There’s an old saying in sports that ownership likes to keep the money on the field, or on the ice, in the case of hockey. As such, teams try not to spend money on players not playing for them, such as buying out deals, burying contracts in the AHL, or retaining salary in trades.

But five times in the past three years, and six times total, the Calgary Flames have chosen to retain salary in a swap. Five of the retained salary trades were conducted by current general manager Craig Conroy, and he’s used up all three salary retention slots twice during his tenure as GM.

He’s a brief rundown of the six times the Flames have retained salary in a trade.

At the tail-end of the 2020-21 bubble season, the Flames were outside of the playoff picture. They had struggled in the Canadian Division and, with backup netminder David Rittich a pending unrestricted free agent, the Flames opted to move him.

As a result, “Big Save Dave” went to the Toronto Maple Leafs for a 2022 third-round pick. To facilitate the swap with the cap-strapped Buds, the Flames retained 50% (or $1.375 million) of Rittich’s cap hit for the remainder of the season. They only retained the salary for 27 days, so the actual cap impact on the Flames’ books was just $320,000.

Three months later, the Flames flipped that pick to Chicago in exchange for Nikita Zadorov.

The Flames entered 2023-24 with a lot of players on expiring contracts. They ended up retaining salary on two of the deals involving these players leading up to the trade deadline. The first one was Chris Tanev, who went to Dallas with 50% ($2.25 million) of his cap hit retained in exchange for a 2024 second-round pick (used to select Jacob Battaglia), Artem Grushnikov, and a conditional third-round pick that would have been triggered had Dallas made the 2024 Stanley Cup Final.

The trade was actually three trades: Tanev (50% retained) from Calgary to New Jersey for college goalie Cole Brady, Tanev (with another 25% retained) from New Jersey to Dallas for a 2026 fourth-round pick, and Brady from Calgary to Dallas in exchange for the package Calgary got.

Anyway, the Flames retained Tanev’s salary for 50 days, with an actual impact of $586,000.

Right before the 2024 trade deadline, the Flames sent Noah Hanifin (with 50%, or $2.475 million, of his cap hit retained) to Vegas in exchange for a conditional 2026 first-round pick, Daniil Miromanov, and a 2024 third-round pick (used to select Kirill Zarubin). The third-round pick could have upgraded to a second-round pick had Vegas advanced

As with Tanev’s move, this was actually three trades: Hanifin (50% retained) from Calgary to Philadelphia for Russian prospect Mikhail Vorobyov, Hanifin (with another 25% retained) from Philadelphia to Vegas for a 2024 fifth-round pick, and Vorobyov from Calgary to Vegas for the picks and Miromanov.

The Flames retained Hanifin’s salary for 43 days, with an actual cap impact of $554,000.

The Flames had one retention slot remaining after retaining on Hanifin and Tanev ahead of the 2024 trade deadline, and they temporarily maxed out their three slots in June 2024 after they traded Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey. The Flames retained 31.25% ($1.875 million) of Markstrom’s cap hit and received Kevin Bahl and a 2025 first-round pick (used to select Cole Reschny) from the Devils.

The Flames retained on Markstrom for two full seasons, with a combined cap impact of $3.75 million.

Back in January, the Flames traded pending UFA Rasmus Andersson to Vegas with 50% ($2.275 million) of his cap hit retained in exchange for Zach Whitecloud, Abram Wiebe, a 2027 first-round pick and a 2028 second-round pick. The second-round pick can become a first-round pick if Vegas wins the Stanley Cup in 2026.

The Flames retained on Andersson for just 88 days, with a cap impact of $1.043 million.

Finally, the Flames maxed out their three retention slots for the second time under Conroy when they sent Nazem Kadri (with 20%, or $1.4 million, of his cap hit retained) to Colorado for Victor Olofsson, Max Curran, a conditional 2028 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick.

They’re retaining on Kadri for the last 42 days of the 2025-26, and then all of the next three seasons, for a total cap impact of $4.506 million.

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