The Calgary Flames didn't have many unrestricted free agents at the end of the 2015-16 season. They had a handful of bad goalies, Derek Grant, and Jakub Nakladal. The more meaningful names - Jiri Hudler, Kris Russell - were traded prior to the trade deadline, leaving the Flames with a shallow offering to the free agent pool. (Interestingly enough, neither has been signed yet.)
As a young team, though, the Flames had a ton of restricted free agents in need of new contracts. And instead of giving them those contracts, they cast nine of them to the wind.