Flames face a challenging road back to contention

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As the Calgary Flames enter the off-season, the route to a deep playoff run looks considerably tougher because of the harsh realities of the hockey business that lie ahead for the organization.

The 2021-22 regular season was a rousing success. The team rebuilt its culture and identity under head coach Darryl Sutter. The Flames finished first in the Pacific Division, and both the eye test and the numbers show it was no accident. 

The Flames were aggressive on the forecheck, played with pace, and were remarkably consistent from start to finish. They ranked third in goals against per game (2.51), sixth in goals per game (3.55) and penalty kill percentage (83.2 per cent), and 10th in power play percentage (22.9 per cent). No other team ranked in the top 10 in each of those categories this season.

The Flames were also the only team in NHL history to have four 35-goal scorers (Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane), plus Jack Adams (Sutter), Selke (Lindholm), and Vezina (Jacob Markstrom) finalists. Over half the roster hit career highs in goals, assists, or points. 

Flames management has shrewdly negotiated several contracts in previous off-seasons that now look team-friendly and set the team up for 2021-22.

They had two 100-point wingers (Gaudreau and Tkachuk) at less than $15 million combined, a 35-goal scorer in Mangiapane at less than $2.5 million, a No. 1 centre in Lindholm at under $5 million, and a legitimate top pairing on the blueline (Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin) at less than $10 million combined.

Because of that smart cap management, the Flames had certain luxuries that other teams did not this season. Calgary could spend more than $10 million on its fourth line