Oliver Kylington returning to the Calgary Flames is good for the soul

There’s plenty of different things for the Calgary Flames to figure out heading into next season. Who will be the general manager? Who will be the head coach? Who wants to stay? Who wants to go? What style of hockey should the roster play, and how is the roster even constructed? All of these questions (and more) need to be answered as soon as possible, and the unknown is a scary thing. However, one player that fans will be looking for come the start of training camp is Oliver Kylington.

As everyone knows, Kylington missed the entirety of the season due to an unspecified personal issue. Well, after being radio silent through the entirety of the 2022-23 season, videos have surfaced of him doing off-ice workouts, and now, a couple of videos have surfaced of him on the ice.

The videos (from atunya_academy on Instagram) showcasing Kylington’s skating ability both on the blue line, through the neutral zone, and in transition from forwards to backward after passing the puck have been circulating around the Flames sect of social media and have seemed to garner some optimism for his return to the roster, which interim general manager Don Maloney talked about in a press conference, saying that Kylington is excited to return to the team next season.

The 25-year-old defenseman should be an integral part of the team next season, and it will be interesting to see how Kylington fits into the mold, as the Flames are undergoing some big changes both in the front office and potentially with how they play on the ice.

No matter what, it’s good to see that Kylington is back on the ice. There were talks during 2022-23 that he might not return to the Flames, which would have been very unfortunate considering the kind of impact he had on the defense core in 2021-22. No fan, media member, or player wants to see someone leave the incredible sport of hockey at the highest level, playing in a league that these players have worked extremely hard to make it in, especially not for personal reasons. But fortunately, we will be able to watch Kylington don the flaming ‘C’ again.

The kind of performance Kylington provides next season is one conversation. But at this point, the most important thing is that he’s coming back, and that’s great on every level.