If you are a Calgary Flames fan, it probably wasn’t the best day for you.
Daily Faceoff’s Frank Seravalli dropped four bombs on Twitter about four players on the Flames – who are entering the last year of the contract – who do not want to re-sign with the organization once their current contract is up.
As we know, the Flames have plenty of UFAs and RFAs up for contract after the 2023-24 season and with a new GM in the fold, he’s got to figure out who wants to stay and who wants to leave.
Today, we found out who might be leaving the Flames organization via trade or free agency.
Just before noon Eastern time, Frank Seravalli tweeted this about Elias Lindholm:
#Flames update: CGY recently made a big pitch, rolled out the red carpet ($) to try to re-sign C Elias Lindholm.
CGY is waiting on a response from Lindholm and haven’t been given definitive answer yet. But general league speculation is he’s leaning toward not re-signing w/ CGY.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 22, 2023
Not even five minutes later, he tweeted this about Noah Hanifin:
The belief is #Flames have received a more direct answer from defenseman Noah Hanifin, who has clearly indicated that he does not plan to sign an extension in Calgary.
That doesn’t necessarily guarantee a trade, but Calgary has an answer on where he stands.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 22, 2023
And about 30 minutes after the Hanifin tweet, Seravalli dropped his third bomb about the Flames. This time about Mikael Backlund:
Finally, on #Flames: Bit of a surprise. Told Mikael Backlund is also leaning toward not re-signing in Calgary.
That could change, and Flames hope it does. He’s been a staple for 15 years.
Nonetheless, Craig Conroy has decisions to make.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 22, 2023
Lastly, Seravalli tweeted about the Flames again at around 5:30 pm Eastern time. This time about Tyler Toffoli, and that’s where I’ll begin talking about the 31-year-old.
Not to throw another log onto the fire for #Flames, but the potential exodus continues.
I’m told Tyler Toffoli also plans on not re-signing in Calgary.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) June 22, 2023
Toffoli, 31, just wrapped up his second season with the Calgary Flames and by the sound of Seravalli’s tweet, it looks like he too will be looking to sign elsewhere when his contract expires at the end of the 2023-24 season.
However, not even five minutes after that tweet, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman dropped this on his Twitter:
There is word this afternoon that Calgary has made Tyler Toffoli available for trade
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 22, 2023
So not even in five minutes, we got the news that Toffoli is not interested in re-signing in Calgary, and now the Flames have made him available for trade with 31 other teams.
With that bit of news, I think the Toronto Maple Leafs should be calling the Calgary Flames about his services to help bolster Toronto’s top-six.
Toffoli wouldn’t just bring goal-scoring ability to Toronto’s top-six, he also brings a reliable defensive presence on the ice at even-strength as well as a good power-play option as seen below on JFresh Hockey’s player card for Tyler Toffoli.
It’s not very common for a player who can score between 20 and 30 goals a season to be available for trade with a year left on his contract. Not to mention Toffoli had a career year last season scoring 34 goals and 73 points in 82 games – which led the Flames in both categories last season – and if slotted in another top-six role, especially with Toronto’s, he could match or come close to last season’s total for sure.
As I said above, he’s entering the last year of his contract, and given his production and price tag ($4.25M AAV), there should be and probably will be lots of teams calling Calgary about the Scarborough native’s services.
It’s unknown what the asking price will be for Toffoli, but given his unwillingness to re-sign with the Flames, I think Calgary will have to take the best offer available before they lose him for nothing if they wait until after the 2023-24 season.
Oh, how could I forget that Toronto’s new GM is Calgary’s former GM in Brad Treliving.
It wouldn’t shock me or anyone else if he swung a deal together with his former club for Tyler Toffoli or even Noah Hanifin if Treliving would like to improve Toronto’s blue line.
It’ll be interesting to see what the Flames do with the NHL draft less than a week away and free agency next Saturday. It’ll also be interesting to see if Treliving finds a way to bring a Flames player over to Toronto too.
(Stats from Hockey-Reference.com)
(Contract details from PuckPedia.com)
