Folks, the National Hockey League’s exhibition calendar began on Saturday, and the local hockey club began their pre-season schedule on Sunday night in scenic Seattle against the Kraken. The start of the pre-season really starts giving us a chance to judge the aspiring Calgary Flames players against other prospective pros.

As we prepare for a busy week of pre-season games, let’s dive into the mailbag!

I’ll put this disclaimer first and foremost: I don’t think anybody will be completely hooped unless they have an amazing training camp. But there are a few players that could really benefit from a strong camp.

On the back end, Artem Grushnikov came over in the Chris Tanev trade with Dallas but didn’t really seem to grab hold of a spot with the Wranglers down the stretch last season, to the point where he didn’t dress in the playoffs as Trent Cull and his staff opted to dance with the ones that brought them, so to speak. But with a full camp to prepare for the coming season, I’m fascinated to see if Grushnikov can lay claim to a clear role with the Wranglers – especially with the possibility that Ilya Solovyov, another strong shutdown defender, could be pushing for an NHL gig.

Among forwards, Jakob Pelletier is an obvious one because he had a rough 2023-24 season. He was a shoo-in for an NHL roster spot last fall but suffered a gnarly shoulder injury in pre-season that required surgery, and his entire season was basically a write-off from that point. When he returned he wasn’t quite his usual self, and then he seemed to lack his swagger after a near-miss re-injury scare on a hit from Jacob Trouba. Pelletier is one of my favourite players in the Flames system because he’s so damn smart and malleable – he can play on every line and every game situation – but he needs to have his confidence and exuberance to do that effectively. He requires waivers now and needs to show he’s as good as folks thought he was a couple years ago.

Samuel Honzek is another guy that missed time last year due to injury, the second season in a row he’s missed a chunk of his season. When he’s healthy, he’s big, smart, fast and talented. But he’s a winger in a Flames system chock full of talented ones, and with the likes of Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil nabbing full-time NHL spots and guys like Pelletier, Adam Klapka and Matt Coronato pushing, Honzek needs to lay claim to his spot in the pecking order.

Finally, don’t sleep on Jaden Lipinski. A teammate of Honzek’s in Vancouver, he was an absolute beast last season in terms of playing a ton in every game situation and trying to fill holes in the Giants’ lineup as players were hurt, at the World Juniors, or otherwise unavailable. He’s a right shot centre who was among the WHL’s leaders in face-off wins. He could find himself with an NHL deal if he has a strong next few weeks.

If the goal is to give Dustin Wolf a crap-ton of games this season, the good news is he’s waiver exempt. If the Flames wanted to, they could float him back and forth from the NHL to the AHL to get him game reps. If he’s performing well in the NHL, you probably keep him in the NHL and let him do his thing. But if he has a bad night and you want to get him a bounce-back game, that’s easy. Heck, if Dan Vladar or Devin Cooley to go on a heater and you don’t want Wolf sitting for too long, you can do the same thing.

There’s a case to be made that Wolf is the key to the Flames getting back to where they want to be and this is their final season of waiver flexibility. I’m intrigued as to how they plan to utilizing that flexibility over the next year.