Looking at the Calgary Flames reserve list by age group
By Ryan Pike
3 months agoIn his very first press conference as newly-minted general manager of the Calgary Flames, Craig Conroy discussed at some length the importance of integrating young players into the team’s lineup. Sure, it’s big from a salary cap management perspective, but it’s also important in terms of continuity and succession planning.
With that in mind, let’s look at the Flames’ reserve list by year of birth to get a sense of what trouble spots (if any) exist. (And apologies in advance if you start to feel old when you look at birth years.)
| Year | Player(s) |
| 1987 | Trevor Lewis [pending UFA] |
| 1988 | Milan Lucic [pending UFA] |
| 1989 | Chris Tanev Mikael Backlund |
| 1990 | Nazem Kadri Jacob Markstrom Michael Stone [pending UFA] |
| 1991 | Blake Coleman |
| 1992 | Tyler Toffoli |
| 1993 | Jonathan Huberdeau Kevin Rooney |
| 1994 | Elias Lindholm MacKenzie Weegar Nick DeSimone Troy Stecher [pending UFA] Oscar Dansk [pending UFA] |
| 1995 | Nikita Zadorov Colton Poolman [pending UFA] Dryden Hunt [pending UFA] Nick Ritchie [pending UFA] |
| 1996 | Rasmus Andersson Andrew Mangiapane Dennis Gilbert Clark Bishop [pending UFA] |
| 1997 | Noah Hanifin Oliver Kylington Walker Duehr Dan Vladar Kristians Rubins [pending UFA] Nicolas Meloche [pending UFA] |
| 1998 | Dillon Dube Matthew Phillips [pending UFA] |
| 1999 | Adam Ruzicka Ben Jones [pending RFA] Martin Pospisil [pending RFA] |
| 2000 | Adam Klapka Ilya Solovyov Emilio Pettersen [pending RFA] Demetrious Koumontzis [unsigned] |
| 2001 | Dustin Wolf Jakob Pelletier Connor Zary Cole Schwindt Ilya Nikolaev Josh Nodler [unsigned] Jake Boltmann [unsigned] Daniil Chechelev [unsigned] |
| 2002 | Matt Coronato Jeremie Poirier Yan Kuznetsov Rory Kerins Arsenii Sergeev [unsigned] |
| 2003 | Lucas Ciona William Stromgren Parker Bell [unsigned] |
| 2004 | Topi Ronni [unsigned] Cade Littler [unsigned] |
With the five guys the Flames didn’t sign on June 1, they’re losing one 2001 player (Lucas Feuk), one from 2002 (Cole Jordan) and three from 2003 (Cam Whynot, Jack Beck and Cole Huckins).
First, let’s look at the bright spots. The 2001 age group looks really promising: Wolf and Pelletier could be NHL regulars in 2023-24, while Zary had a very good AHL season and Schwindt had a pretty effective playoffs (after an uneven regular season). The 2002 group has some really good promise, too, between Coronato, Sergeev and Poirier.
A little bit up the age groups, that three-year period between 1996 and 1998 features basically every player you could say is a “young, established NHLer” in the system: Andersson, Mangiapane, Kylington, Hanifin, Duehr, Vladar and Dube.
The challenge for the Flames right now is all the money, term and prominence in the organization is skewed into the early 1990s (and 1989) cluster. Who wear letters for the Flames? Backlund, Tanev, Lindholm and Huberdeau. Who have the biggest contracts, in terms of cap and dollar? Huberdeau, Weegar and Kadri. Who are the guys leaned on to score in key moments? Or hold a lead in key moments? It’s all that 1989-1993 cluster.
Right now, the Flames feel like a team that leans on their older players. And that’s neither good nor bad, it’s merely a reality of how the team was constructed under Brad Treliving. But they have a few youngsters knocking on the door for potentially prominent roles. The challenge – for this off-season and the next few – will be figuring out if some of these young players can transition from being prominent prospects and into being key building blocks.
If the Flames want to become a younger, faster, more dynamic team, then some of their young faces need to grab hold of spots and show that they can be relied upon to be difference-makers for the hockey club.
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