News Flames Team Notes

[Calgary Flames]

Flames sign RFA forward Connor Zary to three-year contract ($3.775 million AAV)

The Calgary Flames are closing in on a three-year contract with restricted free agent forward Connor Zary, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Friday afternoon.

Zary, 23, collected 13 goals and 27 points in 54 games with the Flames during the 2024-25 regular season. The Flames originally selected the 6′ centre/wing in the first round (No. 24 overall) of the 2020 NHL Draft.

Friedman indicated that the new contract, which will take Zary into his final year of RFA status, will carry a cap hit of just under $3.8 million per season. Sportsnet’s Eric Francis later confirmed that the contract is worth $3.775 million a year.

Hearing Connor Zary and the Calgary Flames are closing in on a three-year extension at just under $3.8M

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) September 5, 2025

Connor Zary confirmed signed for three years at $3.775 AAV.

— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) September 5, 2025

A product of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Zary spent his junior career with the WHL’s Kamloops Blazers, with whom he spent parts of four seasons. After a nine-game stint immediately after being drafted, Zary turned pro with the AHL’s Stockton Heat on a full-time basis for the 2021-22 season, after which the team relocated and became the Calgary Wranglers.

After emerging as a top-tier offensive player at the AHL level in the 2022-23 season, Zary made his Flames debut early in the 2023-24 campaign and quickly made a name for himself as one of the team’s most exciting young talents, scoring 14 goals and 34 points in 63 games as a first-year NHLer.

Zary showed much of the same flash and dash in his sophomore season with the Flames but missed 28 games while recovering from two scary-looking knee-injuries, the latter of which prematurely ended his season.

Earlier this week, The Fourth Period insider David Pagnotta reported that the Flames and Zary were inching closer to the finish line on a three-year deal, which ultimately became reality on Friday. In 117 career games with the Flames, Zary has collected 27 goals and 61 points.

With Zary now re-upped, the Flames have completed most of their major offseason business, having already re-signed Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost, Martin Pospisil, Joel Hanley, and Justin Kirkland, among others, earlier in the summer. But Flames GM Craig Conroy still has plenty to do going forward, including extending Dustin Wolf and (in all likelihood) finding a new home for Rasmus Andersson.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames-sign-rfa-forward-connor-zary-to-three-year-contract

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames announce 2025-26 prospects training camp roster

They’re back!

After months without Calgary Flames hockey, the club will kick off their annual prospects training camp next weekend! After players report and do their usual fitness check-ins with Flames staff, the meat of the camp will be a pair of games with the Edmonton Oilers prospects! This pair of games replaces the annual Penticton Young Stars tournament, which isn’t being held this season.

They’ll be in Edmonton next Friday (Sept. 12) for a game in Rogers Place (7 p.m. MT start), followed by a Sunday (Sept. 14) rematch at the Scotiabank Saddledome (4 p.m. MT). Tickets for both games are available at Ticketmaster – the game in Edmonton is general admission at $25, while the Calgary game is $10 and you get an assigned seat – and the Flames will be streaming both games on their various platforms for those that can’t be there in-person.

Here’s a snapshot of the 25 players that will be attending prospects training camp!

Goaltenders (3)​

No.	Player	Age	2024-25 Teams(s)
80	Owen Say	24	Notre Dame (NCAA)
40	Arsenii Sergeev	24	Penn State (NCAA)
33	Jordan Switzer (PTO)	18	Medicine Hat (WHL)

Not Here: Daniil Chechehev (TBD), Yegor Yegorov (MHK Dynamo-MAX, MHL), Kirill Zarubin (AKM Tula, MHL)

For the first time in awhile, the Flames will bring three goalies to prospect camp who, combined, have played zero professional games. Say and Sergeev are entering the first year of their entry-level deals, while Switzer is in on a try-out and headed back to the Dub.

Defensemen (9)​

No.	Player	Age	Shot	2024-25 Team(s)
71	Colton Alain (PTO)	18	R	Vancouver (WHL)
84	Eduard Bondar (PTO)	18	R	Val-d’Or (QMJHL)
48	Hunter Brzustewicz	20	R	Calgary (NHL) Calgary (AHL)
67	Axel Hurtig	20	L	Calgary (WHL) Sweden (WJC)
88	Simon Mack (PTO)	24	R	Calgary (AHL) North Dakota (NCAA)
59	Etienne Morin	20	L	Moncton (QMJHL)
89	Zayne Parekh	19	R	Calgary (NHL) Saginaw (OHL)
91	Mace’o Phillips	18	L	U.S. National Dev Team (USHL)
97	Daniil Skvortsov (PTO)	18	L	Guelph (OHL)

Not Here: Eric Jamieson (Denver, NCAA), Jakob Leander (HV71, J20), Henry Mews (Michigan, NCAA)

This is a really unique group. It features three of the most highly-regarded prospects in the system in Parekh, Brzustewicz and Morin. There’s also Hurtig, who’s a really unique project in the system based on his size, smarts and defensive acumen. In a bit of a surprise, Phillips’ gap season before college involves attending an NHL camp! And after a good showing at the end of the season on an AHL try-out, Mack is back, at least for this camp.

Alain, Bondar and Skvortsov are in on try-outs. It’s atypical to have nine defenders available for two games, but it does make sense when you consider that Parekh and Brzustewicz could be playing a lot of hockey this season and having some players around to spell them off in the earliest part of training camp could be a good idea.

Forwards (13)​

No.	Player	Age	Shot	2024-25 Team(s)
49	Andrew Basha	19	L	Medicine Hat (WHL)
60	Jacob Battaglia	19	L	Kingston (OHL)
87	Parker Bell	21	L	Calgary (AHL)
82	Nathan Brisson (PTO)	18	L	Val-d’Or (QMJHL)
51	Matvei Gridin	19	L	Shawinigan (QMJHL)
29	Samuel Honzek	20	L	Calgary (NHL) Calgary (AHL)
95	Carter King	24	L	Calgary (AHL) Denver (NCAA)
53	Hunter Laing	19	R	Prince George (WHL) Saskatoon (WHL)
85	Mael Lavigne (PTO)	20	L	Victoriaville (QMJHL) Rimouski (QMJHL)
73	Kadon McCann (PTO)	18	L	Medicine Hat (WHL)
83	David Silye (AHL)	26	R	Calgary (AHL)
36	Aydar Suniev	20	L	Calgary (NHL) UMass (NCAA)
96	Carter Wilkie (AHL)	25	R	Calgary (AHL) Penn State (NCAA)

Not Here: Trevor Hoskin (Merrimack College, NCAA), Aidan Lane (Harvard, NCAA), Jaden Lipinski (Maine, NCAA), Cade Littler (North Dakota, NCAA), Yan Matveiko (Krasnaya Armiya Moskva, MHL), Luke Misa (Penn State, NCAA), Cullen Potter (Arizona State, NCAA), Cole Reschny (North Dakota, NCAA), Theo Stockselius (Djurgardens IF, J20), Ethan Wyttenbach (Quinnipiac, NCAA)

The blueline group is star-studded. The forward group arguably is a bit learner on the tippity-top prospects – 2025 first-rounders Reschny and Potter are at school, for instance – but you’ll get to see Basha, Battaglia, Gridin, Honzek, King and Suniev, all of which are prospects you should keep an eye on.

They’re joined by three try-outs in Brisson, Lavigne and McCann. Silye and Wilkie, both signed to AHL deals for this coming season, will also be part of this camp.

All-in-all: a dozen Flames-drafted prospects will be at prospects training camp, with seven of the top 10 prospects from our recent summer rankings in attendance.

Which Flames prospect are you most excited to see in prospect training camp? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames-announce-2025-26-prospects-training-camp-roster

 

[Calgary Flames]

Eastern Conference off-season preview: Toronto Maple Leafs

One Eastern Conference team that has taken a big hit this off-season is the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Before the 2024-25 season even began, there was talk that the Leafs were trying to trade Mitch Marner, but he remained with the team and had an alright season. Did the Leafs have a good season? Well, that’s subjective.

Let’s take a look at how the Maple Leafs’ 2024-25 season went, what they’ve done so far this off-season, and how their team will shape up come October.

How the season went​

Thanks to a 52-26-4 record, the Maple Leafs finished with 108 points, top in the Atlantic Division and fourth in the entire league. They also had a new opponent in the post-season, as their first round match-up against the Ottawa Senators was the first Battle of Ontario since 2004, the last time the Leafs made the Conference Finals.

After going up 3-0 in the series thanks to back-to-back overtime victories in Games 2 and 3, the Senators showed some fight, finding the overtime winner in Game 4, and then shutting out the Leafs in Game 5 to send the series back to the Nation’s Capital.

The Leafs jumped out to a 2-0 lead early in the second period, but captain Brady Tkachuk scored mid-way through the second, and David Perron tied the game with just over seven minutes left. However, the Leafs avoided embarrassment, as Max Pacioretty scored less than two minutes later en route to a 4-2 victory to move to the second round.

That second round is where the embarrassment happened. Facing off against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, the Leafs won the first two games and even had a 3-1 lead in Game 3, but fell in overtime, were shut out in Game 4, and were smashed 6-1 in Game 5 to push them to the brink.

The Leafs were able to win their first game in Sunrise in Game 6, a 2-0 victory, to set up a Game 7, where they were once again blasted 6-1 to end their season.

Drafted players​

The Leafs were without their first-round pick, used to acquire Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty before the 2023 trade deadline. Instead, their first pick came in the second round, using the 64th overall selection to pick Tinus-Luc Koblar.

In the third round, the Leafs drafted Jacob Battalgia’s teammate, Tyler Hopkins, 86th overall. Will Belle and Harry Nansi went 137th and 153rd, respectively, while their final two picks were Rylan Fellinger and Matthew Hlacar.

