Recently, we delved into the potential new contracts for Calgary Flames restricted free agents Dustin Wolf and Jakob Pelletier.

But the Flames have four other RFAs who require new deals. And while those players aren’t quite the high-profile prospects that Wolf or Pelletier are, they’re still interesting players in their own rights.

So what should the next contracts for Adam Klapka, Yan Kuznetsov, Cole Schwindt and Ilya Solovyov look like?

Klapka, 23, is an RFA after the expiry of his two year entry-level contract. He was signed as an undrafted free agent out of Europe.

He’s quietly been one of the more fun developmental stories in the Flames’ system over the past couple years. He registered 25 points in 60 games in 2022-23 with the Wranglers, but really found his footing in the second half of that season. He continued that run through into 2023-24, where he maintain his scoring pace (46 points over 65 games) and emerged as one of the team’s most consistent offensive players. He was called up to the NHL twice, playing six games, and he had his first NHL goal and first NHL fight in the season finale against San Jose.

Last season, Klapka’s deal carried an $832,500 cap hit, with a league minimum NHL salary ($775,000) and $70,000 worth of signing bonuses. His AHL salary was $70,000.

Kuznetsov, 22, is an RFA after the expiry of his three year ELC. He was signed after being drafted in the second round of the 2020 NHL Draft.

Kuznetsov only spent two full seasons in pro hockey on his ELC, as he started the 2021-22 season with the Stockton Heat but joined the Saint John Sea Dogs for the remainder of the season. (He won a Memorial Cup.) On one hand, he’s been pretty consistent in two seasons with the Wranglers, posting 19 points in 63 games in 2022-23 and 13 points points in 63 games in 2023-24. He even made his NHL debut in January. But Kuznetsov was also more of a complimentary piece for the Wranglers down the stretch.

Last season, Kuznetsov’s deal carried an $870,000 cap hit, with $825,000 salary at the NHL level and $80,000 at the AHL level.

Schwindt, 23, is an RFA after the expiry of his three year ELC. Originally drafted by the Florida Panthers in 2019’s third round, he was traded to the Flames as part of the Matthew Tkachuk deal.

Schwindt has had an interesting past three seasons. He’s played three AHL campaigns, posting between 32 and 40 points overall. After having some growing pains in his first campaign in the Flames’ system, he had a bounce-back season in 2023-24 and posted 14 goals and 36 points. A right-shot forward that can play centre or the wing, Schwindt was relied upon down the stretch to play in basically every game situation. He was a first-line fixture for the Wranglers down the stretch as they played themselves into the playoffs, and he appeared in four games for the Flames as well.

Last season, Schwindt’s deal carried an $855,833 cap hit, with $832,500 salary at the NHL level and $70,000 at the AHL level.

Solovyov, 24, is an RFA after the expiry of his three year ELC. He was signed after being drafted in the seventh round of the 2020 NHL Draft.

Solovyov has progressed both offensively and defensively during his ELC. He had eight points (and 0.157 points-per-game) in Stockton in 2021-22. He had 18 points (and 0.265 points-per-game) with the Wranglers in 2022-23. He had 15 points (and 0.294 points-per-game) with the Wranglers in 2023-24, and he also had three points in 10 NHL games with the Flames. Given his skillset and playing style, Solovyov may have topped out in terms of his offensive potential, but he’s a defence-first, shutdown defender playing in an organization that has a lot of offensive-minded defenders in its system.

Last season, Solovyov’s deal carried an $828,333 cap hit, with $775,000 salary at the NHL level, $70,000 in signing bonuses, and $80,000 salary at the AHL level.

The thing the four RFAs we’ve clustered together have in common is that none of them have established themselves as NHL regulars quite yet. While neither have Wolf or Pelletier, those two have played quite a bit of NHL games and seem like they’re on a path to developing NHL niches. The other four are trying to get on that path.

When Martin Pospisil was trying to get on that path after his ELC expired, he signed a couple one year, two-way deals with league minimum NHL salary and slight raises at the AHL level. Generally-speaking, that’s what we would expect all four of these players to get – more or less.

So here’s roughly what we would project for the quartet: one year, two-way deals with a $775,000 cap hit ($775,000 NHL salary, $90,000 AHL salary) for all four of them. They’ve all played NHL games and so AHL-level raises would reward them for what they’ve done, while league-minimum cap hits would make it as easy as possible to fit them onto the NHL roster and give them an opportunity to carve out full-time niches for themselves.