The Calgary Flames have re-signed one of their more promising young centres. Per the club, they’ve re-signed centre Sam Morton, a restricted free agent, to a one year, two-way deal worth $775,000 at the NHL level.

Morton originally joined the Flames in the spring of 2023, signing as a college free agent after concluding his NCAA eligibility with Minnesota State University – Mankato.

The 25-year-old Morton is a left shot centre hailing from Lafayette, Colorado. He turns 26 near the end of July. After playing his way up the Colorado state hockey ladder, he went on a bit of a journey.

Morton was a bit of a late-bloomer; he had 54 points in 58 BCHL games in his draft eligible season, and he’s the exact type of player that seemed to benefit from the old collegiate system. He was able to spend a bit more time in junior maturing physically, then was able to go to a good college program to grow his game. By the time he went pro, he had won a BCHL championship with Wenatchee and two NCAA conference championships with Minnesota State – Mankato. He received Hobey Baker consideration in his senior year, too.

Since going pro, Morton has become a really reliable piece in the Flames developmental system. Because he’s a natural centre that can basically play in every game situation, he’s been leaned on heavily by the Wranglers coaching staff. He responded by using that ice time productively, posting 20 goals and 25 assists for 45 points over 70 games in his first pro season. He made his NHL debut in the Flames’ final game of 2024-25 – a nice reward for his hard work – and scored his first NHL goal.

Heading into 2025-26’s training camp, Morton will likely be in the hunt for an opening night role, potentially as fourth-line centre. He was one of the more consistently noticeable Wranglers in 2024-25 and he’s definitely deserving of a bigger opportunity. Let’s see if he can capitalize on it in the fall.

With this signing, the Flames have 43 players under contract for the 2025-26 season and four RFAs left to sign – Rory Kerins, Connor Zary, Yan Kuznetsov and Jeremie Poirier.