The Calgary Flames have announced their opening roster for the 2023-24 season.
The Flames will begin the season with 22 players on their roster: two goaltenders, seven defensemen and 13 forwards, as well as three players on the injured/non-roster list.
Here are the opening 22 active players:
Goaltenders Jacob Markstrom (#25) and Dan Vladar (#80)
Defensemen Rasmus Andersson (#4), Chris Tanev (#8), Nikita Zadorov (#16), Dennis Gilbert (#48) MacKenzie Weegar (#52), Noah Hanifin (#55) and Jordan Oesterle (#82)
Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau (#10), Mikael Backlund (#11), Dryden Hunt (#15), Yegor Sharangovich (#17), A.J. Greer (#18), Blake Coleman (#20), Matt Coronato (#27), Elias Lindholm (#28), Dillon Dube (#29), Adam Ruzicka (#63), Walker Duehr (#71) Andrew Mangiapane (#88) and Nazem Kadri (#91).
Backlund is the captain, while Andersson, Tanev, Huberdeau and Lindholm are alternate captains.
On the injured/non-roster list are Kevin Rooney (#21), Jakob Pelletier (#22) and Oliver Kylington (#58). Rooney and Kylington are one-way deals and carry their full cap hits while unavailable. Pelletier is on a two-way deal, and his cap hit is pro-rated to $406,000 based on the proportion of the 2022-23 season he spent on the NHL roster.
New faces from last year’s opening roster include Gilbert and Oesterle on the blueline, as well as Hunt, Sharangovich, Coronato, Duehr and Greer among the forwards. That’s seven of 22 players being new Flames compared to last October’s opening roster.
The Flames have $85,943,500 in cap commitments, which is $2,443,500 over the NHL’s $83.5 million cap ceiling. This means that the Flames are using long-term injury cap relief to open the season. Based on the amount they’re over, it’s a given that Oliver Kylington ($2.5 million) was placed on the long-term injury reserve (LTIR). Rooney and Pelletier can be placed there retroactively if the Flames require additional cap space.