Trades​

This off-season, the biggest trade belongs to the Maple Leafs, as they signed Marner to an eight-year deal worth $12 million annually, and sent him to the Vegas Golden Knights for Nicolas Roy.

The day before, the Leafs sent a 2027 third-round pick to the Utah Mammoth for 24-year-old Matias Maccelli. They were able to dump some cap, sending Ryan Reaves to the San Jose Sharks in exchange for 24-year-old defenceman Henry Thrun. On Jul. 17, the Leafs acquired some more grit, sending a 2028 fourth-round pick to the Vancouver Canucks for Dakota Joshua.

Free agent signings​

The most notable free agent signing the Leafs made was agreeing to a two-year deal with Michael Pezzetta worth $812,500 annually. Instead, the Leafs focused on signing restricted free agent Matthew Knies and former captain John Tavares.

Knies agreed to a six-year deal worth $7.75 million annually, while Tavares came back on a four-year deal worth $4.389 million annually.

Departures​

Marner’s departure was by far the most notable, but a few other players left the Leafs this off-season. Pontus Holmberg put up respectable numbers for a fourth liner, and it seems like Pacioretty will depart, albeit he remains an unrestricted free agent. Reaves also left, but that isn’t too big of an issue.

Moreover, Brendan Shanahan is out as the team’s president, a role he had held for over 11 years.

What the team looks like heading into 2025-26​

The big question around the centre of the universe is whether the Leafs did enough to replace Marner’s 27 goals and 102 points. The simple answer is no. They’re still strong down the middle, featuring Auston Matthews, Tavares, Roy, and Scott Laughton, but they have less than ideal firepower on the wing.

Knies and William Nylander are obviously great, but Max Domi finished with just eight goals and 33 points last season. Maccelli, their other winger projected to be in the top six, scored eight goals and 18 points in 55 games last season, but had 17 goals and 57 points in 82 games the season before. It’d be a different story if Easton Cowan makes the team and lives up to his potential.

Bobby McMann, Dakota Joshua, Steven Lorentz, and Calle Jarnkrok are projected to be the bottom-six wingers.

The Leafs’ defence core is also lacking a true superstar. Morgan Rielly is their best defender, with McCabe and Simon Benoit making up their left side. Brandon Carlo, former Calgary Flame Chris Tanev, and Oliver Ekman-Larsson make up the right side.

Between the pipes is one of the strongest suits for the Leafs, as they’ll have Joseph Woll and Anthony Stolarz as their tandem.

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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/eastern-conference-off-season-preview-toronto-maple-leafs

 

[Calgary Flames]

Can MacKenzie Weegar find another level? (Chasing 97 Points)

In July 2022, the Calgary Flames made a blockbuster trade that sent Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers. At the time, much of the discourse regarding the trade centred around Jonathan Huberdeau joining the Flames.

But three seasons after the swap, you can make a case that MacKenzie Weegar, not Huberdeau, was the centrepiece of the trade for the Flames.

That’s not to say that Huberdeau hasn’t been effective for the Flames. But while Huberdeau dealt with an extended adjustment period with the Flames before finding his footing under Ryan Huska, Weegar seemed to figure things out much more quickly. By his own admission, Weegar struggled to find his game after arriving in Calgary and didn’t find his rhythm until the 2023 All-Star Break.

But since that All-Star Break, Weegar has been not just the Flames’ best blueliner, but quietly one of the better ones in the NHL. In that span, he’s tied for 10th in goals and he’s 16th in points, and in the top 25 in even-strength production. And that’s playing on a team that had a fairly so-so power play and generally struggled to score goals.

On the ice, Weegar’s emerged as an all-situations option for Huska; Weegar’s ability to play either side of the ice allows Huska and his coaching staff to mix and match Weegar with different partners for different situations, and Weegar’s played a ton of hockey – and key minutes – because of that versatility. Off the ice, Weegar wears a letter as one of the club’s alternate captains and has emerged as a key leader for the group.

But because Weegar’s numbers are just a smidge below the top blueliners in the league, and because the Flames haven’t made a ton of noise since Weegar’s arrival, you can argue that Weegar remains a bit of a well-kept secret across the NHL. Despite his strong underlying numbers throughout his career, Weegar’s only received Norris Trophy votes twice: during the divisional-play-only 2020-21 season and again in 2021-22.

Rasmus Andersson’s exit from the Flames seems like a foregone conclusion. With Andersson in the fold, you can have a debate about who the Flames’ best blueliner is – it’s probably been Weegar for the past two seasons, but we can have that argument. With Andersson in another jersey, the top Flames defender crown is Weegar’s with no disputes.

Heavy is the head that wears that crown. If the Flames want to return to the post-season, they’ll need Weegar to not just be good… but they need him to find another level to his game. He’s been very good for two seasons with the Flames: can he go from being someone performing and producing near the levels of the league’s best to being one of their peers?

Simply put: can MacKenzie Weegar go from a well-kept secret in the Pacific Division to being firmly in the Norris Trophy conversation?

If he can, we’re probably seeing the Flames playing playoff hockey in the spring.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/can-mackenzie-weegar-find-another-level-chasing-97-points

 

[Calgary Flames]

Eastern Conference off-season preview: Ottawa Senators

For the first time since their double overtime loss in Game 7 of the 2017 Eastern Conference Finals, the Ottawa Senators returned to the Stanley Cup playoffs.

After flirting with a post-season spot for the past few seasons, they were finally able to return and were immediately thrown into the fire, as they had a match-up with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Let’s take a look at how the Senators’ 2024-25 season went, what they’ve done so far this off-season, and how their team shapes up come October.

How the season went​

The Senators finished pretty comfortably in a post-season spot, as they had a 45-30-7 record for 97 points, sixth-most in the Eastern Conference. They fell just one point shy of the Florida Panthers for third in the Atlantic Division.

On an entertainment level, it’s good they finished in the first wild card spot, as it set up the first Battle of Alberta against the Toronto Maple Leafs for the first time since 2004, as well as the Battle of Florida.

The young Senators were nervous, as they fell 6-2 in Game 1 to go down 1-0 in the series. They played better in Game 2, overcoming a 2-0 deficit, but Max Domi scored an overtime winner for the 3-2 victory.

A team is never truly out of it until they lose at home, which is the fate the Senators suffered in Game 3. Once again, the two Ontarian teams were locked up at two, needing overtime to settle it. This time, Simon Benoit put the Senators away just over a minute into the extra frame.

With their backs against the wall, the Senators jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but a goal with just over five minutes left by the Maple Leafs tied the game at four. This time, it was the Senators who scored the game-winner in overtime, as Jake Sanderson scored his first career post-season goal.

They took Game 5 by a score of 4-0, and tied Game 6 at two with just over seven minutes left in the game, but the Maple Leafs had an answer, as Max Pacioretty scored less than two minutes later. That turned out to be the game-winning goal, as the Senators fell in six games.

Still, there are a lot of lessons the young team can take away from this post-season push.

Drafted players​

The Senators didn’t trade their first-round pick in the 2025 draft, using it to select University of Wisconsin defenceman Logan Hensler, a year removed from drafting Carter Yakemchuk. Because they used this pick, their 2026 first-rounder was forfeited due to sanctions related to a failed trade involving Evgenii Dadonov.

With their third-round pick, the Senators selected Blake Vanek 93rd overall. Yes, Blake is the son of long-time NHLer Thomas Vanek. With the 97th overall pick, the Senators drafted netminder Lucas Beckman from the Baie-Comeau Drakkar of the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League.

In the late rounds, the Senators selected Russian winger Dmitry Isayev in the fifth round, Bruno Idzan with their sixth round pick, and Russian netminder Andrei Trofimov with their seventh round pick.

Trades​

The Senators’ lone trade involving a player came on the second day of the draft, moving a 2025 third-rounder and a 2026 sixth-rounder to the Los Angeles Kings for Jordan Spence. They originally had the 21st overall pick, but moved down two selections and later used the third in the Spence trade.

Moreover, the Senators moved up in the third round, trading the 96th overall pick and a 2027 seventh to the Capitals for the 93rd overall pick.

Free agent signings​

In terms of free agency, the Senators agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.25 million with veteran Lars Eller. They also brought in Arthur Kaliyev on a one-year deal worth the league minimum of $775,000.

Before free agency opened, the Senators agreed to terms with veteran Claude Grioux, as the two parties settled on a one-year deal worth $2 million. Restricted free agent Fabian Zetterlund signed a three-year deal worth $4.275 million annually, while the Senators also brought back Nick Cousins.

Departures​

The Senators also lost a handful of players, as Adam Gaudette, Travis Hamonic, and Anton Forsberg all signed elsewhere in free agency. Gaudette was the big loss, as he scored a career-best 19 goals last season, with 26 points as well.

Hamonic, a former Calgary Flame, served as a third-pairing defenceman for the Senators for the past four seasons, scoring just one goal and seven points in 59 games last season. As for Forsberg, the netminder signed with the Kings and had a .901 save percentage and 2.72 goals against average in 30 games last season.

What the team looks like heading into 2025-26​

The Senators have a solid centre core of Tim Stützle, Dylan Cozens, Shane Pinto, and Eller. On the left wing, they have Brady Tkachuk, Zetterlund, Ridley Greig, and David Perron, while on the right wing, they have Giroux, Drake Batherson, Michael Amadio, and Cousins. Kailyev could factor into the Senators’ lineup at some point next season as well.

On defence, they’re expected to have Jake Sanderson and Artem Zub on the top pairing. Thomas Chabot and Nick Jensen make up the second pairing, while Tyler Klevan and Jordan Spence make up the third pairing.

