not have the flash or production of some of the other names on the trade market, but he’s been able to carve out a nice little niche for himself as an NHL player. He’ll draw interest.

You’d be forgiven if you didn’t realize Duehr was already due to become an unrestricted free agent — after all, it feels like he only just got here. But the Sioux Falls, South Dakota product just turned 27 in November, meaning he’s now just over six months away from being able to pick his next spot on the open market.

Duehr enjoyed his best stretch of hockey as a Flame in the final weeks of the 2022-23 season, when he took full advantage of a major shooting percentage spike and amassed seven goals and 11 points over 27 games. However, Duehr scored just twice in 40 contests the following year and found himself back in the AHL to start the 2024-25 campaign.

On the surface, Duehr isn’t much different from the likes of Brandon Duhaime or Sam Lafferty, both of whom established themselves as valuable fourth-liners a little later than most before becoming sought-after trade bait seemingly overnight. Duehr’s NHL track record is a little less robust than those two, but he possesses many similar traits as a player — big, fast, energetic.

Don’t be surprised if the Flames keep Duehr on their roster down the stretch in an effort to showcase him to teams around the league. After all, if Beck Malenstyn can fetch a high second-round pick, there has to be a market for someone like Duehr … right?