Folks, Monday is the final day of the annual Young Stars Classic prospect tournament in scenic Penticton. The Calgary Flames’ youngest faces have played a couple games and close things out this afternoon. After that, it’s time to prepare for the arrival of the club’s veterans later in the week.
As we wait for main camp to begin, it’s mailbag time!
I’m not sure if it’ll be surprising, but often we see players that had short stints with the NHL club the prior season make off-season adjustments and take big steps in the following camp. So the players I’m kind of thinking could potentially take steps like that are Matt Coronato, Adam Klapka and Ilya Solovyov. They were all with the NHL club for decent chunks of the season and looked decent – and they were all really good AHLers during the season – but it’s just a question of if they can take their NHL experiences and use them as a springboard.
Ideally, I’d love to see either of them play with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman on the wing of the third line. Coronato would give that line a bit of an offensive pop, while Pelletier could add to the forecheck. Failing that, I think either of those guys could “settle” for being an effective fourth line winger, though I’d prefer to give them both a bit more runway and ice time than that.
Figuring out how all the wingers fit in and how to give ice time to all the young players pushing for NHL duty is going to be very interesting for the Flames brass to juggle over the next few weeks. (We’ll be writing more about the winger situation as camp unfolds.)
Two things:
One, I think Sam Morton was really effective for the Wranglers late last season and he’s been really good through the first two games of the Penticton tournament. He’s acquitted himself really well since joining the organization in the spring.
Two, Morton has yet to play a full professional season and at some point a lot of college players hit a wall due to the pro schedule being a lot heavier than they’re used to from their college experiences. I think Morton could be playing his way into the call-up conversation, but I think it’s better for everybody to figure out how he reacts to a full AHL season more than anything else.
The Flames selected Samuel Honzek at 16th overall at the 2023 draft because they believed in his upside. And then he spent much of the 2023-24 season recovering from or playing through injuries. He seemed like a good bet to be a middle six or top six winger based on his size and skillset, and I don’t necessarily think one injury-filled season diminishes that potential.
That said, this season is hugely important for him and hopefully he can stay healthy and show what he can do on the ice.
I had to do some digging on this into parts of the CBA that I rarely read.
Flights and hotel are covered by the team, as are meals – everyone attending camp receives a per-diem of around $130 per day, but teams also provide some meals, too. I’m not entirely sure on the insurance piece, as it may depend on the specific wording of the professional try-out contract and might also depend on a player’s specific injury history. But suffice it to say, a player on a try-out gets most of their expenses covered during their time in training camp.
Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/X at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan [at] TheNationNetwork.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)

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