Between the pipes, Linus Ullmark is their expected starter, with Leevi Meriläinen projected to back him up.

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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/eastern-conference-off-season-preview-ottawa-senators

 

[Calgary Flames]

How the new CBA changes will impact the Flames in 2025-26

Changes are afoot in the National Hockey League for the 2025-26 season, friends.

The new collective bargaining agreement has been reported upon extensively. But while the CBA doesn’t come into force until Sept. 16, 2026… per some reporting from our pals at PuckPedia, several parts of the CBA will come into force for this coming season.

Here is what’s new for 2025-26, and how these changes might impact the Calgary Flames.

Changes to LTIR​

A lot of fans – and hockey people, frankly – have been confused and frustrated by long-term injury reserve (LTIR) cap relief over the years. Well, good news, the mechanism is getting simplified.

Teams can still exceed the salary cap by up to the cap hit of the injured player being replaced – we don’t need to get into the specific math here. But for any player that’s expected to return in-season, their LTIR relief is now capped at 2024-25’s average salary ($3,817,923). So, say Jonathan Huberdeau gets injured and is placed on LTIR: the Flames would only receive up to $3,817,923 in LTIR relief during his absence.

Teams can receive more than league-average salary relief, though, but only for players that are out for the remainder of the season – and those players would be ineligible to return for the rest of the season and the playoffs.

The Flames have ample salary cap space right now (just over $15 million, per PuckPedia), so they likely wouldn’t need to delve into LTIR.

Restrictions on double-retention trades​

So, remember how the Flames engaged in three-team swaps when they traded Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin in 2024? Well, that won’t fly now. Under the new CBA, retained salary trades impacting a player’s contract can only be done once every 75 regular season days.

So if you were thinking “Oh man, the Flames could use a double-retention trade to get Rasmus Andersson’s cap hit down to $1.14 million!”… Well, not anymore. It could be a bit of a minor hindrance for teams, like the Flames, looking to sell off expiring assets and trying to maximize their returns by getting their cap hits down, but it’s probably not the end of the world.

No more “paper transactions”​

For those who aren’t familiar with the term, a “paper transaction” is when a team sends a player down to their AHL affiliate but maybe a day or two, then brings them back up immediately.

Teams tend to use paper transactions for two main reasons:

1. They have very little cap space and are trying to save it up on days they don’t play games.
2. They have players that require waivers and are trying to maximize their 30-day exemption window.

The Flames have trended towards the second category lately. They have the Wranglers playing in the same building, and so they can swap players down the hall to the AHL pretty easily, and they’ve done so as recently as last season with players like Jakob Pelletier, Walker Duehr and Adam Klapka.

The new rule is that if a player is sent down from the NHL to the AHL, they have to play a game before they’re eligible to be called back up to the NHL. (There’s an exception for situations where a team would be short a goaltender without calling one up.) The impact on the Flames could be fairly subtle: when last season the Flames kept swapping Klapka up and down from the Wranglers, this coming season they might just rotate a pair of players up and down so they always have a few players eligible to be brought back up.

Four recall rule becomes five recall rule​

The old CBA limited teams to four non-emergency call-ups after the trade deadline (subject to the usual salary cap limitations), in an effort to prevent teams that were out of the playoff hunt from just bringing up their entire AHL roster. The four recall limit is now a five recall limit, with teams limited to having four players on their roster at any one time on non-emergency recalls.

(If your team would otherwise be short bodies for a game, you’re still allowed to call up players after the trade deadline on an emergency basis without it counting against your non-emergency limit.)

Playoff salary cap​

Good news, there’s a salary cap in the playoffs now!

Here’s how it works: on game days, teams submit a 20-player game lineup (two goalies, 18 skaters). The base cap hits of that game lineup, plus all other regular season cap obligations (buyouts, burials, and retained cap hits). Injured or inactive players on the NHL roster would not count against that playoff salary cap, just the players on that daily lineup. For salaries retained during the current season, cap hits are proportional to the full season cap hit, not pro-rated.

So if the Flames, hypothetically, trade Andersson to another team at 50% cap hit retained, they would carry that $2.275 million cap hit in the playoffs, even if the trade wasn’t made until the trade deadline.

The Flames would absolutely love to have to worry about the playoff salary cap.

No 19-year-olds CHLers in AHL (yet)​

Finally, while the various parties are discussing allowing 19-year-olds to play in the AHL, all indications are that won’t be something that happens this season. So for Zayne Parekh and Jacob Battaglia, their playing options are NHL or OHL for the coming season.

The USHL and CHL both made presentations to the GMs and coaches today in the meeting.
Bill Daly says both leagues wanted to express their views with the current landscape. Daly said CHL is concerned about what the new NHL/NHLPA CBA has regarding 19-year-old players (which…

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) September 3, 2025

What do you think of the new CBA changes? Do you think they’ll impact the Flames very much? Let us know in the comments!

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi​

This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.

Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/cba-changes-calgary-flames-2025-26

 

[Calgary Flames]

Eastern Conference off-season preview: Montréal Canadiens

The Montréal Canadiens just snuck into the post-season in 2024-25.

After trading for Patrik Laine before the season, the Canadiens were able to be competitive for the first time in a while, finishing in a wild card spot. They’ll look to improve their standing in the Eastern Conference in 2025-26.

Let’s take a look at how the Canadiens’ 2024-25 season went, what they’ve done so far this off-season, and how their team shapes up come October.

How the season went​

Thanks to the pandemic, the Montréal Canadiens had an easy pathway to the Conference Finals, defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in seven games, then sweeping the Winnipeg Jets. In just six games, they were able to knock off the Vegas Golden Knights, making the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time since they won it all in 1993. However, they fell in five games to the Tampa Bay Lightning, kick-starting a three-year rebuild.

Well, that rebuild ended in 2024-25, as the Canadiens finished with a 40-31-11 record with 91 points, just barely making the postseason on the final day. They had a tough opponent in the first round, taking on the team with the most points in the Eastern Conference, the Washington Capitals.

Unlike the 2010 post-season, there was no big upset for the Canadiens this time. Alexander Ovechkin scored his first career overtime winner in Game 1, the Capitals also took Game 2, before the Canadiens doubled up the Capitals by a score of 6-3 in Game 3. It was all the Capitals from there, though, as they defeated the Canadiens 5-2 in Game 4 and 4-1 in Game 5.

Drafted players​

The Canadiens had the 16th and 17th overall picks in the draft, but those were moved – more on that later. Their first pick was in the second round, as they selected Russian winger Alexander Zharovsky with the 34th overall pick.

In the third round, the Canadiens had three picks, using them to select centre Hayden Paupanekis 69th overall, defenceman Bryce Pickford 81st overall, and Russian netminder Arseny Radkov 82nd overall. Then, they selected centre L.J. Mooney with the 145th overall pick. With the 145th overall pick, the Canadiens selected their second netminder, Alexis Cournoyer from the Québec Maritimes Junior Hockey League’s Cape Breton Eagles.

Their final three picks were in the sixth or seventh round. With the 177th overall pick, the selected defenceman Carlos Handel, followed by another defenceman, Andrew MacNiel, 189th overall. In the seventh round, the Canadiens drafted Max Vig.

Trades​

So what happened to those two first-round picks? Well, the Canadiens sent them and former Calgary Flame Emil Heineman to the New York Islanders for the rights to restricted free agent Noah Dobson.

After some trades at the draft involving picks, the Canadiens sent netminder Cayden Primeau to the Carolina Hurricanes for a 2026 seventh-rounder. To make room on the right side of their defence, the Canadiens traded Logan Mailloux to the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Zack Bolduc, their final move of the off-season (so far).

The Canadiens also traded the injured Carey Price (and a fifth-round pick) to San Jose in exchange for Gannon Laroque, in an effort to get themselves out of LTIR this coming season.

Free agent signings​

The trade for Dobson included an eight-year contract extension for the right-shot defenceman, worth $9.5 million annually. They brought in netminder Kaapo Kähkönen, Sammy Blais, and Joseph Veleno, all three of whom could contend for depth spots on the Canadiens next season.

Moreover, the Canadiens extended defenceman Jaden Struble, signing him to a two-year deal worth $1.413 million annually, as well as netminder Jakub Dobeš to a two-year deal worth $965,000 annually.

Departures​

While the Canadiens were busy adding players, a few players ended up departing this off-season. Right-shot defenceman David Savard retired, Christian Dvorak signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Flyers, and Joel Armia departed for the Los Angeles Kings.

Last season, Dvorak scored 12 goals and 33 points in 82 games, while Armia scored 11 goals and 29 points in 81 games, playing a crucial role on their penalty kill. Former Calgary Flames’ prospect Emil Heineman was involved in the Dobson deal before the draft.

What the team looks like heading into 2025-26​

So how do the Canadiens shape up heading into the 2025-26 season? Nick Suzuki, Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, and Jake Evans are their four centres, a rather weak centre core. They make up for it on the wing, as their first line is projected to have Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovský. Their second line is projected to have Laine and Ivan Demidov, another strong line.

On the third line’s wing, Josh Anderson and Brendan Gallagher are expected to go between Newhook, while Veleno and Bolduc will be the wingers on the fourth line.

Their first pair on defence may feature Kaiden Guhle and reigning Calder Trophy winner, Lane Hutson. Dobson will take a role on the second pairing alongside Mike Matheson, while Alexandre Carrier is expected to form a partnership with Arber Xhekaj.

In net, Sam Montembeault is their probable starter, with Dobeš backing him up.

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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/eastern-conference-off-season-preview-montreal-canadiens

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames GM Craig Conroy doesn’t think Andersson situation will be a distraction: “He’s a professional”

When Craig Conroy became Calgary Flames general manager in 2023, he inherited a team in a bit of flux… and several prominent players on soon-to-expire contracts.

