Photo: Litter Box Cats
No one in the NHL has had a busier offseason than the Calgary Flames, who lost two superstar forwards in left-wing Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. Gaudreau signed a seven-year contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets as an unrestricted free agent after turning down an eight-year offer from the Flames. Tkachuk refused to sign a long-term deal in Calgary, thus forcing the team to deal him.
When it appeared that the Flames would start a rebuild, they took a different approach, and reloaded in one summer. Did the Flames provide a blueprint for rebuilding in one offseason? Should the Washington Capitals take note with a rebuild of their own coming soon?
What The Flames Did
After losing Gaudreau unexpectedly in free agency, the Flames traded Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers for star left-wing Jonathan Huberdeau, top-pairing defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, center prospect Cole Schwindt, and a 2025 lottery-protected first-round pick.
Huberdeau tied Gaudreau for second in the NHL with 115 points and led the league with 85 assists in 80 regular-season games last season. Meanwhile, Weegar tallied eight goals, 44 points, a +40 rating (which was ninth), 57.61% five-on-five Corsi-for percentage, 57.27% five-on-five expected goals-for percentage, and 58.44% five-on-five scoring chances-for percentage in 80 regular-season outings.
Several weeks later, the Flames signed center Nazem Kadri, who set career-highs in assists (59) and points (87) in 71 regular-season contests with the Colorado Avalanche. He added seven goals and 15 points in 16 Stanley Cup Playoff games to help them win the ultimate prize.
Can Capitals Adopt Blue Print?
While the Flames were able to regroup after losing their two-leading scorers from last season, it might be challenging for the Capitals to do so.
Tkachuk just turned 24-years-old and is coming off of a season where he recorded 42 goals and 104 points in 82 regular-season games before tallying four goals and 10 points in 12 postseason outings. In addition, Tkachuk is a unique player who has some bite to his game and can change the momentum in favor of his team with his physicality. The Capitals’ roster is older and their best players are past their prime, thus it does not have pieces like Tkachuk that are young top scorers in the league which makes it more complicated for them to do what the Flames just did.
While center Connor McMichael, center Hendrix Lapierre, right-wing Brett Leason, center Aliaksei Protas, right-wing Ivan Miroshnichenkov, and defenseman Martin Fehervary are all promising pieces for the future, none will likely be 100-plus point scorers like Tkachuk was last season. Even if one does pan out to reach that level of production, why should the Capitals deal him if the player is happy unless another team overpays? While the deal that the Flames made served as a major boost, the Capitals should do to improve their team, not just to follow their blueprint. There is also no guarantee that they could convince another team to pay the price that the Panthers just paid to acquire Tkachuk, who signed an eight-year contract before the deal was made (which upped the return).
Another challenge to following this model would be the state of the team. With Tkachuk and Gaudreau out of the picture and before the trade with the Panthers was made, the Flames’ core consisted of left-wing Andrew Mangiapane (who is 26-years-old), center Elias Lindholm (27), defenseman Noah Hanifin (25), and defenseman Rasmus Andersson (25).
By the time captain Alex Ovechkin’s contract expires, the Capitals’ core of center Evgeny Kuznetsov (currently 30), center Nicklas Backstrom (34), right-wing Tom Wilson (28), right-wing T.J. Oshie (35), and defenseman John Carlson (32) will all see theirs expire. Their core players are also older and will not likely be with the organization for the Capitals to build around. So, comparing what the Flames did to what the Capitals could do in 2026 isn’t exactly comparing apples to apples.
Should They?
This plan will not likely fit the Capitals.
The Flames finished last season third in the Western Conference and sixth in the NHL with a 50-21-11 record. The Capitals were in a much different position, grabbing the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with a 44-26-12 record. That could change even more by the time the final season of Ovechkin’s deal comes.
The Capitals have made the Stanley Cup Playoffs in all but one season since 2007-08 and have not had many chances to infuse their system with high-end talent since they have picked higher than 20th overall in the NHL Draft just twice since then.
Meanwhile, the Flames have picked fourth, sixth (twice), 13th (twice), and 16th overall picks over that span, which has helped them infuse young impact players into their system. The Capitals will be in need of a fresh start when Ovechkin hangs up his skates, which will dictate the direction that they take (different from the Flames’).
The plan that the Flames were able to execute was easier said than done. We did not see the New York Islanders reload (on paper) after captain John Tavares signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2018 or the Columbus Blue Jackets do so after losing left-wing Artemi Panarin, goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky, and center Matt Duchene during free agency in 2019. We did not see anything like the Flames did previously and while what they did could change that, there is no guarantee that another team will be able to pull it off (successfully).
And though one might say the Flames improved, losing their top scorers from last season will change the chemistry of the lineup. While they are expected to be a contender this season, what they did over the offseason could always backfire. If the Flames miss the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Spring (though, it is unlikely), everyone will say that they should have started rebuilding. If their plan does not work, every team will look at it and try to avoid replicating it. The Capitals could try this approach but there is risk in it as the Flames will have to integrate new players (who play differently than Gaudreau and Tkachuk) into their system that already worked out great previously.
