The Calgary Flames have seven games remaining in their 2024-25 regular season schedule. Following the season – whether or not they have playoff games in their future – a few players are on expiring contracts and could become unrestricted free agents on July 1.

Over at Daily Faceoff, our pal Frank Seravalli has compiled his first edition of his annual top 50 pending UFA list. And appearing on that list – at 46th spot – is Flames netminder Dan Vladar.

Vladar is the fourth-ranked goaltender on Seravalli’s list. He’s behind New Jersey’s Jake Allen (30th), Vegas’ Ilya Samsonov (31st) and Carolina’s Frederik Andersen (40th). AFP Analytics, which provides contract projections for the list, anticipates Vladar receiving a one year deal at $1.4 million.

If we’re being honest, Vladar has had a pretty wild year all-told. He began the season splitting goaltending duties 50-50 with rookie Dustin Wolf – Vladar ended up getting most of the tougher assignments. About midway through the season, the Flames braintrust gave the reins to Wolf and Vladar was primarily used on the road and on the back half of back-to-backs. But since the 4 Nations Face-Off, he’s been leaned on a little bit more – he notably played half of the games on a six-game road trip and on a four-game road trip – and he’s performed really well.

On the season on the whole, he’s 11-11-6, with a 2.86 goals against average and .895 save percentage this season. But since the beginning of February, he’s 5-1-1 with a 2.12 goals against average and .921 save percentage. Moreover, Vladar’s been a really nice compliment to Wolf throughout the season. A lot of onlookers assumed that the Flames would (or should) move Vladar at the trade deadline and bring up AHL starter Devin Cooley to spell off Wolf down the stretch. But since January, Cooley has struggled with the Wranglers while Vladar has been really, really effective.

In other words: Vladar has been a really effective second netminder for the Flames. If he’s willing to return to the Flames as a backup next season… it could be a really strong fit for a Flames team that will be hoping to continue their forward momentum in 2025-26.