It was a bit of a mess.

The 2023-24 season, in particular, was messy despite everyone’s best efforts. The Flames never quite found traction with their game under new head coach Ryan Huska, something not at all helped by the club parting ways with four pending unrestricted free agents in-season in Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin. It’s a bit of a minor miracle they stayed near the playoff pack as long as they did.

Flash forward to this fall, and the Flames seem poised to enter the regular season with blueliner and alternate captain Rasmus Andersson on the final year of his contract. Speaking at the Flames’ season-opening golf tournament on Tuesday morning, Conroy downplayed notions that Andersson’s situation could be a distraction for the team.

“Rasmus and I talked, we’re good,” said Conroy, via Flames TV. “I mean, we know what we’ve talked about behind the scenes. And we’re good with where he’s at and what he’s doing and how he’s going to be. I mean, he’s a professional. The one thing, he’s very competitive. And to kind of be where we need to go, we need him to be at his best right from the start. I don’t think it’s going to be any kind of distraction.”

Conroy elaborated a bit when describing Andersson’s approach to the season.

“We talked to him yesterday,” said Conroy. “And, you know, the one thing, I mean, it’s a similar, you know, we’re not going to close the door on anything either. You know, we’re just going to, we need Rasmus to come in and be the player we think. He looks like he’s in great shape. He’s ready to go. He’s motivated. And the one thing, he wants to win. I mean, he’s a competitive guy that wants to win night in and night out. And, you know, if you talk to him, he wasn’t overly happy with the season last year. You know, and he knows he’s got another level. And I know with the Olympics, he’s motivated. He wants to be on that Olympic team. And he wants to win here in Calgary. So, you know, I think with all the good stuff, I just expect Rasmus to come in and do what he does and play hard for us.”

Andersson bristled a bit when discussing some of the off-season trade rumours, but also noted that he doesn’t think he’ll be a distraction.

“I’m not the first player in history to go in with one year left, and I probably won’t be the last either,” said Andersson, via Flames TV. “So, you know, it is what it is, and I’m here, I’m ready to play, and, you know, I’m quite excited for the season.”

A second-round pick by the Flames way back in 2015, Andersson has emerged as a really important player for the hockey club. He had a bit of a down year in 2024-25, though, punctuated by a minus-38 plus/minus rating – third-worst in the entire NHL. It’s not like Andersson was truly bad on the ice, but you can understand his hesitance to lock himself into a long-term deal with the Flames – or anywhere, for that matter – coming off a year with such blah numbers.

For what it’s worth, Andersson also wouldn’t close the door on returning to the Flames.

“Yeah, for sure. I mean, like, I’ve grown up in this city, and I said it at the press conference at the end of last year,” said Andersson. “I mean, I’ve loved every second of it, and that will never change. And now it’s the business side of it, and, you know, it’s smart of me to resign now after last season. I don’t know. I mean, I’ve read all season how much I suck, so, you know, it is what it is. So I just got to come out of the gates hot and just worry about myself and get the team in the best position possible.”

The Flames open main training camp next week. The regular season begins on Oct. 8 in Edmonton.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames...tion-will-be-a-distraction-hes-a-professional

 

[Calgary Flames]

Eastern Conference off-season preview: Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are poised to dominate the league for the foreseeable future.

After winning the Stanley Cup in 2024, expectations were high once again for the team from Sunrise, Florida. Those expectations rose further during the season, as they acquired Seth Jones and Brad Marchand.

Let’s take a look at how the Panthers’ 2024-25 season went, what they’ve done so far this off-season, and how their team will shape up come October.

How the season went​

Even though the Panthers acquired Jones and Marchand before the trade deadline, they limped into the post-season due to an injury to former Flame Matthew Tkachuk and Aaron Ekblad’s suspension.

Overall, they finished with a 47-31-4 record with 98 points, third-best in the Atlantic Division, just one point better than the Ottawa Senators. But after making two consecutive Stanley Cup Finals, were you really going to count the Panthers out?

For the second time in as many post-seasons, the Panthers kicked off the first round with a Battle of Florida, quickly dispelling the Tampa Bay Lightning in just five games. Their toughest test of the playoffs came in the second round, as they were down 2-0 in the series to the Toronto Maple Leafs and trailed 3-1 in Game 3. However, an overtime winner in Game 3 and dominance in Toronto led the Panthers to a Game 7 victory with a final score of 6-1.

Like the Lightning, the Carolina Hurricanes rolled over to the Panthers, falling in five games. Game 4 was the first time the Hurricanes won an Eastern Conference Final since 2006. proceeding to beat the Edmonton Oilers in seven games in the Stanley Cup Final. However, unlike their matchup from the 2023 post-season, this wasn’t even close, even if the Hurricanes were swept two years ago.

With an Eastern Conference Final victory under their belt, the Panthers took on the Oilers for the second consecutive season. They didn’t jump out to a 3-0 lead this time, as the Oilers won Game 1 in overtime on home ice, followed by a Panthers’ Game 2 victory, also in overtime. In Game 3, the Panthers started to take over, as they forced the Oilers to play their game, blowing them out to take a 2-1 series lead.

The Oilers managed to tie the series at two thanks to an overtime winner in Game 4, but it was all the Panthers from there. In a pivotal Game 5, the Panthers defeated the Oilers 5-2, followed by a 5-1 victory on home ice to capture their second Stanley Cup in franchise history.

Drafted players​

The Panthers traded many future picks over the years, with their first pick in the 2025 draft coming in the fourth round. With the 112th overall pick, they selected Frölunda winger Mads Kongsbak Klyvø from Denmark. Also in the fourth round, they selected winger Shea Busch, who was teammates with Calgary Flames prospect Eric Jamieson in Everett.

In the fifth round, the Panthers selected Shamar Moses, followed by Arvid Drott in the sixth round. With two seventh-round picks, the Panthers drafted Brendan Dunphy and Yegor Midlak, the latter being a Russian netminder.

Trades​

The most noteworthy trade from the Panthers this off-season trade for their backup in 2025-26, moving a 2025 fifth to the Columbus Blue Jackets for netminder Danill Tarasov. They also traded Justin Sourdif to the Washington Capitals for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick, giving them draft capital for a move at the 2026 trade deadline.

Other than those two moves, the Panthers traded their 2026 seventh-round pick to the Chicago Blackhawks for the pick used to draft Dunphy.

Free agent signings​

Where the Panthers made their biggest mark this off-season is with free agents. More specifically, they had three pending unrestricted free agents who were keys to their Stanley Cup victory: Marchand, Ekblad, and former Flame, Sam Bennett.

Thanks to a winning culture and being a tax-free state, the Panthers were able to re-sign all three. Bennett signed an eight-year deal worth $8 million annually, Ekblad also signed an eight-year deal worth $6.1 million annually, and the 37-year-old Marchand signed a six-year deal worth $5.25 million annually.

Additionally, the Panthers were also able to re-sign Tarasov to a one-year deal worth $1.05 million, as well as Mackie Samoskevich on a one-year deal worth $775,000. They also brought in Jeff Petry, who agreed to a one-year deal on a league-minimum deal, while Luke Kunin signed the same deal toward the end of August.

Departures​

There were departures from the Panthers, but no one who left will hurt their chances of a three-peat. Defenceman Nate Schmidt is the most notable departure, as he signed a three-year deal with the Utah Mammoth.

Nico Sturm signed a two-year deal with the Minnesota Wild, while netminder Vítek Vaněček signed with the Los Angeles Kings.

What the team looks like heading into 2025-26​

So, how do the Panthers stack up heading into the 2025-26 season as they look to win their third consecutive Stanley Cup? Down the middle, they’ll have Aleksander Barkov, Bennett, Anton Lundell, and Tomas Nosek, a strong centre core.

On the wing, they’ll have Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Evan Rodrigues, and Matthew Tkachuk in their top-six, although Tkachuk will be out of the lineup to start the year. In the bottom six, they have Eetu Luostarinen, Marchand, A.J. Greer, Jonah Gadjovich, and Samoskevich.

Defensively, Gustav Forsling and Ekblad make up a strong top pairing, followed by Niko Mikkola and Jones on the second pairing. Their left-shot defenceman on the third pair is Dmitry Kulikov, who’ll be paired with Petry.

In between the pipes, the Panthers will run Russian veteran Sergei Bobrovsky as their starter, with Tarasov backing him up.

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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/eastern-conference-off-season-preview-florida-panthers

 

[Calgary Flames]

Eastern Conference off-season preview: Tampa Bay Lightning

It was a quiet season for the Tampa Bay Lightning.

After winning back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2020 and 2021, the Lightning haven’t been able to get out of the first round since they fell in the Stanley Cup Final to the Colorado Avalanche in 2022. Their window of contention is quickly fading, if it’s not already gone.

Let’s take a look at how their 2024-25 season went, what they’ve done so far this off-season, as well as how the team stacks up in 2025-26.

How the season went​

The Tampa Bay Lightning had a strong regular season, finishing with a 47-27-8 record with 102 points, the second-best point total in the Atlantic Division. They were especially strong at home, finishing with a 29-8-4 record, one of the best home records in the league. However, they were below .500 on the road, posting an 18-19-4 record.

They made one significant trade during the season, moving Michael Eyssimont, a 2025 second-round pick, their 2026 first-round pick, and their 2017 first-round pick for Oliver Bjorkstrand, Kyle Aucoin, Yanni Gourde, and a 2026 fifth-round pick and a 2025 fourth-round pick.

