<p>When the Calgary Flames began the 2023-24 season, they did so with a lot of anticipation for the coming season and very little space under the National Hockey League&#8217;s salary cap ceiling. Heck, as a matter of fact, they were <em>technically</em> over the cap ceiling.</p>
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<p>When the Flames begin the 2024-25 season, they&#8217;ll be doing so with a roster that looks a heck of a lot different than the one that began the 2023-24 campaign. But almost as important, they&#8217;ll be doing so with what can only be characterized as a gigantic amount of cap space.</p>
<h1>A brief cap history</h1>
<p>As you may recall, the Flames are a team that until recently had been bumping their heads up against the cap ceiling just about every season. Here&#8217;s a quick rundown of their past five seasons and their <em>opening</em> cap situation:</p>
<ul>
<li>2023-24: $85,943,500 of cap hits against a $83.5 million ceiling – $2.44 million above ceiling, cap compliant due to long-term injury reserve (LTIR) usage</li>
<li>2022-23: $81.325 million of cap hits against a $82.5 million ceiling – $1.175 million of cap space</li>
<li>2021-22: $81.2 million of cap hits against a $81.5 million ceiling – $300,000 of cap space</li>
<li>2020-21: $79,414,166 of cap hits against a $81.5 million ceiling – $2.086 million of cap space</li>
<li>2019-20: $81,345,042 of cap hits against a $81.5 million ceiling – $154,958 of cap space</li>
</ul>
<p>As you can see: historically the Flames haven&#8217;t had a ton of breathing room for injury replacements, or wiggle room to add in-season or at the trade deadline. Most of their cap space was already spoken for before the first puck had even been dropped.</p>
<p>That&#8217;s not going to be the case this season.</p>
<h1>A guesswork 2024-25 roster</h1>
<p><a href="https://x.com/Fan960Wills/status/1841885759923748884">Based on Wednesday&#8217;s main group practice</a>, with a couple tweaks, here&#8217;s roughly what we think the opening roster could look like. <strong>A disclaimer: this is guesswork.</strong></p>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Yegor Sharangovich<br />
$3.1 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Nazem Kadri<br />
$7 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Andrei Kuzmenko<br />
$5.5 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Jonathan Huberdeau<br />
$10.5 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Martin Pospisil<br />
$1 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Anthony Mantha<br />
$3.5 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Connor Zary<br />
$863,334</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Mikael Backlund<br />
$4.5 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Blake Coleman<br />
$4.9 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Ryan Lomberg<br />
$2 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Kevin Rooney<br />
$1.3 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Adam Klapka<br />
$775,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;"></td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Jakob Pelletier<br />
$800,000</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Sam Honzek<br />
$918,333</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">MacKenzie Weegar<br />
$6.25 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Daniil Miromanov<br />
$1.25 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Kevin Bahl<br />
$1.05 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Rasmus Andersson<br />
$4.55 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Dan Vladar<br />
$2.2 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Jake Bean<br />
$1.75 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Brayden Pachal<br />
$775,000</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Dustin Wolf<br />
$850,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Tyson Barrie<br />
$1.25 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;"></td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Markstrom retained<br />
$1.875 million</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<p>These cap commitments for a full 23-man roster and one retained salary combine to $68,456,667. That&#8217;s $19,543,333 below the cap ceiling and just $3,456,667 above the cap floor.</p>
<p>Yes, a year after opening the regular season a few million dollars above the cap <em>ceiling</em>, the Flames will likely open this season just a few million above the cap <em>floor</em>. The last time they had season-opening cap commitments below $70 million was 2015-16, and $19.54 million in cap space is the most they had in over a decade – they began 2014-15 with roughly $15 million in space – <strong>and almost as much as they&#8217;ve had to start their past 10 seasons combined</strong> ($22.9 million).</p>
<p>So yeah, they have a gigantic amount of cap space.</p>
<p>How about the very early outlook for next season?</p>
<h1>A very early 2025-26 outlook</h1>
<p>First thing&#8217;s first: <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/bettman-says-nhl-hopes-to-extend-cba-with-nhlpa-by-june-15-months-before-expiration">per Daily Faceoff&#8217;s Frank Seravalli at the NHL board of governors meetings earlier this week</a>, the early salary cap ceiling projection for 2025-26 is $92.5 million.</p>
<p>So what do the Flames have on the books for next season already? The answer, as you might suspect for a rebuilding team that&#8217;s traded away most of its established stars, is &#8220;not much.&#8221;</p>
<p>Here&#8217;s what the Flames have committed to players on one-way deals for 2025-26:</p>
<ul>
<li>Goaltenders: Dustin Wolf ($850,000) and Devin Cooley ($775,000)</li>
<li>Defencemen: MacKenzie Weegar ($6.25 million), Rasmus Andersson ($4.55 million), Jake Bean ($1.75 million), Daniil Miromanov ($1.25 million) and Ilya Solovyov ($775,000)</li>
<li>Forwards: Jonathan Huberdeau ($10.5 million), Nazem Kadri ($7 million), Yegor Sharangovich ($5.75 million), Blake Coleman ($4.9 million), Mikael Backlund ($4.5 million), Ryan Lomberg ($2 million) and Martin Pospisil ($1 million)</li>
<li>Jacob Markstrom&#8217;s retained salary ($1.875 million)</li>
</ul>
<p>The 14 players (and one retained salary) combine for $53.725 million in cap hits. The Flames would have nine roster spots to fill&#8230; <strong>and $38.775 million to do so with</strong>. (For the curious: the most prominent restricted free agents this coming summer are Connor Zary, Kevin Bahl, Brayden Pachal, Matt Coronato, Adam Klapka and Jakob Pelletier.)</p>
<p>In short: the Flames have the most cap flexibility than they&#8217;ve had in a decade. And that cap flexibility looks likely to continue at least into next season. We&#8217;re fascinated to see how they can weaponize their ample cap space.</p>


