The Calgary Flames have had yet another offseason filled with trade speculation and contract disputes. Rasmus Andersson appears to be on his way out of town after contract talks fell short and trade rumours emerged before, during, and after the draft. The Flames have also been in long discussions with Connor Zary and his camp over an extension. That has been rumoured in the three-year range, although training camp is approaching, and nothing is finalized.
As the Flames appear to be moving on from yet another piece of their former core and signing a bridge deal with one of their future pieces, we thought it was no better time to take a walk down memory lane. We wanted fans to play armchair general manager this week and choose one Flames transaction over the last decade they would redo in hindsight. We asked, you answered.
Want to take part in Sunday Census polls? We send them out every week on our Twitter at @wincolumnCGY. Follow along or send in ideas for the next poll!
Redo a transaction
We presented the below question to our readers for them to reply with one transaction the Flames have made in the last decade they would redo:
If you could go back and redo one transaction that the #Flames made in the last ten years, what would you do and why? #SundayCensus
— The Win Column (@wincolumnCGY) August 23, 2025
2019: Tkachuk bridge deal
Although there wasn’t a poll this week, there was a clear winner. The majority of responses surrounded the Matthew Tkachuk bridge deal signed in 2019. We all know what trading Tkachuck in 2022 has done to the Flames franchise and how successful the former first-rounder has been in South Florida. But the reason for Tkachuk’s departure goes much deeper than Johnny Gaudreau’s free agency decision in July of 2022.
Tkachuk signed a three-year, $21.0M extension in 2019 with the Flames that was back-loaded with a $9.0M cap hit in his final year. The deal gave Tkachuk all the arbitration leverage entering his final year, with his qualifying offer being equal to that $9.0M base salary in 2021–22. This obviously was not a choice the Flames made because they wanted to; they had to.
The only reason Tkachuk signed the bridge deal in 2019 is that the Flames didn’t have the cap space/willingness to acquire it to sign him long term. One contract weighing on the books that season was veteran winger Michael Frolik’s with a $4.3M cap hit. The Flames went out and signed the 27-year-old winger to a five-year contract in 2015 after a 44-point campaign with the Winnipeg Jets.
By 2018–19, Frolik had fallen down the lineup and Tkachuk had emerged as a core top-six player. Despite having a young, budding superstar in Tkachuk eligible for an eight-year extension, the Flames decided to hold onto Frolik’s contract in an effort to keep the team competitive. In 2019–20, Frolik scored 10 points while predominantly playing on the fourth line before being traded to the Buffalo Sabres at the deadline for a fourth-round pick to clear his salary.
It wasn’t even a full year after signing Tkachuk’s bridge deal that Brad Treliving dumped the Frolik contract. The Flames shouldn’t have signed Frolik in the first place, and should’ve traded him sooner. The trajectory of the Flames franchise would undoubtedly be much different had they been willing to lock up Tkachuk to that eight-year extension in 2019.
2017: Hamonic trade
This one is so bad I almost gag when I think about it.
The Flames send a 2018 first-rounder, a 2018 second-rounder, and a 2019–2020 conditional second-rounder to the New York Islanders for 26-year-old defenceman Travis Hamonic and a conditional fourth-rounder. Even at the time, the Flames overpaid huge. The 2018 first that went to the Islanders turned into Noah Dobson; you may have heard of him. He was recently traded to the Montreal Canadiens, who acquired him using the Flames’ 2025 first-round pick they acquired alongside Sean Monahan, but we’ll get into that later.
Hamonic had just come off a rough season in 2016–17, playing 49 games and recording 14 points and a -21. In 2017–18, Hamonic slotted next to T.J. Brodie in the Flames’ top-four but didn’t live up to his $3.86M cap hit.
His contract was yet another terribly risky acquisition in Treliving’s failed attempt to stay competitive, which led to an inability to extend Tkachuk long-term in 2019. The Hamonic contract was entering year five of a seven-year deal that the Islanders signed him to out of his ELC. Hamonic never lived up to expectations in Calgary despite giving some solid second-pairing minutes across his tenure with the Flames, which was plagued with injuries.
Hamonic signed with the Vancouver Canucks in 2020 as an unrestricted free agent with zero assets recouped for the Flames. He was traded to the Ottawa Senators in 2022 for a third-rounder and is currently on a one-year, $1.1M contract with the Sens for 2025–26. Ouch. These hurt to write.
2021–2022: No Gaudreau extension
The decision felt around the NHL world in 2022 was Johnny Gaudreau heading to Columbus, Ohio, to play for the Blue Jackets on a seven-year $9.75M contract after testing free agency. The 28-year-old was coming off a career year of 115 points and Hart Trophy consideration.
The previous season, Calgary and Gaudreau’s camp began discussions about an extension that ultimately went down to the final seconds before free agency opened July 1, 2022. Calgary had the opportunity to extend Gaudreau at a $9.0M AAV on an eight-year deal before the 2021–22 season started. Instead of paying to extend him long-term, Treliving and the Flames were looking for a more team-friendly deal considering the Flames’ opportunity to compete, and this time he wasn’t kidding.
But Johnny was coming off a team-friendly six-year, $6.75M deal. He was due for a raise, and instead of playing their franchise player, he went out and earned an even bigger raise. Although Gaudreau’s departure in free agency was ultimately a matter of personal choice, the Flames’ lack of commitment in 2021 ultimately bit them.
Gaudreau’s departure was the final straw for Matthew Tkachuk and the absolute last hope the Flames had at re-signing him the following season. Tkachuk’s trade request and departure to Florida rewrite hockey history.
2022: Monahan to Montreal
The cherry on top, and all I can muster before feeling physically ill that I’m a fan of this franchise: Sean Monahan, and a conditional 2025–26 first-round pick to the Montreal Canadiens for a flat of Gatorade and a signed Carey Price stick (future considerations).
At the time, Monahan was coming off a brutal stretch of hip injuries that led to a substantial amount of time on the IR, then LTIR, and a surgery. With both Matthew Tkachuk and Johnny Gaudreau exiting the franchise, Brad Treliving had to work quickly to pick up the pieces and dump salary in order to acquire a big fish in free agency. Monahan and his $6.375M cap his were the obvious choice. His injury history and the Flames’ desperation made it a mouth-watering situation for rebuilding teams like the Montreal Canadiens. The move freed up space for the Flames to sign Nazem Kadri to a seven-year, $7.0M contract in 2022.
Monahan played only 25 games in 2022–23 with the Canadiens before being shut down for the season and having surgery, this time on his groin. The 2023–24 season was a bounce-back one for Monahan, who scored 35 points in 49 games for Montreal before being dealt at the deadline to Winnipeg for a 2024 first-rounder and a conditional fourth-rounder.
So, if we’re keeping track here, that’s two first-round picks the Canadiens acquired for Sean Monahan while giving up absolutely nothing. As for the Flames, Jacob Markstrom took the signed stick to New Jersey, and that Gatorade is long gone.
The conditional pick the Flames sent the Canadiens was traded to the New York Islanders at this past draft alongside Montreal’s own first-round pick and Emil Heineman. The Canadiens received Noah Dobson, a premier D partner for their budding superstar, Lane Hutson. Dobson was selected in 2018 by the Islanders with the Flames’ first-round pick they acquired in the Travis Hamonic trade.
Wow, Brad, maybe pizzas are more your speed. Here’s to the next decade, Flames fans. Good luck, Toronto.
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