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The Calgary Flames have a lot of things to juggle over the next few weeks.
In addition to the chaos that will unfold at the 2024 NHL Draft next weekend, they also have a lot of decisions to make on several pending free agents. 18 players have contracts that expire on July 1, and the Flames will have to decide to re-up or move on from them.
Here’s the rundown of the 18 Flames players that will be out of contract on Canada Day.
Group 2 restricted free agents
These are players whose contracts have expired, but haven’t met the years of service or age minimums to become any type of unrestricted free agent yet.
- F Dillon Dube (325 career NHL games)
- D Nikita Okhotiuk (67 career NHL games)
- F Jakob Pelletier (37 career NHL games)
- G Dustin Wolf (18 career NHL games)
- D Ilya Solovyov (10 career NHL games)
- F Riley Damiani (7 career NHL games)
- F Cole Schwindt (7 career NHL games)
- F Adam Klapka (6 career NHL games)
- D Yan Kuznetsov (1 career NHL game)
Okhotiuk has reportedly signed for next season in Russia – CSKA Moskva of the KHL has yet to announce the deal, though, but we’re not prone to doubting Darren Dreger on signings – but the Flames can retain his NHL rights by tendering a qualifying offer.
Dube, Damiani, Klapka and Solovyov have accumulated enough service time to have salary arbitration rights. Dube’s qualifying offer would be $2.4 million; Pelletier and Schwindt’s would be $874,125; Kuznetsov’s would be $866,250; while everybody else (Damiani, Klapka, Okhotiuk, Solovyov, Wolf) would require $813,750. Qualifying offers are due by 3 p.m. MT on June 30.
Once tendered a qualifying offer, an RFA can accept the offer before its expiry on July 15… or they can just use the offer as a basis for further negotiations. An RFA can also sign offer sheets from other NHL clubs, but the Flames would have the right to match the offer. If an eligible player files for salary arbitration, they’re no longer eligible to receive offer sheets from other teams.
Group 3 unrestricted free agents
These are the players who are 27 years (or older) or have accumulated seven years of service.
- D Mark Pysyk (521 career NHL games)
- D Jordan Oesterle (371 career NHL games)
- D Oliver Kylington (201 career NHL games)
- F A.J. Greer (167 career NHL games)
- D Dennis Gilbert (82 career NHL games)
- G Oscar Dansk (6 career NHL games)
- D Colton Poolman (0 career NHL games)
Kylington seems like the most likely of these seven pending UFAs to be re-signed by the Flames prior to July 1.
Group 6 unrestricted free agents
These players are 25 years (or older), have played three (or more) pro seasons, but have played fewer than 80 NHL games.
- F Ben Jones (2 career NHL games)
- D Brady Lyle (0 career NHL games)
