For the last 19 years (12 with The Hockey News) Dobber has reviewed each team from a fantasy-hockey standpoint and graded them.

The 20th annual review will appear here on DobberHockey throughout the summer. This is not a review of the likely performance on the ice or in the standings, but in the realm of fantasy hockey both for the season ahead as well as the foreseeable future. Offensively, will the team perform? Are there plenty of depth options worthy of owning in keeper leagues? What about over the next two or three years? These questions are what I take into consideration when looking at the depth chart and the player potential on that depth chart.

Enjoy!

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Calgary Flames

Gone – Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Calle Jarnkrok, Ryan Carpenter, Glenn Gawdin, Erik Gudbranson

Incoming – Jonathan Huberdeau, Kevin Rooney, Mackenzie Weegar, Dennis Gilbert, Nicolas Meloche, Oscar Dansk

Impact of changes – It's been an eventful offseason in Cowtown, to say the least! It already looked bleak for the Flames when Johnny Gaudreau decided to pass on the Flames' final offer to instead choose Columbus. Then Matthew Tkachuk stated that he had no interest in signing a long-term offer with the Flames, prompting a trade to the Panthers for Jonathan Huberdeau, Mackenzie Weegar, Cole Schwindt, and a 2025 first-round pick. Great trade on paper for the Flames – only that Huberdeau and Weegar were on the final year of their contracts at the time of the trade. Huberdeau has since signed a long-term extension to stay in Calgary, so now the Flames are just waiting on Weegar. Overall, two 100+ point scorers are out, and another 100+ point scorer is in, along with a top-4 defenseman. Other than that, not much has happened.

With both Gaudreau and Tkachuk essentially deciding to leave, GM Brad Treliving could have opted to tear it down, as the implications of losing their top two scorers (and two of the league's top 10 scorers) is massive. However, bringing in Huberdeau in a Tkachuk trade and signing him to an eight-year, $84 million extension demonstrates that the Flames are still all in on defending their Pacific Division regular season title. The Gaudreau/Tkachuk/Elias Lindholm line was the best in the league in 2021-22, with the Flames having the league's sixth-highest goal total (291). While the net effect should be an overall team decrease in offense, the Flames do upgrade their blueline with Weegar while losing only Gudbranson.

Ready for Full Time – The major departures listed above could open up a spot for Jakob Pelletier. The 2019 first-round pick (26^th overall) finished third in AHL rookie scoring with 62 points in 66 games. Prior to that, he racked up 275 points in 210 games in the QMJHL. A spot in the lineup isn't guaranteed, particularly with the acquisition of Huberdeau. However, he figures to spend at least some time at the NHL level in 2022-23 and could even receive an audition on a scoring line.

Is it time for keeper teams to give up on Juuso Valimaki? That might be a bit premature, considering that he is still only 23. We'd expected him to be a full-time NHLer in 2021-22, yet he played only nine games in Calgary while playing in 35 at the AHL level. His AHL numbers last season (18 points in 35 games) were good but not great, and it seems like he's fallen down the depth chart on a fairly deep Flames defense. He is entering an RFA contract season, for what it's worth. If he's not a Darryl Sutter kind of player, perhaps the Flames would be best served to trade him while he still has value. 

Fantasy Outlook: The big question fantasy-wise is who will play on the top line with Huberdeau and holdover Lindholm. Tyler Toffoli might get the first crack, as he has more experience. Toffoli's production with the Flames (23 PTS in 37 GP) following his trade from Montreal was simply okay, but he was held to an average of 15 minutes per game without much exposure to the top line. That looks to change this coming season. Andrew Mangiapane will be another option, and with 35 goals in 2021-22 he might make a lot of sense on that line. Whoever it is will have a golden opportunity for some tremendous numbers.

The Weegar acquisition will also offset the short-term loss of Chris Tanev, who is expected to miss the first month of the season following offseason shoulder surgery. Weegar and Tanev both led their respective teams in blocked shots last season, with Weegar also providing considerably more offense than Tanev. Weegar joins Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin to give the Flames three blueliners that reached 40 points in 2021-22, so he will be in tough to battle for first-unit power-play time.  

Weegar also provides the Flames with one more blueliner in front of Jacob Markstrom, who was a Vezina Trophy finalist in 2021-22. After struggling somewhat in his first season in Calgary, Markstrom settled down as one of the league's top goalies last season, leading the league with nine shutouts. He was also a top-5 option for wins and should be in the mix to challenge for the league lead in that category again this season.

Fantasy Grade: B (last year was a B-)

Check out the rest of the Dobber team previews here.