The Lightning had a first-round match-up against the Florida Panthers for the second consecutive season, and it didn’t go great. Game 1 was a 6-2 defeat, and Game 2 was a 2-0 defeat to put them in a hole early. They got a 5-1 win in Game 3, but followed that up with a 4-2 loss in Game 4 and a 6-3 loss in Game 5 to be bounced in the first round for the third consecutive season.

Both picks have top-10 protection, but we may look back at that mid-season trade as one of the worst in recent memory.

Drafted players​

The Lightning’s 2025 first-round pick was traded in an equally dismal trade that saw them acquire Tanner Jeannot back in 2023. Their first pick in the 2025 draft was with the 56th selection, using it to draft centre Ethan Czata from the Ontario Hockey League’s Niagara IceDogs.

In the fourth round, the Lightning selected centres Benjamin Rautiainen (108th) and Aiden Foster (127th). They also selected Everett Baldwin 151st overall. Moreover, the Lightning had four seventh-round picks, draft netminder Caleb Heil, centre Roman Luttsev, defenceman Grant Spada, and winger Marco Mignosa.

Trades​

With all their picks traded, the Lightning weren’t very active in the trade market. They moved their 2025 sixth-round pick to the Carolina Hurricanes for 23-year-old Lucas Mercuri. On the second day of the draft, the Lightning traded their 2026 fourth-rounder to the Boston Bruins for a 2025 fourth-rounder.

Their lone notable move came on July 8, sending 2025 Hobey Baker winner Isaac Howard to the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for right-shot centre Sam O’Reilly.

Free agent signings​

After losing captain Steven Stamkos and signing Jake Guentzel during the 2024 free agency period, it was a quiet July for the Lightning on the free agent side of things. Depth forward Pontus Holmberg secured a two-year deal worth $1.55 million annually, while Boris Katchouk signed a one-year deal worth $775,000.

The Lightning also agreed to terms with former Calgary Flame Jakob Pelletier after he didn’t receive a qualifying offer. They signed him to a three-year deal worth $775,000, a low-risk, high-reward type of signing.

Departures​

The Lightning’s departures are more notable than their additions. Defenceman Nick Perbix was an important top-four defender for them last season, but he signed a two-year contract with the Nashville Predators.

They also lost Luke Glendening, who signed a professional tryout with the New Jersey Devils, while Cam Atkinson remains an unrestricted free agent.

What the team looks like heading into 2025-26​

Although the Lightning have been eliminated in the first round the past three seasons, it’s still a strong team with Stanley Cup experience. Down the middle, they have Brayden Point, Anthony Cirelli, Nick Paul, and Gourde. On the wings, they have Guentzel, Nikita Kucherov, Brandon Hagel, Gage Goncalves, Conor Geekie, Bjorkstrand, Holmberg, and Chaffee. It’s not a bad forward core.

That said, their defence is a bit of a concern. Victor Hedman leads the defence, but the rest of the core is J.J. Moser, Ryan McDonagh, Erik Cernak, Emil Lilleberg, and Darren Raddysh, a clear area that will need an upgrade with very few assets to give up ahead of the trade deadline.

Between the pipes, Andrei Vasilevskiy had a strong season before collapsing in the playoffs. His backup could be Jonas Johansson.

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Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/eastern-conference-off-season-preview-tampa-bay-lightning

 

[Calgary Flames]

Zayne Parekh won’t participate in Flames prospects training camp for ‘precautionary reasons’

The Calgary Flames’ top prospect won’t be hitting the ice for the club’s pair of games against the Edmonton Oilers’ prospects this weekend.

On Wednesday morning, the Flames announced that blueliner Zayne Parekh won’t be participating in the club’s prospects training camp for “precautionary reasons.” On Tuesday, prior to the start of the Flames Foundation’s season-opening golf tournament, general manager Craig Conroy noted that Parekh had been dealing with an injury.

Here’s Conroy (via Flames TV):

You know, Zayne, we’re still working through with his injury from the summer. But he is skating. He’s going to skate today. So hopefully everything, by the time camp gets going here, he’s feeling good and ready to go.

Parekh was pulled from Hockey Canada’s World Junior Summer Showcase in late July for similar “precautionary reasons” due to a lower body injury. The Flames’ release announcing Parekh’s absence from prospects training camp also noted that he’s expected to be a full participant in main camp when it opens on Sept. 18.

A first-round selection by the Flames in the 2024 NHL Draft, ninth overall, Parekh was deemed the Flames’ top prospect in FlamesNation’s summer prospect rankings over the summer. And the reason for that is pretty simple: he’s really good at hockey.

• Parekh posted back-to-back 33 goal seasons, the first time an OHL blueliner has ever accomplished that feat (and the first time any Ontario junior blueliner has done it since Bobby Orr).
• Parekh posted 107 points in 2024-25, the first time an OHL blueliner has hit three digits since Ryan Ellis in 2010-11.
• While Parekh was “only” named the OHL and CHL Defenceman of the Year in 2023-24, he’s been a first-team all-star in both the OHL and CHL in each of the past two seasons.
• Parekh made his NHL debut at the tail end of 2024-25, scoring a goal in his first game.

Simply put: Parekh is an incredibly talented young player who’s expected to push for full-time NHL duty this coming season. It makes perfect sense to make sure he’s fully recovered physically before he takes a run at an NHL roster spot. Missing a couple prospects games against Edmonton, while disappointing for the fans who had hoped to watch him, won’t diminish his chances at making the Flames roster.

And we’re pretty sure that Flames fans will have ample opportunity to watch Parekh play over the next year (and beyond).

The Flames prospects play in Edmonton on Friday night before hosting the Oilers’ prospects on Sunday afternoon at the Saddledome.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/zayne-...pects-training-camp-for-precautionary-reasons

 

[Calgary Flames]

MacKenzie Weegar the 16th-best NHL defenceman in Daily Faceoff’s 2025 High Noon ranking

Folks, if you’ve watched the Calgary Flames much over the past several seasons, you’ve probably noticed the play of blueliner MacKenzie Weegar. Simply put, Weegar’s been very good for the Flames since his arrival from Florida during the 2022 off-season, aside from a brief adjustment period during the 2022-23 campaign.

But if you’re tired about our writing staff waxing poetic about how dang good Weegar has been, good news: others are joining the chorus in praising Weegar.

Over at Daily Faceoff, the great Paul Pidutti – who you can find on social media under Adjusted Hockey – has developed the High Noon methodology to rank players, and he recently published his top 40 NHL blueliners. “The method uses a three-year weighted average of adjusted point shares to systematically rank the league’s players by position.” The methodology focuses on offensive production, not underlying numbers, and so it’s unabashedly skewed towards offensive blueliners via its design, with the weighed skewed skewed towards more recent offensive production.

On this year’s edition of the High Noon defenceman ranking, Weegar has slotted in as the 16th-best blueliner in the league. That’s a jump up from 30th in 2024 and 35th in 2023.

From a production standpoint, Weegar had eight goals (tied for 34th) and 47 points (tied for 16th) in 2024-25. Over the past three seasons (2022-25 inclusive), he has 32 goals (19th) and 130 points (tied f0r 22nd). In the grand scheme of things, 16th feels roughly where he should be based on his offensive production and year-to-year consistency in his production.

Weegar’s Flames teammate, Rasmus Andersson, was 34th on last year’s High Noon list but dropped to 75th in this year’s edition, a product of his offensive production taking a dip in 2024-25.

At 16th on the High Noon list, Weegar slots in behind (in order) Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Josh Morrissey, Adam Fox, Evan Bouchard, Victor Hedman, Rasmus Dahlin, Shea Theodore, Roman Josi, Devon Toews, Vince Dunn, Zach Werenski, Gustav Forsling, Mattias Ekholm and Thomas Harley. That’s not bad company to be keeping.

The 2025-26 season will be Weegar’s fourth with the Flames, and the third year in an eight year deal that carries a $6.25 million cap hit. At his current cap hit, Weegar is tied for 49th among the league’s blueliners in that category with Ekholm, Morrissey, Ryan Ellis, Damon Severson, Travis Sanheim, Alexander Romanov and Bowen Byram.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/macken...eman-in-daily-faceoffs-2025-high-noon-ranking

 

[Calgary Flames]

Friedman on Andersson: ‘At some point this year, Craig Conroy is going to get what he wants to get to move him’

Rasmus Andersson is under contract with the Calgary Flames through the 2025-26 season.

But his future beyond this season remains unclear, with projections ranging from “murky” to “definitely being traded.” Heck, during the NHL’s European Player Media Tour, Flames captain Mikael Backlund told The Athletic regarding Andersson: “He’s getting traded. It’s obvious.”

However, for the time being, Andersson remains with the Flames, with general manager Craig Conroy noting prior to the season-opening Flames Foundation golf tournament that he doesn’t think Andersson’s situation will be a distraction.

In the latest edition of the 32 Thoughts podcast, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas discussed Andersson’s future.

Here’s Friedman:

“I just think it’s going to come down to do the Flames get what they want for them? And, you know, the thing here is it looks like it’s, it sounds like it’s everybody here is doing their best to bend over backwards and be professional. Right? Andersson showed up. He’s ready. He’s going to play. The Flames obviously keep putting him in good positions where he gets a lot of minutes and he gets opportunity. So, and because he’s a good player, it benefits them to do that. So I just believe that at some point this year, Craig Conroy is going to get what he wants to get to move him. And I think that’s simply what’s going to happen.”

Friedman and Bukauskas also discussed how attractive Andersson’s current contract is, especially with the new playoff salary cap rules. Andersson’s current cap hit is $4.55 million, and it could be as low as $2.275 million if the Flames could be convinced to retain 50% of his cap hit in a deal.

“So this is a player who’s going to be available this year that the new salary cap rules, they’re not going to be as onerous towards,” said Friedman. “And I don’t think that’s a small thing. I just think at some point in time this year, everybody will get what they want.”

