What prospects do you think are being underrated/have the most potential to surprise in the Flames org?
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Monday Mailbag: Tackling questions about prospects, training camp and Saddledome ice
The Calgary Flames play hockey on Monday night, as their prospects hit the ice to begin the final year of hockey at the historic Scotiabank Saddledome.
As we prepare for the NextGen Showcase, and the rest of the season that follows it, let’s check in with our mailbag!
Oh man, “a lot of them” is my short answer.
I’m choosing to interpret this question as “Which prospects deserve more hype?” and my answers are – deep breath – Henry Mews, Eric Jamieson, Trevor Hoskin, Alan Shaikhlislamov, Simon Katolicky, Andrew Basha and Chase Harrington.
In your humble opinion how many star players are the Flames away from coming out the rebuild and do you see any more vets being jettisoned this season.
Okay, I have a short answer and a long answer. I’ll do the longer answer in a separate column.
The short answer is that if you think the Flames are aiming to build a team similar to the Oilers – one or two scary-good players to anchor the forward group, then a strong supporting cast – well, the Flames are well on their way to having a pretty strong supporting cast if the players they’ve drafted pan out. However, getting higher calibre players to be those aces of your group are tougher to get.
Maybe the Flames already have a future ace in the fold that will emerge later on. Johnny Gaudreau was not projected to be a future ace until his sophomore year in college, after all. But as of right now, the Flames have a prospect group full of potentially very good players, but arguably no future greats.
On the veteran side, I could see the Flames entertaining offers for Ryan Strome and Zach Whitecloud, but I don’t think they’re in any hurry to move anybody right now.
How do you describe the sense of a Flames season starting in just a few weeks?
Honestly, there’s a bit excitement and cautious optimism in the air. I don’t think fans expect many wins this season, but many I’ve spoken with are genuinely excited to see how the young players grow over the next 84 games. Oh, and having a chance to bid farewell to the Saddledome.
Top 5 dark horses to make the big squad this year ??
Of players that aren’t already NHL regulars: 1) Tyson Gross, 2) Hunter Brzustewicz, 3) Sam Morton, 4) Abram Wiebe, 5) Ben Jones.
Do you have any info on what happened with the Zary trade stuff? There was a lot of chatter about Conroy wanting a second and then it just... Vanished. I am sure the 18m offer sheet had something to do with that, but curious if you know anything more.
I cannot speak to the veracity of the rumours that had the Flames shopping Connor Zary during the summer. What I will say is that if they were, it makes sense. Zary lacks a clear role in Calgary right now and perhaps a fresh start will give him a better shot of carving one out elsewhere.
That said, the Flames want to get value for their assets, and teams tend to accumulate players for their roster in June and July. Once that frenzy of activity was over with and Zary wasn’t moved, the chatter quieting down makes sense. Hopefully Zary can remain healthy and find his rhythm quickly this season, because he’s shown some promise in his pro career so far and just hasn’t been able to put it all together yet.
How many games does Kuznetsov have to play to avoid being group 6 UFA status or is it too late and if he makes the squad but is healthy scratched does that count? How about Kerins?
Via our pals at PuckPedia:
Yan Kuznetsov needs to dress for 22 NHL games in 2026-27 to avoid becoming a Group 6 UFA at the end of the season. Rory Kerins needs to dress for 71 NHL games this season to avoid becoming a Group 6 UFA.
Do you see the flames making a waiver claim on younger players that arise or provide the opportunity to their young players first?
I think the Flames have accumulated enough internal depth options that barring someone really surprising hitting the waiver wire, I think they’re sticking with the players they currently have under contract. I would be surprised if they made any waiver claims.
Hi Ryan! What do you think a success season looks like for guys who had a down year like Zary, Sharangovich and Coronato?
I think a full 84 game season with a consistent role is a successful season for Connor Zary.
I think a successful season for Yegor Sharangovich and Matt Coronato involves them scoring 20+ goals and providing some mojo to the Flames’ power play group.
Hello Ryan. What are your expectations going into the season for the flames? & if Dustin wolf plays better then he did last season do the flames have a shot at a playoff spot?
We’ll get into this in more detail in our season preview content in the coming weeks, but I would phrase this season as the “taking their medicine” year for the Flames. They need to give quality NHL minutes to their young players to allow them to mature and grow and become good NHLers. That process involves some mistakes, miscues and long nights that everyone will need to live with and work through in order to get to the other side.
Dustin Wolf (and Devin Cooley) will help keep the Flames in games, but he’s gonna have a pretty young group in front of him.
Hockey nerd question. Back when the flames had late spring playoff runs the domes ice was terrible if it was raining or wet outside the rink, (high humidity)the puck bounced like a rubber ball if it was wet outdoors. Will the new building have dehumidification to prevent bad ice
So, the Saddledome has a pretty old ice plant and pretty old HVAC in it. And so it’s much tougher to effectively temperature control the ‘Dome, and ensure high quality ice, than it would be in a newer building. The current rink staff does a really good job managing the quality of the ice in less than perfect circumstances, but Scotia Place will be, frankly, better in this respect and give the rink staff better tools to work with.
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Breaking News
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Calgary FlamesTeam Cap Summary
Cap Summary
2027-28
2028-29
Projected Cap Hit
$70,041,666
$51,100,000
Projected Cap Space
$43,458,334
$71,900,000
Current Cap Space
$43,458,334
$71,900,000
Active Players
16/23
8/23
Draft Picks
Round
'27
'28
1
1
1
2
2
2
3
2
1