Report: Flames sign Tom McCollum to two-year, two-way deal
By Ryan Pike
7 years agoAccording to a report from The Hockey News, the Calgary Flames have added to their organizational depth in net and managed to solve a pending expansion draft problem.
The club has reportedly signed goaltender Tom McCollum to a two-year, two-way deal. According to the report, he’ll make $575,000 at the NHL level in 2016-17 and $650,000 in 2017-18 (which would place the AAV at $612,500). More importantly, his signing means the Flames have a goaltender that they can expose in the upcoming expansion draft.
McCollum, 26, was originally drafted by the Detroit Red Wings back in 2008. He played in the Red Wings pro system for seven seasons, bouncing between the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins and the ECHL’s Toledo Walleyes. He even played three games in the NHL, though he failed to really stick.
He’s at the age now where he’s probably not a blue-chip NHL prospect anymore, but he’s a pretty solid AHL netminder with save percentages bouncing between .916 and .923 over the last three seasons. He won a Calder Cup with the Griffins in 2013 (as a backup). He could be an excellent backup to Jon Gillies.
This signing begs two questions:
- What happens with David Rittich this year? (Does he go to the ECHL and bump Mason McDonald back to junior, or does something else happen?)
- What do the Flames do with all the goalies they could have as pros next year? (They have McCollum, Rittich, McDonald and Nick Schneider under contract, Jon Gillies will be an RFA, and Tyler Parsons will be old enough to go pro.)
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