The Flames’ prospects play a pair of games against Edmonton’s prospects this weekend before beginning main training camp next week.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/friedm...going-to-get-what-he-wants-to-get-to-move-him

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames Post-Game: Flames rookies outscore Oilers in Battle of Alberta showdown

The first Battle of Alberta has gone the Calgary Flames’ way.

On Friday evening, after a 30-minute delay due to travel issues, the Flames rookies took on the Edmonton Oilers rookies, defeating them 6-5 in a fun, high scoring game with a bunch of ups and downs.

It may have been due to the late arrival, but the Flames appeared slow to start the game. Just over four minutes into the game, the Oilers’ Viljami Marjala opened the scoring as all five Flames were deep in the zone. On the breakaway, the Finnish centre slid it between Owen Say’s pad for the opening goal.

Marjala opens the #BattleofAlberta pic.twitter.com/IiK1j1TPPI

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 13, 2025

The Flames responded just over three minutes later, as Kadon McCann battled to get a shot off on the Oilers’ netminder. Although it was saved and put behind the net, Nathan Brisson was able to follow it up and put it to the front of the net, finding Hunter Laing for the tap-in.

Hunter Laing, the Flames 2024 6th round pick, ties the game for Calgary! pic.twitter.com/HhAR5toIo8

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) September 13, 2025

After the first period, the two teams were deadlocked at one, but it was the Flames that took over in the second period. With a little under six minutes burned off the clock, Oilers’ forward Brady Stonehouse had a rough turnover, and Jacob Battaglia picked up the puck. It didn’t take long for the Flames’ 2024 second-rounder to make a decision, throwing the puck over to Brisson, who tapped it in.

Jacob Battaglia takes advantage of a brutal Oiler turnover and finds Nathan Brisson who buries it! pic.twitter.com/bfBx53eiHb

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) September 13, 2025

The Flames converted on their first power play of the game less than a minute into it. After some puck movement, the puck went to 2024 first-rounder Matvei Gridin above the face-off dot. He found Samuel Honzek backdoor, with the Flames’ 2023 first-rounder deflecting it in with his skate for the 3-1 lead with a little over half the game remaining.

Matvei Gridin shoots the puck off Sam Honzek's skate and it finds it's way to the back of the net.

It's 3-1 Flames pic.twitter.com/wlQyZiKDIK

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) September 13, 2025

With under two minutes left in the period, 2026 third-rounder Mace’o Phillips forced a turnover and started the offence the other way. He showed good poise to get the puck to Aydar Suniev, and after a give-and-go with Carter King, the Flames’ 2023 third-rounder buried it with a one-timer.

Aydar Suniev puts the Flames up 4-1

Great play by Maceo Phillips to get the Flames transition game going. pic.twitter.com/JeIRr2RbLE

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) September 13, 2025

On a neutral zone face-off with about six minutes into the third period, the Flames looked slow and allowed Oilers’ top prospect Matthew Savoie to split the defence. A slash resulted in a penalty shot, with Savoie just barely slipping it by Say’s pad to cut the lead in half.

Savoie strikes on the penalty shot pic.twitter.com/8ssdowrihN

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 13, 2025

The Flames got that goal back with about 11 minutes to play. It was a bit of a broken odd-man rush, with Gridin firing it from a tough angle, getting a fortuitous bounce off the Oilers’ netminder back for the 5-2 lead.

Matvei Gridin banks a shot off the Oilers goalie's back and it's 5-2 Flames! pic.twitter.com/pyEHmfx0Ry

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) September 13, 2025

It didn’t take long for the Flames to extend their lead to four, as the Flames had a heavy forecheck on the shift after the fifth goal. A pinch led to the puck coming to Hunter Laing, who threw it across to a wide-open Parker Bell, who beat the Oilers’ netminder to take a 6-2 lead.

Parker Bell snipe

It's 6-2 Flames pic.twitter.com/N0FR3AAEac

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) September 13, 2025

The Oilers got their third goal of the game late in the third period, as the Flames had a horrific change, allowing Matt Capponi to find Connor Clattenburg all alone in front of the net, chipping it over Say’s blocker to make it 6-3.

Copponi to Clattenburg pic.twitter.com/0e74N1t1qP

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 13, 2025

It didn’t take the Oilers to make things interesting, as Savoie burst in with speed again, slipping it under Say’s pads on a partial break to bring the Oilers to within two.

Savoie's second of the night pic.twitter.com/1b9QikPFUw

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 13, 2025

The Oilers managed to make it a one-goal game, but it was far too late as Quinn Hutson was able to beat Say over the glove with just two seconds left, giving the game a final score of 6-5.

Hutson makes it pic.twitter.com/r7I79mGhYz

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 13, 2025

Takeaways…​

Early in the broadcast, it was noted that Samuel Honzek gained 15 pounds in the off-season. He was the best player on the ice all game, even picking up the Flames’ third goal of the game. Last season, he did well enough in pre-season to earn a spot on the roster. It wouldn’t be a shock to see him do the same.

Aydar Suniev scored the Flames’ fourth goal of the game, a well-placed one-timer that beat the Oilers’ netminder to the post. Unfortunately, he blocked a shot early in the third period and headed down the tunnel. Thankfully, he returned after missing a few shifts.

Owen Say was the Flames’ netminder in this game. He was beaten early in the game and did well to keep the puck out until the third period, before his defence let him down. There was no shot clock in this game, but Say was able to make a few big saves, especially in the first and second periods.

On defence, Mace’o Phillips had a fight and picked up an assist, showing great poise on the Flames’ fourth goal of the game. Étienne Morin and Hunter Brzustewicz were noticeable as well, completely dominating a shift in the second period.

Matvei Gridin had a good game and was bumped up to the first line while Suniev was injured. He picked up a goal and an assist and was all over the place. Pretty good game, and the same goes for Hunter Laing.

It was a feisty Battle of Alberta, as there were three separate fights in this game. It’s nice that hockey is back, even if it’s just rookie action. The two teams will battle again on Sunday at 4:00 PM MT.

---

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi​

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames...outscore-oilers-in-battle-of-alberta-showdown

 

[Calgary Flames]

Handicapping Flames camp battles ahead of 2025’s training camp

The Calgary Flames have 46 players on NHL contracts for the 2025-26 season, and all are going to be attending training camp.

In theory, all 46 of these players have a chance at starting the season with the big club. Of course, we live in reality, not theory, and so not everyone has the same shot at NHL glory this season.

Here’s our pre-camp rundown of which players have good chances and which are more long-shots to break camp with the Flames.

The NHL locks​

G Dustin Wolf, D Kevin Bahl, D MacKenzie Weegar, D Joel Hanley, D Rasmus Andersson, D Brayden Pachal, F Jonathan Huberdeau, F Nazem Kadri, F Matt Coronato, F Joel Farabee, F Morgan Frost, F Martin Pospisil, F Connor Zary, F Yegor Sharangovich, F Mikael Backlund, F Blake Coleman and F Ryan Lomberg

Alright, let’s unpack this: Wolf was quietly one of the NHL’s better goalies in 2024-25. Weegar, Bahl, Hanley and Andersson were top four defenders in 2024-25, while Pachal was a regular penalty-killer. The 11 forwards listed are, well, the Flames’ 11 best forwards.

So that’s 17 of the 23 roster spots spoken for, leaving a spot for a goalie, two (or three) defencemen and three (or two) forwards.

On the bubble​

G Ivan Prosvetov, G Devin Cooley, D Zayne Parekh, D Jake Bean, D Daniil Miromanov, D Ilya Solovyov, D Yan Kuznetsov, D Hunter Brzustewicz, F Justin Kirkland, F Adam Klapka, F Sam Morton, F Dryden Hunt and F Rory Kerins

This is where the action is! Six of these guys will probably start the season in the NHL. Two of the spots probably go to Zayne Parekh and one of the two goalies (Ivan Prosvetov or Devin Cooley). And then… chaos!

If Parekh makes the main roster, that gives the Flames six defenders, including four right shots. Sure, we’ve seen Weegar play the left extensively (and Pachal occasionally), but that probably gives a lefty the inside track on the seventh spot… right? And we’re reasonably sure that the Flames will carrying “only” seven defenders – one extra above the six they dress every game – but we thought that last year, too, and they carried eight blueliners for most of the season.

The Flames are lean on centres, so we’re thinking that Kirkland, Morton and (perhaps) Kerins have decent shots at roster spots. However, Klapka and Hunt have both spent time on the NHL roster in the past couple of seasons and they’ve shown to be really useful wingers that can be put anywhere in the lineup, so we would argue that they could be good contenders to make the roster as extras.

The dark horses​

F William Strömgren, F Sam Honzek, F Carter King and F Aydar Suniev

Strömgren is an experienced young pro now, with only consistency challenges keeping him out of the NHL. Honzek made the team out of camp last fall and seems to be in even better shape this year. King impressed in college and in his brief AHL appearance in the spring. And Suniev also impressed in college and showed well in his NHL debut in Game 82.

Other players may be better-positioned to make the NHL roster, but one or more of these four could surprise.

Likely AHL-bound​

G Owen Say, G Arsenii Sergeev, D Etienne Morin, D Nick Cicek, D Artem Grushnikov, D Jeremie Poirier, F Andrew Basha, F Matvei Gridin, F Clark Bishop, F Parker Bell and F Lucas Ciona

The numbers game dictates that not everyone has a realistic shot at the NHL roster. Several of these guys (Morin, Basha and Gridin especially) are really high-regarded prospects… but they’re first-year pros who could use AHL seasoning.

