During the excitement of the Calgary Flames’ signing of James Neal, an interesting quote popped up from general manager Brad Treliving. In the context of adding depth to the Flames’ NHL roster, Treliving noted “it’s gotta be hard to get on the team.”

While a lot of attention has been paid to the bodies that will be fighting for NHL ice time, a similar accumulation of players with big-time experience has been going on at the American Hockey League level as prospective NHLers fill the Stockton Heat’s roster. While there are a few players knocking on the door for NHL duty – we see you there, Andrew Mangiapane – the summer additions have made it clear that nobody’s just going to be handed the first call-up (or the first open job).

Here’s a quick look at the AHL depth the Flames have culled together.

As a disclaimer, I’m presuming that David Rittich is the backup goalie in Calgary, Dalton Prout is the seventh defender, and that Curtis Lazar and Garnet Hathaway remain on the NHL roster but potentially get bumped to the press box.

Like with the big club, here’s where the heavy lifting was done. Gone are Emile Poirier, Marek Hrivik, Brett Findlay, Rod Pelley, Austin Carroll, Luke Gazdic and Tanner Glass. Added in their place are Dube, Gawdin, Phillips and Fischer from junior, Ehliz from Germany, and Quine, Graovac and Robinson from other organizations.

I think an argument can be made that the “filler bodies” (the 25-year-olds) are an upgrade on the guys that left, and the guys that will be relied upon to drive the offense are largely young and waiver exempt. It’s also worth noting that as Dube and Phillips, skilled smaller guys, join the Heat we see the organization add some big dudes in Graovac and Robinson to potentially play with them. I’m sure it’s a coincidence. (Spoiler: It is not.)

The first call-ups likely go to Mangiapane or Foo, or perhaps Klimchuk in a checking role. But Quine, Graovac and Robinson automatically get in based on their levels of NHL experience. It’s a more competitive conversation than it would’ve been a week ago.

Gone are Tyler Wotherspoon, Cody Goloubef, Colby Robak, Oleg Yevenko, Adam Ollas Mattsson and Kayle Doetzel – though I could see one or two sneaking back onto the roster on an AHL deal. They added Hogstrom to the mix as a veteran presence. They’ll probably add at least one more body on NHL contract just to have the roster filled out, plus a body or two on an AHL deal. But like with the forwards: their best players are young and waiver exempt.

Andersson likely gets the first call-up, but Valimaki and Kylington can make that conversation quite tougher with a strong training camp.

Most likely we’ll see Schneider and McDonald in Kansas City and Parsons and Gillies in Stockton. But since Schneider, Parsons and McDonald are all on entry-level deals, they can be floated back and forth to and from the ECHL to maximize their usage. So expect young Mr. Parsons to be getting a lot of games and a lot of traveling in.

As is becoming a theme, everyone’s quite young, but there’s no question who the first call-up here would be if anything happened to the NHL tenders.

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