Any details on roster updates?
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FlamesNation Mailbag: Settling into the dog days of summer
Photo credit: Mike Gould
Folks, we’re getting into a quieter period of the hockey calendar.
The draft is done. Development camp is done. The Calgary Flames have completed most of their meaningful off-season business. The hockey operations group gets a chance to relax a bit before things start ramping up later in July with the World Junior Summer Showcase and in August with the Hlinka Gretzky Cup.
While we all take a bit of a breath and collect ourselves, onto the mailbag!
Honestly, we’re not anticipating much right now. Restricted free agent Brennan Othmann is the last re-signing left to complete. The Flames have zero players who filed for salary arbitration, which also means they don’t get access to a potential second buy-out window. The Flames are basically where Craig Conroy said he wants them in terms of contract numbers – they have 40 players on deals for next season, Othmann makes it 41 when he re-signs – and so it doesn’t seem like they’re actively pursuing any roster changes right now.
Same question I ask every mailbag lol. Are we getting a young stars tournament?? I guess it would be a little thin these days with all the prospects going to the NCAA though.
It definitely does not sound like a formal Young Stars tournament is in the cards. The Canucks stopped hosting it a few years back because there were a ton of logistical challenges with hosting the event, the main one being getting enough teams involved to make it worthwhile.
I suspect the Flames will try to arrange some sort of game action for the players attending prospect camp, but as you mention, it’s a bit of a challenge as everyone tries to figure out roster construction (with so many prospects in the NCAA or Europe and unable to participate) and how they’re going to navigate the shorter NHL pre-season.
I imagine we’ll get something, but it might take awhile before we get news on that front.
Every time I do the Flames I’m happy until I have to put Sharangovich in top six. With his skill set he has to play top six, but his play last year doesn’t warrant a top six spot. What do the Flames do?
Right now, Yegor Sharangovich’s presence on the Flames’ roster isn’t really blocking anybody. They have a bunch of guys that can provide some value in the top nine, and he’s part of that group. I would argue that it’s in everyone’s best interests for the Flames to try to get him going again. He’s auditioning for a spot on the team when it’s good, and if he finds his swagger again, he can provide value either as a player or as a trade chip. Throwing up their hands and going “Well I guess he doesn’t have it anymore!” doesn’t make sense for an actively rebuilding team to do.
Hi Ryan! With McTavish traded and the asking price for Wright being so high, who are some other young centers the Flames might target?
Ryan, between Geekie(tb), Lambert(wpg) and Wright(sea) who do you think the flames should target as a young centre and what could their upside be?
With the prices being asked for the young centres that are said to be available, my preference is for the Flames to just give some runway to the players they have internally.
If you ware Huska, how would you organize the defensive pairings?
Assuming they carry eight defencemen, with four righties and four lefties:
Kevin Bahl – Simon Nemec
Yan Kuznetsov – Zayne Parekh
Olli Maatta – Zach Whitecloud
Yan Kuznetsov – Zayne Parekh
Olli Maatta – Zach Whitecloud
With Joel Hanley and Brayden Pachal as extras. I suspect we’ll see a lot of mixing and matching, though.
When might we see the Flames give $18 million a year to a player? Is there anyone currently on the roster or in the pipeline worthy of that kind of cash?
For some context, in the first year of the salary cap (2005-06) the cap was $39 million and Jarome Iginla made $7 million, slightly more than the $18 million that Leo Carlsson is getting if you scale it to the relative size of the salary cap.
When will the Flames have their next Iginla-comparable star? Man, it’s hard to say. Perhaps someone on the roster can become that.
Ryan, with the shuttering of 960 can you please give us your top 3 moments of your time on 960. As well do you and how could a station like 1440 in Edmonton thrive in Calgary? Thanks!
Off the top of my head:
- Doing Flames Talk for the 2022-23 season. So much fun.
- Doing fill-in colour commentary with Jeff Hollick for a few Calgary Hitmen games in 2018-19 and 2019-20.
- Any number of times I had to navigate the Saddledome catwalks to get to the Peter Maher Radio Broadcast Booth for intermission hits.
I’m not terribly familiar with the economics of Sports 1440 in Edmonton, but I’d be fascinated to learn more.
Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/BlueSky at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan.Pike [at] BetterCollective.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)
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Calgary FlamesTeam Cap Summary
Cap Summary
2026-27
2027-28
Projected Cap Hit
$89,116,666
$70,041,666
Projected Cap Space
$14,883,334
$43,458,334
Current Cap Space
$14,883,334
$43,458,334
Active Players
23/23
16/23
Draft Picks
Round
'26
'27
1
2
1
2
3
2
3
1
2