Back to the OHL​

F Jacob Battaglia

Battaglia is only eligible to play in the NHL or OHL this season due to his age. There’s just too many forwards ahead of him to play in the NHL this season.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/handicapping-flames-camp-battles-ahead-of-2025s-training-camp

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames ranked 11th in Daily Faceoff’s salary cap management rundown

Folks, hockey is a multi-faceted game. But since the introduction of the salary cap in 2005-06, it’s also a numbers game. The ability to effectively manage the salary cap can determine whether an NHL club can put a good team on the ice or not.

Over at Daily Faceoff, Scott Maxwell is in the process of unveiling his annual NHL team salary cap rankings. Earlier this week, he unveiled the 16th through 9th-best teams at managing the salary cap. Among them? The Calgary Flames, who clocked in at 11th in the league.

Maxwell’s rankings assess teams’ cap situations across five categories, and then aggregates their ratings across those categories. The five categories are Contract Rating (in short: how closely linked a player’s cap structure is to their performances), Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses, Dead Cap Space, Quality of Core, and their Cap Space to Skill Differential.

Here’s what Maxwell had to say about the Flames:

Contract Rating: 18th
Contracts with No-Trade/No-Move Clauses: t-5th
Dead Cap Space: t-20th
Quality of Core: 26th
Cap Space to Skill Differential: 3rd

The Flames are an interesting team to evaluate for their salary cap situation. On one hand, they have a young core that seems to be growing, and they’ve been very smart in investing in that core with excellent contracts handed out to Matt Coronato, Connor Zary and Dustin Wolf this summer. Calgary also doesn’t have a lot of players with clauses, which will come in handy if they aren’t quite as strong as last season and need to sell off some assets, and still have plenty of salary cap space if they are as good and want to add at the deadline.

But then Calgary also still has their fair share of blemishes to deal with. The most obvious one is the Jonathan Huberdeau contract, which still has six years left on it. On top of that, my model doesn’t love the extensions handed out to Yegor Sharangovich and Kevin Bahl, although it’s easy to see both of those improve down the road. And while the Flames do have a good young core locked up long term, that isn’t exactly reflected in their quality of core with those aforementioned contracts weighing it down.

Yeah, the Flames do have a few veterans over 30 with hefty deals like Jonathan Huberdeau ($10.5 million through 2030-31), Nazem Kadri ($7 million through 2028-29) and MacKenzie Weegar ($6.25 million through 2030-31). But despite that, they have a ton of salary cap flexibility this season and going forward, and several younger players locked up to pretty decent deals.

In terms of clauses, via PuckPedia there are seven players with active clauses: Huberdeau (full no-move), Kadri (full no-move), Mikael Backlund (full no-move), Yegor Sharangovich (10-team no-trade), Blake Coleman (10-team trade list), Rasmus Andersson (6-team no-trade) and Weegar (full no-trade).

Are the Flames in an ideal cap situation? Perhaps not. But they have a lot of flexibility and, as Maxwell’s league-wide snapshot indicates, they’re fairly well-situation relative to the rest of the league cap-wise as they proceed with their retooling process.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames-ranked-11th-in-daily-faceoffs-salary-cap-management-rundown

 

[Calgary Flames]

Flames Post-Game: Flames prospects sweep Oilers in showcase series

The Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers played their second and final prospect showcase game on Sunday evening. The back half of this series was in Calgary and another high scoring game brought the Flames the weekend sweep.

Flames lines​

Sam Honzek – Carter King – Matvei Gridin

Parker Bell – David Silye – Aydar Suniev

Jacob Battaglia – Nathan Brisson – Hunter Laing

Kadon McCann – Carter Wilkie – Mael Lavigne

Etienne Morin – Hunter Brzustewicz

Axel Hurtig – Siman Mack

Mace’o Phillips – Colton Alain

Arsenii Sergeev

Owen Say

Recap​

It came as no surprise that Zayne Parekh was absent for this game again after missing Friday’s match-up for precautionary reasons. The report is that he’s expected to participate in main camp. For this game, another precautionary scratch was made for Andrew Basha.

These young squads came out with high energy to start this game and some positional hiccups were to be expected. In this match-up, you could see players trying to anticipate moves of teammates they haven’t played with very much but despite that, they will still able to put on an exciting game.

The Oilers were the ones to strike first just 2:13 into the game with a one-timer from Tommy Lafreniere.

Lafreniere one-timer opens the game pic.twitter.com/G298vATiNE

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 14, 2025

Shortly after this goal, the first penalty of the game went against the Flames when Sam Honzek was called for tripping. The Flames managed to kill off this penalty and worked towards getting the answer back goal.

A few of the players that stuck out early in this game were Mace’o Phillips, who was putting up big hits and playing with a lot of confidence and Aydar Suniev and David Silye, who had the best looks for the first half of this frame.

The Flames would manage to even up the Oilers with a goal from Mael Lavigne. Calgary set up a passing play with this fourth line and Lavigne finished it on the rebound at 15:36.

Right there to clean it up pic.twitter.com/HZemGlhlO0

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 14, 2025

The first period finished with a deadlocked 1-1 score. In the second period, the Flames got on an early power play but were not able to capitalize on this opportunity. The next goal came for the Flames off the stick of Nathan Brisson. Jacob Battaglia came up on the rush with a forehand backhand play that Brisson sent to the back of the net.

Magnifique! pic.twitter.com/ZzG827Xd2d

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 14, 2025

The Flames managed to put more space between themselves and the Oilers with a top shelf snipe from Matvei Gridin on a scrambled Oilers turnover.

Sheesh pic.twitter.com/4xvBCk00bl

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 14, 2025

With just over three minutes to go in the second, Kadon McCann took a slashing penalty and Edmonton put themselves within one on the power play. Sergeev didn’t get a great read on this awkward shot and Tommy Lafreniere put the puck past the Flames’ netminder.

Just for Lafs pic.twitter.com/MvqtqWhthN

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 14, 2025

By the end of the middle frame, the Flames held a 3-2 lead over their northern rivals. Calgary got their two goal lead back pretty quickly when Colton Alain went blocker side and in.

Picked his spot pic.twitter.com/DLjlsGTbqp

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 15, 2025

Less than a minute later, the Oilers answered back on a glove side shot on Sergeev. This goal came from Josh Samanski.

Samanski gets a goal & +70 aura points pic.twitter.com/cGQ0eqwoPB

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 15, 2025

A few minutes later, the Flames were on the power play and Parker Bell took a shot that tipped off Hunter Laing to make it a 5-3 game for the home team.

Just like they drew it up! pic.twitter.com/KXBsdXIP3O

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 15, 2025

The Oilers didn’t let this game close out without another goal on their side. They put some zone pressure on the Flames and after losing sight of the shot prior, Sergeev couldn’t get a good read on this shot through traffic. Parker Von Richter was the fourth goal scorer for the Oilers.

Von Richter through traffic pic.twitter.com/DpkCwfkVnh

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) September 15, 2025

The Oilers pulled their netminder towards the final few minutes of regulation and the Flames got a couple of looks at the empty net but didn’t end up lighting the lamp one more time before time ran out.

At the end of 60 minutes, the Flames took a 5-4 victory over the Oilers and completed the prospect showcase sweep.

Takeaways​

The Flames prospect depth is very impressive at this point. These guys played with a lot of hunger and speed that will be interesting to watch as they develop in their professional careers. Mace’o Phillips in particular, has been a good story out of prospect camp and again played a clean game and used his size to his advantage. His pairing with Colton Alain and the Etienne Morin and Hunter Brzustewicz pairing were the most noticeable on the back end.

The top two lines were very impressive this game with all three players on each line having stand out moments as the game went on. Brisson’s line also had moments that impressed but you really felt the difference when the AHL vets were on the ice.

Someone who didn’t really stand out as much as expected was Arsenii Sergeev. His game seemed a little unsure and his puck tracking was a bit weak. He didn’t show much confidence in net but the scoring and the coverage from his defenders bailed him out in this game.

Next up​

This game wrapped up the prospect camp portion of pre-season and next will be the main camp for the Flames that will bring many more familiar faces. Quite a few of these players have earned themselves an invite and a chance to prove themselves with the NHLers. The ones who made the cut will be announced in the coming days.

This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi​

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flames-post-game-flames-prospects-sweep-oilers-in-showcase-series

 

[Calgary Flames]

FlamesNation Mailbag: Looking ahead to training camp

The Calgary Flames have concluded their annual prospects training camp, defeating the Edmonton Oilers in both sides of a home-and-home set featuring each club’s youngest players.

Now, we turn our attention to the main portion of training camp, which kicks off later this week. But first up, we turn to the mailbag!

Any ideas around the backup goalie position? I assume it's Ivan Prosvetov's job to lose. Is Devin Cooley NHL-ready? Going to be a lot on Dustin Wolf's shoulders once the season starts. How much runway do you see Prosvetov getting?

— Maureen (@mbbrennan) September 14, 2025

We’re leaning towards Ivan Prosvetov as backup, primarily because he has more NHL experience than Devin Cooley and has NHL experience as a backup netminder. But it’s probably a situation that the Flames are monitoring all season with both Prosvetov and Cooley only under contract for the upcoming season.

How many forwards are locked into the opening night roster? Is their room for a young guy to earn a spot on the team if they have a good camp? Or do we think that would most likely require an injury

— Aidan (@aidan_thakkar) September 14, 2025

On paper, I have 11 forwards locked into opening night roster spots: Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, Morgan Frost, Martin Pospisil, Joel Farabee, Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, Yegor Sharangovich and Ryan Lomberg.

Behind them, there’s Justin Kirkland and Adam Klapka, both on one-ways, who have strong chances and probably would need to play their way off the team. So there might be just one roster spot left in the forward ranks to battle over, assuming they go with seven defenders and 14 forwards on the opening roster.