When the Calgary Flames began the 2023-24 season, they did so with a lot of anticipation for the coming season and very little space under the National Hockey League's salary cap ceiling. Heck, as a matter of fact, they were <em>technically</em> over the cap ceiling.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2109" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="328"></div>
When the Flames begin the 2024-25 season, they'll be doing so with a roster that looks a heck of a lot different than the one that began the 2023-24 campaign. But almost as important, they'll be doing so with what can only be characterized as a gigantic amount of cap space.
<h1>A brief cap history</h1>
As you may recall, the Flames are a team that until recently had been bumping their heads up against the cap ceiling just about every season. Here's a quick rundown of their past five seasons and their <em>opening</em> cap situation:
<ul>
 	<li>2023-24: $85,943,500 of cap hits against a $83.5 million ceiling – $2.44 million above ceiling, cap compliant due to long-term injury reserve (LTIR) usage</li>
 	<li>2022-23: $81.325 million of cap hits against a $82.5 million ceiling – $1.175 million of cap space</li>
 	<li>2021-22: $81.2 million of cap hits against a $81.5 million ceiling – $300,000 of cap space</li>
 	<li>2020-21: $79,414,166 of cap hits against a $81.5 million ceiling – $2.086 million of cap space</li>
 	<li>2019-20: $81,345,042 of cap hits against a $81.5 million ceiling – $154,958 of cap space</li>
</ul>
As you can see: historically the Flames haven't had a ton of breathing room for injury replacements, or wiggle room to add in-season or at the trade deadline. Most of their cap space was already spoken for before the first puck had even been dropped.

That's not going to be the case this season.
<h1>A guesswork 2024-25 roster</h1>
<a href="https://x.com/Fan960Wills/status/1841885759923748884">Based on Wednesday's main group practice</a>, with a couple tweaks, here's roughly what we think the opening roster could look like. <strong>A disclaimer: this is guesswork.</strong>
<table style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 100%;" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Yegor Sharangovich
$3.1 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Nazem Kadri
$7 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Andrei Kuzmenko
$5.5 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Jonathan Huberdeau
$10.5 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Martin Pospisil
$1 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Anthony Mantha
$3.5 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Connor Zary
$863,334</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Mikael Backlund
$4.5 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Blake Coleman
$4.9 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Ryan Lomberg
$2 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Kevin Rooney
$1.3 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Adam Klapka
$775,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;"></td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Jakob Pelletier
$800,000</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Sam Honzek
$918,333</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">MacKenzie Weegar
$6.25 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Daniil Miromanov
$1.25 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Kevin Bahl
$1.05 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Rasmus Andersson
$4.55 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Dan Vladar
$2.2 million</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Jake Bean
$1.75 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Brayden Pachal
$775,000</td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Dustin Wolf
$850,000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="width: 25%;">Tyson Barrie
$1.25 million</td>
<td style="width: 25%;"></td>
<td style="width: 25%;">Markstrom retained
$1.875 million</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
These cap commitments for a full 23-man roster and one retained salary combine to $68,456,667. That's $19,543,333 below the cap ceiling and just $3,456,667 above the cap floor.

Yes, a year after opening the regular season a few million dollars above the cap <em>ceiling</em>, the Flames will likely open this season just a few million above the cap <em>floor</em>. The last time they had season-opening cap commitments below $70 million was 2015-16, and $19.54 million in cap space is the most they had in over a decade – they began 2014-15 with roughly $15 million in space – <strong>and almost as much as they've had to start their past 10 seasons combined</strong> ($22.9 million).

So yeah, they have a gigantic amount of cap space.

How about the very early outlook for next season?
<h1>A very early 2025-26 outlook</h1>
First thing's first: <a href="https://www.dailyfaceoff.com/news/bettman-says-nhl-hopes-to-extend-cba-with-nhlpa-by-june-15-months-before-expiration">per Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli at the NHL board of governors meetings earlier this week</a>, the early salary cap ceiling projection for 2025-26 is $92.5 million.

So what do the Flames have on the books for next season already? The answer, as you might suspect for a rebuilding team that's traded away most of its established stars, is "not much."

Here's what the Flames have committed to players on one-way deals for 2025-26:
<ul>
 	<li>Goaltenders: Dustin Wolf ($850,000) and Devin Cooley ($775,000)</li>
 	<li>Defencemen: MacKenzie Weegar ($6.25 million), Rasmus Andersson ($4.55 million), Jake Bean ($1.75 million), Daniil Miromanov ($1.25 million) and Ilya Solovyov ($775,000)</li>
 	<li>Forwards: Jonathan Huberdeau ($10.5 million), Nazem Kadri ($7 million), Yegor Sharangovich ($5.75 million), Blake Coleman ($4.9 million), Mikael Backlund ($4.5 million), Ryan Lomberg ($2 million) and Martin Pospisil ($1 million)</li>
 	<li>Jacob Markstrom's retained salary ($1.875 million)</li>
</ul>
The 14 players (and one retained salary) combine for $53.725 million in cap hits. The Flames would have nine roster spots to fill... <strong>and $38.775 million to do so with</strong>. (For the curious: the most prominent restricted free agents this coming summer are Connor Zary, Kevin Bahl, Brayden Pachal, Matt Coronato, Adam Klapka and Jakob Pelletier.)

In short: the Flames have the most cap flexibility than they've had in a decade. And that cap flexibility looks likely to continue at least into next season. We're fascinated to see how they can weaponize their ample cap space.

The Flames will have a gigantic amount of cap space this season (and likely beyond)

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