Way back in the halcyon days of early March 2020, the Flames’ defensive depth chart looked to be in a tough spot. General manager Brad Treliving had just acquired Derek Forbort and Erik Gustafsson, the two of whom joined three other Flames defenders as pending unrestricted free agents (none of whom ended up re-signing with the team, as of Nov. 9). Top prospect Juuso Valimaki was still rehabbing his ACL injury from the summer of 2019 but, even if he were to be eventually cleared for game action, playing would result in the loss of his exempt status for the Seattle Kraken expansion draft.
FlamesNation Top 20 Prospects 2020: #14 Johannes Kinnvall
