As training camp looms, the Calgary Flames have made a signing to whittle down their restricted free agent list. Per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the Flames have re-signed forward Jakob Pelletier to a one year, two-way deal worth $800,000 at the NHL level.

The Flames’ first-round pick back in 2019, the 23-year-old Pelletier is a left shot winger who’s played either side. His entry-level deal ended on June 30, and he had two really strong seasons and one where he was waylaid by injuries.

Since being drafted by the Flames, Pelletier has played two QMJHL seasons and three pro seasons. In the Q, he captained both the Moncton Wildcats and the Val-d’Or Foreurs, and he was part of a silver medal-winning Team Canada entry at the 2021 World Juniors.

Since going pro, he was named to the AHL’s All-Rookie Team in 2021-22 and then began knocking on the door for NHL opportunities. He played 24 games with the big club in 2022-23 in pretty sporadic usage in a depth role – we’re not fully convinced that Darryl Sutter knew what to do with him – and he was pencilled into a role on Ryan Huska’s club in 2023-24 before being clobbered into the boards by Seattle prospect Marian Studenic, which led to shoulder surgery which seemed to sap his momentum. Another near-miss on a hit from Rangers blueliner Jacob Trouba basically spelled the end of his NHL season and he went back to the AHL to get his swagger back with the Wranglers.

At his best, Pelletier is perhaps the ideal complimentary forward. He can do a lot and play either wing, and while you’ll never build a line around him, he’s versatile enough that he can fill in gaps virtually anywhere. He’s very much like Michael Frolik in that sense, albeit without the body of work that Frolik had developed. (But you can get why there’s optimism about him as a pro.)

Suffice it to say, the 2023-24 campaign is a big one for Pelletier. It’s the first year that he’s eligible for waivers, and you never know what happens if he gets exposed. For now, the important thing is for Pelletier to stay healthy, have a strong training camp, and let the chips fall where they may.