Summers are the time for hellos and goodbyes.
The Calgary Flames need a little bit of both.
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In 2024-25, the Flames took a big step forward. After missing last year's postseason, they came up short of the playoffs by a lowly tiebreaker. Instead, the St. Louis Blues entered the playoffs and lost to the Winnipeg Jets.
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Regardless of the step forward this past year, the expectation for next year should be a similar, or better, result. In order to achieve that, every player on the team should be pulling their own weight.
Here are three players the Flames should not bring back, in order to make room for better players.
Kevin Rooney
Kevin Rooney is on an expiring deal paying him $1.3 million. While that doesn’t feel like a lot of money, this is one player the Flames need to let ride off into the sunset.
The 6-foot-2, 31-year-old forward collected 10 points and averaged 9:25 of ice time in his 70 games. The Flames could find someone with their AHL club who could provide similar numbers, with similar ice time, at less than half the cost.
Tyson Barrie (CAL), Dennis Cholowski (NYI) on waivers
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 20, 2025
Tyson Barrie
Tyson Barrie and the Flames were not a fit. He found himself on the short end of the stick when he was placed on waivers on February 20th, 2025. He never returned to the NHL.
The former Edmonton Oilers defender has been on a downward trajectory since his former team traded him to the Nashville Predators for Mattias Ekholm. Unless the Flames want to bring him back at a league minimum two-way deal, they are better off sticking to other players available in free agency.
Anthony Mantha
The Flames should move on from Anthony Mantha mainly because of his injury history. The 10-year NHL veteran has one 80-game season to his credit. However, he remained healthy for the 56-game 2020-21 season.
With the rising salary cap and better offensive options on the table in free agency, Mantha should not return in a Flames uniform for 2025-26.
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