It could be that this does result in a better long-term pay day for him yes. There is a lot of risk for him on a 1 year deal as well, though.
Firstly it isn't a given he will be an "every night" player in Colorado, and even if he is, he is going to need a much better showing than what he did in the 30 or so games he played this year. Anything resembling that will result in PTO/Europe territory.
A 2 year deal with the Flames (unknown AAV aside) carries the upside of being twice as long, and more importantly an essentially guaranteed spot in the top 4 every night.
It's hard to look at this outcome objectively and surmise this is the path of least risk.