Following the news that Anthony Mantha will be out for the rest of the season, the Calgary Flames are now in an interesting spot. The team now has more room on the wings for younger players to enter the lineup, and they have a boatload of cap space at approximately $18.7 million.
Regarding cap space, there’s always been the conversation of the Flames taking on a bad contract for assets. Many GMs in this league would love to unload a bad contract or two from their team, and are willing to part with draft capital to get it done.
Many teams in this league are in a cap crunch, and the Flames certainly aren’t one of them. Flames GM Craig Conroy should take advantage of the situations other teams are in, especially since his team is likely getting the first calls regarding this issue.
The Flames lost a trade asset with Mantha’s injury
Obviously I wish nothing but the best for Mantha and we all hope he has a speedy recovery. He signed in Calgary with the opportunity to prove himself, and now he won’t get that chance.
However, you also need to look at the business side of this dilemma. Mantha’s one-year deal allowed for trade flexibility and the Flames were likely going to flip him for draft capital near the Trade Deadline. With him now being out for the season, the Flames won’t be able to capitalize on his value.
So why don’t the Flames make up for the loss of Mantha by attempting to acquire assets through other methods? This is where the idea of acquiring bad contracts comes in. The Flames have the cap space to do it, and teams may become desperate to seek out cap relief in any ways they can.
Even if the Flames act as brokers for other trades, their cap space provides a lot of flexibility. They don’t necessarily need to acquire a bad contract; instead, they can retain the salary of a certain player for another team’s trade and receive compensation for it.
Either way, the Flames need to implement these types of transactions into their plans. Cap space is a commodity in this league and it’s one of the biggest advantages a team can have. Why not weaponize it when possible?
The Flames have done well in asset management so far
One of Conroy’s first promises when taking the GM role was proper asset management. Throughout the Brad Treliving era, the Flames often had times when their asset management wasn’t so good, and in some cases, it hurt the team’s future.
The Flames under Conroy have done a relatively good job managing their assets. It’s quite remarkable how the team has been able to accumulate so much cap space despite having some big contracts on the books. During the last management regime, the Flames would often find themselves directly near the cap ceiling, which left little to no flexibility.
This is why I want to see the Flames taking advantage of this situation. I can imagine especially near the Trade Deadline, contending teams are going to be desperate to get money off their books to facilitate other moves. Acting as a broker between teams or taking on a bad contract are moves the Flames need to consider, especially since they already lost a trade asset to injury.