Flames’ GM Brad Treliving did a masterful job of getting the franchise back up off of the mat after the team took a few heavy shots, which could inspire other teams approaching a rebuild, but we cannot ultimately see if the team is better until we see the product on the ice. Though what he did demands respect, it certainly has its challenges. The Flames should be a team to keep an eye on this season for sure, especially to see if their plan is one to take note of.
By Harrison Brown
I’m damn impressed with what the Flames have done this offseason.
Roger that, have never seen anything like it
Rebuild could be next year. If Gretzky got traded so can Ovi.
Sounds like Caps would never trade O
Anything is possible. But I would bet the house he’s not traded before record, if ever. Ted/Capitals want the record almost as much as Ovi.
IMHO that is why they have kept the core players rather than dealing them off and have kept getting players with experience…..to get that record.
I think the whole thought that rebuilding takes 2-3 years is old world thinking. With all of the pending free agents next summer, Mac needs to be on his “A” game over the next 12 months.
Rebuilding and building for a championship are two different things. Caps did a rebuild in 2003-2004 when they traded off all of their assets. They were building for a championship in 2014-2018. From 2018 to 2022 they are retooling. To me this is the difference:
Rebuild: Tearing it all down to build from draft (shouldn’t be done often)
build for championship: Looking for the 1-3 pieces to win a championship
Retooling: Putting together pieces that can become a core to build for championship
The reality is that there are only about 6-10 teams that are building for a championship any given year. 2-5 are rebuilding. Everyone else is retooling. Now to be fair, a team can be retooling, get hot at the right time and win a championship. So retooling doesn’t mean you aren’t trying to win a championship but probably more than a couple of pieces away from true contender status.
You are better off in a retool state trying to find a core to add the couple of final pieces. This is what Calgary just did but did it with major pieces in and out. It was significant and they did it well. We’ll see how it turns out in 9 months. It is what the Caps are doing but our headwinds are greater because of the age of players but this was most significant retool we have seen since the cup (yeah!).
Keumper is a critical piece. Strome was a good young signing. Brown was solid. Lots of young talent fighting for roles. Now we’ll see who sticks and how the core changes. Not all of them are going to stick. But hopefully we close the gap on pieces needed by TDL.
However they cannot keep signing players like MoJo andkeeping players liek Eller. Sooner or later, and I hope it is sooner they either have to play the young players or trade them. Problem is if they keep gettig picks in teh20’s they will never find a replacement for Ovie. so do you package several young players and maybe a pick to get into the top 3?
I didn’t like the Mojo signing but have come around (a bit) because he is buryable in Hershey is one year, and it creates competition.
Remember it is the GM (and coaches) job to create competition so the best players play. It is the players job to win a spot.
Does Lavi have a preference to vets. Yes he does. Kids know it, so you better come in ready to steal a spot.
My sincere hope is that Snively and McMichael win spots to push Mojo and Eller out (or down). But that hasn’t happened yet. its 100% on the players.
That being said the competition should be between players who have a future not some like MoJo. As for Lav, I would like the owner to get off his rear and the GM to act like a Gm and tell Lav that we are not keeping players who are older and at the end of their careers and possible lose as many as 7 of the young promising players, so If you dont like that there is the door you are free to quit, vacate, aabandon, desert or resigned or voluntarily separated. It is what is best for the team not a coach who has on year left on his contract. Would like to see GMBM get some balls and make a great move rather than sit back and eact……its time for him to be proactive and yes he was proactive this summer in some cases but he was forced taht way now he needs to do it onhis own for the betterment of this team.
Respectfully disagree. Their job is to assemble the best talent that can compete and may the best man win. If the kids want to play, then beat out a veteran. NHL is a mans game. it is a winning league not a development league.
Also, there are not 7 players who won’t pass waivers. 4 that I worry about… Snively, Leason, AJF, and Borgstrom. 2 of those 4 will crack the top 14 forwards. Pilon, Johannson, Johanson, and Malenstyn will pass through. If they get claimed someone needs (not wants) them move than us. 31 teams will face similar difficult cuts. And if they ever try to send down to AHL, Caps will be able to claim and move them to AHL freely.
Just more beating of the dead horse that has been talked about for years already. Ovechkin is still under contract for 4 more years and he will retire with the goals record and hand the Captaincy over to Tom Wilson. The system has plenty of prospects already and 4 more years of draft picks to build for the future. Re-sign Orlov, Jensen and Fehervary now and see how the team plays without Backstrom and Wilson for the 1st half of the year with McMichael, Lapierre, Protas and Leason taking on larger roles. That would be the time to evaluate the talent in the prospect pool. Let them play.
Looking back at this post a year later, it turns out the Flames were not the model for rebuilding. Flames missed the playoffs and ended up firing their Head Coach and General Manager. Plus, many of the Flames want out of there — not wanting to re-sign there when their contracts end. (But then again, give the Flames credit for trying to improve themselves, even with key players wanting out after last season.)