I could see players like Dryden Hunt, Sam Honzek, Sam Morton and Rory Kerins getting some consideration for that spot. When I look at the potential 13th and 14th forwards, the Flames have seemed to have a preference to players with a bit of positional versatility – that can play up and down the lineup, or play multiple positions – and so that may favour players like Hunt and Kerins.

How can a team with one of the league’s worst 5-on-5 shooting percentages last year improve offensively without elite talent? And how will this affect our future, especially if they won't commit to fully tanking for a potential super star caliber talent

— Stinky Man (@LilMoserGaming) September 14, 2025

The Flames probably look at the young pieces they have in their system, and the on-ice system they’ve instilled over the past season or so, and conclude that they have created a situation where they were a sneeze away from making the playoffs on a roster that arguably was pretty low on execution and elite skill. If you maintain that structure and then add in a few younger players with a bit more skill to them, suddenly you start executing on those chances that didn’t go in a year ago. That’s probably their mindset: they’ve framed out the edges of the puzzle, but now they need to start filling in the gaps to complete the picture.

DFO published a re-draft of the last few years. For 2024 it had Zeev Buium at #2 and Parekh at #7. I think of ZB as the road not taken and given lots of buzz about his progress, I wonder if maybe they should’ve. How do you see it? (For the record, I like Parekh.)

— John Ludwick (@jludwick66) September 14, 2025

Zeev Buium was so much fun to watch in his draft year. For those unfamiliar, Buium was drafted 12th overall by Minnesota while the Flames took Zayne Parekh at ninth overall. Buium had a superb draft year in the NCAA, while Parekh impressed in the OHL. From scouts I chatted with and reports I read, the perception that I got was that Buium was a bit more physically mature and had a better “overall” 200-foot game, while Parekh was seen as having a higher offensive ceiling.

Both are really impressive young defenders, and which player you prefer now (or preferred at last year’s draft) probably depended on what type of player you liked better.

Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/BlueSky at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan.Pike [at] BetterCollective.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/flamesnation-mailbag-looking-ahead-to-training-camp

 

[Calgary Flames]

Putting Dustin Wolf’s new Flames extension in context

Last week, the Calgary Flames made a big splash, signing netminder Dustin Wolf to a gigantic seven year extension worth $7.5 million per season.

In making that move, general manager Craig Conroy locked his team’s starting netminder in until 2032-33. He also handed out one of the biggest contracts in franchise history. We thought we’d dig into current NHL deals, and historical Flames deals, to put Wolf’s extension in the proper context.

(Stick taps to our pals at PuckPedia for all the contractual information!)

All goalie contracts, 2025-26​

1. Igor Shesterkin (NYR), $11.5 million AAV
2. Carey Price (SJS), $10.5 million AAV [injured]
3. Sergei Bobrovsky (FLA), $10 million AAV
4. Andrei Vasilevskiy (TBL), $9.5 million AAV
5. Connor Hellebuyck (FLA), $8.5 million AAV
6. Linus Ullmark (OTT), $8.25 million AAV
7. Ilya Sorokin (NYI), $8.25 million AAV
8. Jake Oettinger (DAL), $8.25 million AAV
9. Jeremy Swayman (BOS), $8.25 million AAV
10. Juuse Saros (NSH), $7.74 million AAV
11. Dustin Wolf (CGY), $7.5 million AAV

Of the nine non-injured goaltenders with a higher cap hit than Wolf next season, five of them have won the Vezina Trophy: Shesterkin, Bobrovsky, Vasilevskiy, Hellebuyck and Ullmark. And every single one of those nine goaltenders are two years older than Wolf or more.

The biggest-ever Flames contracts​

Wolf’s deal was just the fourth deal ever signed by the Flames with a total value of $50 million or more. Not shockingly, due to the recent growth in the salary cap, all of those deals are pretty recent.

MacKenzie Weegar’s current deal (eight years at $6.25 million) has a total value of $50 million. That was surpassed by Wolf’s deal (seven years at $7.5 million), which reached $52.5 million. Matthew Tkachuk’s sign-and-trade deal with Florida in 2022 reached $76 million (eight years at $9.5 million) and was surpassed shortly after by Jonathan Huberdeau’s $84 million pact (eight years at $10.5 million).

In terms of total dollars dolled out by the Flames, Wolf is technically third but functionally second (given that Florida negotiated Tkachuk’s deal and the Flames executed it as part of the trade).

(Yes, two of the three biggest deals given out by the Flames to players they were keeping were given to Weegar and Wolf, a pair of seventh-round picks.)

The biggest-ever Flames cap hits​

Based on the prior section, you can probably make some guesses about which players have had the largest cap hits in Flames history.

Wolf’s $7.5 million AAV is third in franchise history, behind Huberdeau ($10.5 million) and Tkachuk’s 2022 sign-and-trade ($9.5 million).

Behind Wolf are a trio of players with a $7 million cap hit: Jarome Iginla (from his 2008 extension), Nazem Kadri (from his current free agent deal, signed in 2022) and Tkachuk’s 2019 bridge contract.

When you take into account the growth of the salary cap and instead look at percentage of the total salary cap each deal represented when they started, the rankings shift around a bit.

• Huberdeau’s $10.5 million AAV was 12.57% of 2023-24’s cap.
• Iginla’s $7 million AAV was 12.34% of 2008-09’s cap.
• Tkachuk’s $9.5 million AAV was 11.52% of 2022-23’s cap.
• Tkachuk’s $7 million AAV was 8.59% of 2019-20’s cap.
• Kadri’s $7 million AAV was 8.48% of 2022-23’s cap.
• Wolf’s $7.5 million AAV is 7.21% of 2025-26’s cap.

However you slice it, it’s a lot of money and one of the largest deals in franchise history. But when you look at how important Wolf was to the Flames in 2024-25, and his overall career trajectory, it may just be worth it to the Flames – especially when you consider that Wolf’s cap hit is cemented through 2032-33 while the cap keeps on growing.

What do you think of Wolf’s new deal? Let us know in the comments!

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/putting-dustin-wolfs-new-flames-extension-in-context

 

[Calgary Flames]

The Flames’ European prospects are impressing early in the season

Gang, it’s September, and five of the Calgary Flames’ prospects are already playing regular season games in scenic Europe.

Their two Russian goaltenders have played a little bit, and they’re rotating starts for their respective teams. But the three skaters – two Swedish and one Russian – are playing really prominent roles for their hockey clubs so far.

The Canadian Hockey League gets going this coming weekend – the Flames’ three CHL prospects likely miss opening weekend because they’ll be at Flames camp – but let’s check in with the five Europeans already active.

Jakob Leander – D, HV71, U20 Nationell​

18; Calgary’s seventh round pick (208th overall) in the 2025 NHL Draft; 6’4″, 196 pounds; shoots right

GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	2	0	2	2	2	2	2	4	16.40
2024-25 (J20)	39	1	5	6	3	5	3	33	2.52

Leander is playing on the right side of HV71’s first pairing, alongside Vashek Blanar, with Leander serving as an alternate captain this season. So far, so good. Leander isn’t an offensive-minded player necessarily, but it must feel good for him to be one-third of the way to last season’s points production so quickly.

Yan Matveiko – C, Krasnaya Armiya Moskva, MHL​

19; Calgary’s seventh round pick (211th overall) in the 2025 NHL Draft; 6’1″, 150 pounds; shoots left

GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	6	3	4	7	4	6	3	8	13.68
2024-25 (MHL)	42	10	14	24	20	21	17	68	6.70

Through a quirk of the MHL schedule, Krasnaya Armiya has already played six games while others have played three or four times. He’s off to a really good start, with seven points through six games, including a two point effort on Tuesday.

He’s playing second line centre alongside Nazar Privalov and captain Danila Poroshkov, but actually leads the team in forward ice time because he’s first unit power play and first unit penalty kill. It’s early, but he’s won 50% of his face-offs.

Theo Stockselius – C, Djurgårdens IF, U20 Nationell​

18; Calgary’s second round pick (54th overall) in the 2025 NHL Draft; 6’2″, 181 pounds; shoots left; FN’s 12th-ranked prospect 2025

GP	G	A	P	P1	5v5 P	5v5 P1	SH	NHLe
Season to date	2	0	4	4	3	3	3	3	32.80
2024-25 (J20)	40	22	29	51	38	35	29	93	20.91

Stockselius has a pair of two-assist games so far, which is great. But his club blew a 3-0 lead in their second game, eventually losing 7-3, which is less good. Stockselius is playing first line centre between wingers Arvid Drott and Marcus Nordmark and wears an A. He’s playing in every game situation, too.

Yegor Yegorov – G, MHK Spartak-MAX, MHL​

20; Calgary’s sixth round pick (176th overall) in the 2023 NHL Draft; 6’3″, 183 pounds

GP	TOI	SV%
Season to date	2	120	.918
2024-25 (MHL)	20	1032	.904

Yegorov has played twice for Spartak Moskva’s second junior team, MHK Spartak-MAX, and has a win and a loss.

He’s also dressed for one game as backup for Spartak’s VHL (minor pro) affiliate, Khimik Voskresensk, and was with the KHL team for a few days as their third goaltender.

Kirill Zarubin – G, AKM Tula, MHL​

19; Calgary’s third round pick (84th overall) in the 2024 NHL Draft; 6’3″, 178 pounds; FN’s 18th-ranked prospect 2025

GP	TOI	SV%
Season to date	3	164	.912
2024-25 (MHL)	21	1157	.935

Zarubin and AKM Tula’s other netminder, Victor Levchenko, are alternating starts. So far Zarubin has started twice and played a game in relief. He has two overtime losses as the starting netminder.

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Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/the-flames-european-prospects-are-impressing-early-in-the-season