Folks, we’re two weeks away from the National Hockey League’s mid-season break for the 4 Nations Face-Off. The Calgary Flames have 34 games remaining on their regular season schedule, and sit in a playoff spot.
It’s been a fascinating season, and it’s not nearly done yet. As we prepare for Alex Ovechkin’s annual visit to Calgary on Tuesday, let’s delve into the mailbag!
I’ll say this before we delve in: the Flames’ power play was downright detrimental to their momentum in 2023-24, so I kinda understand the mindset behind signing Tyson Barrie – a career power play specialist with good numbers – to a contract. It hasn’t worked out amazingly well this season, but it’s a short-term deal with a low ($1.25 million) cap hit so there’s not much downside. It was an experiment that hasn’t panned out.
Barrie spent the weekend with the Wranglers on a conditioning stint, and he played a ton and played quite well. He was on a pairing with Ilya Solovyov and also quarterbacked the top power play unit, with Barrie posting a goal and two assists over the weekend. Had Kevin Bahl not been hurt in Minnesota, I suspect the gameplan was to give Barrie two weekends worth of AHL action to get his mojo back after sitting since November. But we’ll see if that plan changes given the different circumstances.
Barring any injuries, I don’t expect the Flames to make big changes to their blueline group this season. Simply put: things are working, even with Barrie being a spectator most of the time. If a team makes the Flames an offer for Barrie I imagine they would entertain it, but I don’t think he’s shown enough this season to merit any big offers quite yet.
I like Jean-Gabriel Pageau. He’s a right shot centre with a ton of experience, and he’s taken a ton of face-offs and won a ton of them over his career. If you’re looking to solve the face-off problem, he would help immensely.
But, there are some strings:
- Pageau is 32 years old.
- Pageau has a $5 million cap hit and a contract that runs through next season.
- Pageau’s contract has a 16-team no-trade list, according to PuckPedia.
The Flames’ big existential problem right now is up the middle: their three natural centres are all over 30 and there’s not a ton in the pipeline. Even if the acquisition cost for Pageau is minimal and you’re comfortable with carrying another 30+ centre on your roster in 2025-26 – presumably he would supplant Kevin Rooney, who’s a pending UFA – you’re not doing much to solve your centre challenges long-term.
The Blackhawks aren’t going to the playoffs, full-stop. And seemingly they wanted to give Taylor Hall a chance to win – and Carolina is a heck of a well-positioned team to do that. Based on the choices available, Chicago was able to do that… but they probably do wish they had a bit more to show for it.
Anyhoo, the Flames have two salary retention slots available and will be able to practically double their team’s cap hits at the trade deadline based on the amount of space they currently have. I don’t expect them to do a ton, but you never know when an opportunity could emerge for them to facilitate a trade for someone else and gain a pick or two out of it. Considering that the Flames are still early in their roster refresh process, you have to imagine they would consider any opportunity to gain picks or prospects right now.
Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/BlueSky at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan [at] TheNationNetwork.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)
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