Before the start of the 2024–25 season, I’ll be taking a look at the best and worst of the Calgary Flames throughout history. I started with the best and worst Flames coaches and then general managers. Next up we’ll move down to the ice and look at the best and worst free agent signings in team history.
The Flames have historically not been afraid to shell out the big bucks in free agency, particularly because it’s one of the main ways they can attract talent to come up north. Sometimes that backfires dramatically, but there have certainly been some big wins as well.
So who has been the best free agent signing in Flames history, and who has been the absolute worst? Before you ask, we’ll only be looking at offseason free agent signings here during free agent frenzy—sorry, Mark Giordano.
The worst free agent signings in Flames history
James Neal
Contract – 5 years, $5.75mil AAV
Career totals in Calgary – GP: 63 G: 7 A: 12 P: 19
No surprises here. James Neal barely lasted a year in Calgary after signing a huge $28.75 million contract in 2018. That should tell you all you need to know about just how badly this signing turned out. Brought in to be the solution on the top line alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan, Neal failed spectacularly from pretty much game one as a Flame. Not only did he fail to find a home on the Flames’ top line, he barely found a home on their fourth line.
Despite scoring 20 goals in all 10 of his NHL seasons up to his arrival in Calgary, Neal failed to even hit double digits as a Flame, scoring just seven goals as a Flame in his one and only season in Calgary. It was a dramatic and colossal falloff for what should’ve been a safe signing.
In his first year in Calgary, he’d play just 63 games in the regular season, putting up just 19 points. His seven goals, 12 assists, and 19 points that year were all career worsts for Neal as he went from a guaranteed producer to putting up replacement-level production.
By the time the playoffs rolled around, Neal had fallen so far out of favour that he was a healthy scratch for a must-win Game 5 in the first round. On top of his poor production, Neal was reportedly not a fit in the locker room and was not well-liked by most of the team. He was eventually traded for Milan Lucic just a year after signing his five-year deal. Free agent signings don’t get worse than this one, both on the ice and off it.
Troy Brouwer
Contract – 4 years, $4.5 million AAV
Career totals in Calgary – GP: 150 G: 19 A: 28 P: 47
Another Brad Treliving special, although this time he deserves 100% of the blame. Unlike the Neal signing where you could see the reasoning behind it, the Brouwer signing made absolutely no sense since the day it was signed. At the time he was signed in the summer of 2016, Brouwer was a month away from turning 31, was coming off his worst season in four years, and had never produced more than 50 points in his career. For whatever reason Treliving saw all this and thought Brouwer would be the solution on the right side on the top line.
Just like Neal, this signing failed immediately. In his first season in Calgary, Brouwer produced just 13 goals and 25 points, the worst season of his 10-year career to date. He failed to fit alongside Gaudreau and Monahan and played primarily on the team’s third line. The next year, things got even worse as Brouwer was demoted to the fourth line and put up just six goals and 22 points, once again the worst season of his career to date.
After just two years in Calgary, the Flames bought out the remaining two years of Brouwer’s deal. Brouwer remained on the Flames cap all the way until the end of the 2021–22 season after his disastrous performance in Calgary.
The best free agent signings in Flames history
Chris Tanev
Contract – 4 years, $4.5 million AAV
Career totals in Calgary – GP: 259 G: 10 A: 57 P: 67
In what seemed like another rash decision by Treliving, the Chris Tanev signing turned out to be a gigantic success for the Flames. Brought in during the 2020 offseason to replace longtime Flame T.J. Brodie, Tanev seemed like a desperate attempt to replace Brodie. Tanev was already 30 years old when he was signed and hadn’t played 70 games in a season in five years. He had also seen his value plummet over the years prior to his signing in Calgary.
For whatever reason, Tanev turned back the clock in Calgary and instantly became one of the best defensive defenders in the NHL once again—much like he was at the beginning of his career in Vancouver. Not only did Tanev’s overall defensive impacts skyrocket in Calgary, he also magically became healthy again. Tanev didn’t miss a single regular season game in his first two seasons in Calgary, the only two times he’s ever done that in his career.
Across his first three seasons in Calgary, Tanev ranked seventh among defenceman with 1,000 minutes for CF%, second for xGF%, and first for HDCF%. He was quite literally a top-10 to 15 defenceman in the NHL for three of the four years of his deal. He even earned Norris votes for his tremendous 2021–22 season. His impact on the Flames was gigantic as he was a mainstay in the team’s top-four for four years and was a key leader on the roster. He even ended up fetching the Flames a second-round pick and prospect this past season before his contract expired. Free agent signings don’t get much better than this.
Curtis Glencross
Contract – 3 years, $1.2 million AAV
Career totals in Calgary – GP: 418 G: 114 A: 128 P: 243
You’d have to go all the way back to 2008 to find another great free agent frenzy signing by the Flames. That summer, the organization signed 25-year-old Curtis Glencross to a three-year deal that carried a $1.2 million AAV. To that point in his career, Glencross had put up just 25 points across three years in the NHL and had yet to find a home as a full-time NHLer. A three-year term for a player with a career-high 13 points was a risk, but the gamble immediately paid off.
In his first year in Calgary, Glencross would post career-highs across the board with 13 goals, 27 assists, and 40 points as he became a mainstay in the Flames lineup. Over the next six years, Glencross would remain a key part of the Flames roster and develop into a fan favourite in Calgary. In particular, between 2010 and 2012, Glencross would post 50 goals and 91 points across two seasons as one of the Flames best forward.
He’d end up leaving the Flames via trade in 2015, ending his Flames tenure after seven years with 418 games played and 243 points. His 418 games as a Flame are the 18th most in franchise history by a forward and the most ever by any Flames free agent signing. Glencross went from a short-term gamble to one of the most recognizable Flames of the 2010s.
All-time signings
There’s no way around it, the Flames haven’t exactly nailed free agency over their history. Despite spending plenty of money on free agents over the years, they’ve missed more often than they’ve hit. So far, Craig Conroy has taken this to heart and has yet to hand out a single big deal in free agency. Here’s hoping Conroy doesn’t fall into the same trap Treliving did.
