There were a lot of interesting questions for the Calgary Flames coming out of the 2026 NHL Draft. Among them: man, why did the Flames select goaltender Tobias Trejbal in the second round when they already have Dustin Wolf?

It’s a pretty loaded question, and it’s worth unpacking a bit.

Okay, first things first: Dustin Wolf.

Wolf was the fourth-from-last player drafted in the 2019 NHL Draft, somehow dropping to 214th overall despite leading the Western Hockey League in most goaltending categories. The Flames goaltending department, thinking drafting a goalie with strong numbers would be a smart idea, opted to take him.

Seven years later, Wolf is the club’s undisputed starting goaltender and begins a hefty seven year, $52.5 million contract this season. He’s front and centre in the club’s marketing. Even with a bit of a down sophomore season – probably a product of teams having more video of him from the NHL to make adjustments, and a tendency of the defensive group to make big mistakes early in the season – Wolf is still their guy.

Between his pretty sparkling resume – remember, he got Vezina votes as a rookie in 2024-25 – and his contract, Wolf is a Flame for the foreseeable future.

You ever see the 2001 film Ocean’s 11? It’s great. There’s one scene where George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s characters are putting together their crew and Clooney poses the following question-slash-statement to Pitt: “You think we need one more? You think we need one more. All right, we’ll get one more.”

The Flames are like Clooney and Pitt: they’re putting together their crew.

If you watched the Stanley Cup playoffs count how many teams used multiple goaltenders, either during the regular season or the playoffs themselves. It was quite a few of them. So if you’re a team with an aim at being a Stanley Cup contender eventually – dress for the job you want – you’re probably thinking you’ll need some contingency planning in net. (Heck, you want contingency planning everywhere, but especially in net.)

And if you’re thinking about contingency planning, why not draft the reigning USHL goaltender of the year – someone many scouts called the best goalie in the draft? Trejbal’s only been in North America for one season, but he’s already building a resume. He’s headed to college at the University of Massachusetts this fall, and has identified fellow Czech netminder Michael Hrabal as someone he’d like to emulate. (Hrabal did three years at UMass before going pro.)

Wolf turned 25 in April. He needed a couple years of seasoning in the AHL before he was ready to push for NHL minutes when he was 22. If Trejbal’s on a similar trajectory, when he’s 22, Wolf will be 29. And under contract for three more years.

Simply put: Trejbal’s young and promising. He probably needs time to cook, though. And because the Flames have Wolf, and a few other promising netminders too, they have the ability to give Trejbal the time and developmental reps he needs.

After all, especially these days, you can never have too many good goalies.