In the wake of his third season as the Calgary Flames’ general manager, Craig Conroy has been quietly efficient.

In addition to adding Carson Carels and eight other players at the NHL Draft in late June, Conroy acquired Simon Nemec and Maxim Tsyplakov from the New Jersey Devils, traded Blake Coleman and Olli Maatta to the Minnesota Wild, and signed a small army of depth players in unrestricted free agency while also inking Nemec to a five-year contract extension.

It’s been relatively light work for Conroy, who had to navigate through far harsher waters in his first summer at the helm. He may still have a bit more work to do to clear the logjam on the blue line, but for the most part, the Flames’ 2026-27 roster looks pretty much set.

But even now, six weeks into the NHL’s 2026 unrestricted free agency period, there are still many notable players in search of jobs for the upcoming season. The Flames have more defencemen than they know what to do with, but their forward group is still quite thin, especially now that Coleman is out of the picture. Conroy has stressed the importance of keeping spots open for young players, but things can always change if the injury bug bites.

With that in mind, let’s take a quick look at one of the most intriguing UFAs still on the board this deep into August: Patrik Laine, a former 44-goal scorer coming off an injury-plagued season with the Montreal Canadiens.

It wasn’t very long ago that Laine was considered one of the most valuable young players in the NHL. After all, the Winnipeg Jets drafted him second overall in 2016, and he rewarded them by scoring 80 goals over his first two seasons with the club. And he didn’t just score in garbage time, either; Laine racked up five goals and 12 points in 17 games during the 2018 playoffs as the Jets embarked upon a run to the Western Conference Final. He genuinely looked like the heir apparent to Alex Ovechkin in the early stages of his time in Winnipeg.

Even with his other two teams, Laine has been a productive player. He followed up his tenure with the Jets by spending parts of four seasons with the Columbus Blue Jackets, with whom he racked up 138 points in 174 games — a 67-point pace over an 84-game schedule. And after being traded to the Montreal Canadiens in 2024, Laine remained a lethal power-play threat, scoring a team-leading 15 goals on the man-advantage in 2024-25 despite missing 30 games due to injury.

So, why is he still unsigned? Well, for starters, Laine has always been below-average defensively, and his recent string of injuries certainly hasn’t done anything to change that. He hasn’t finished a season with a plus rating since 2019-20, and his underlying numbers tell a similar story. Laine’s shot attempt and expected goal rates have consistently fallen short of his teammates’ throughout his career, and while that isn’t necessarily uncommon for a pure finisher, it does mean that he needs to be deployed in very specific ways to be successful.

At this stage in his career, Laine is the type of player who should play as little as possible at 5-on-5, lest his team bleed chances at an alarming rate. Remember how he scored 15 power-play goals in 52 games in the 2024-25 season? Along the way, he managed just five goals at even-strength. The Habs managed a paltry 40.26 expected goals percentage during Laine’s shifts at 5-on-5, far below the team average of 47.03. Yikes!

Laine appeared in just five games with the Canadiens in the 2025-26 season before sustaining a core muscle injury that kept him sidelined for the rest of the year. By all accounts, Laine had been cleared to return by the time Montreal went on its run to the Eastern Conference Final, but he never came particularly close to re-entering the lineup in the post-season. The Canadiens also reportedly attempted to trade Laine ahead of the March 6 deadline, but to no avail.

Of course, it’s understandable why teams might have been skittish about taking a flier on Laine when he cost $8.7 million against the salary cap. But now, after missing nearly all of last season, Laine is one of a very select handful of players eligible to sign a deal that includes performance bonuses. Typically, players can only receive such incentives on entry-level deals or 35+ contracts, but Laine is also eligible because he spent more than 100 days on Montreal’s injured reserve list in 2025-26. As such, any interested team could sign Laine to a deal with a relatively modest up-front salary but the potential to pay significantly more if he performs.

But should the Flames be that team? They would certainly be able to offer Laine a spot on the power play. But it’s hard to imagine Laine returning much in a potential deadline deal, and the Flames probably wouldn’t be interested in any sort of longer-term commitment — maybe if he were 25 instead of 28.

Additionally, the Flames already have their fair share of reclamation projects, including Yegor Sharangovich, another pure shooter who is signed for three years beyond the 2026-27 season. Sharangovich had a terrific run on the top PP unit in the 2023-24 season but has seldom played there in the years since, with his production dropping significantly. Would it not make more sense for the Flames to give Sharangovich, or even Connor Zary, an extended turn in a prominent position before turning to an external candidate?

The Flames have invested a significant amount of capital into Sharangovich. He was the main piece they coveted when they traded Tyler Toffoli to the New Jersey Devils in 2023; he scored 31 goals in his first year in Calgary and then signed a five-year, $28.75-million extension with the club. If the Flames can help Sharangovich return to the 20-goal mark (or above) on a regular basis, he could net them value in a future trade. That same outcome likely doesn’t exist for Laine, who has a significant injury history and has now gone a full month and a half without signing with an NHL team.

Nevertheless, it’ll be fascinating to see where Laine ends up. Will he join a relatively under-powered team like the Chicago Blackhawks or Vancouver Canucks in the hope of playing a larger role? Could he try to latch on as a depth piece with a contending team, perhaps in a similar role to the one Vladimir Tarasenko played with the Florida Panthers in 2024? Or could a return to Winnipeg potentially be in the cards? The Flames likely won’t be serious suitors, but both the team and its fans will certainly continue to monitor the situation.