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FlamesNation Mailbag: Stampede edition! (Part one: Talkin’ prospects!)
Photo credit: Mike Gould
We’re now well into July, friends, judging by the rising temperatures and suddenly appearance of people in cowboy cosplay. But with July’s emergence, we’re largely done with most of the meat of the Calgary Flames’ off-season.
Sure, there are restricted free agents to re-up, but the entry draft, free agency and development camp are over and done with. So as the dust settles, we thought we’d head into the mailbag to see what the fanbase has on their minds!
We got oodles of good questions, so we’re splitting our mega-mailbag into two: first up your questions about Flames prospects!
There’s two ways of looking at this: the optimistic view and the pessimistic view.
If you’re an optimist, you can point to the second half of Strömgren’s season and wonder if he can carry that level of play through a full season. If Strömgren can take his second half, work on a few things over the summer, and then build on that first season, it’s not hard to imagine him pressing for NHL minutes. He’s got size, smarts, skills, and you can see why Flames scouts were excited about him in 2021.
From a pessimistic side: Strömgren has had one North American season, so his sample size is a bit small to make sweeping declarations.
I choose to be an optimist: his last 35-40 games were really
Which under the radar player will make the opening day?
Looking at the Flames’ reserve list on PuckPedia, let’s say Jakob Pelletier. He’s going to come into training camp really motivated after a tough 2023-24 season, and Pelletier’s too smart and toolsy a player to allow setbacks to derail him all that much. (And can you imagine Pelletier playing with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman!?)
What is your go to Stampede food? And Flames question: do you think one of Brzustewicz or Parekh play NHL games this season?
My go-to Stampede food is corn dogs. I’m a simple man with simple joys in my life.
In terms of Zayne Parekh, I would imagine the Flames give him a long run at training camp, but this isn’t the year to push him into the NHL. I would keep him until the very end of the pre-season, then let him loose on the OHL and World Juniors to go win some championships and medals. Next season, though, depending on how the overall group has progressed, I wouldn’t rule out a 19-year-old Parekh getting some NHL games in.
Who are the best bets from Development Camp to get invited to main camp and make it for preseason games.
Traditionally, everybody from development camp that isn’t in college or playing in Europe returns for prospect camp and the Penticton tournament. So I would suspect we see goalies Zach Pelletier and Ethan McCallum, blueliner Rowan Topp, and forward Luke McNamara invited to join the team for the tournament. (As well as AHL signees like Trevor Janicke, Matt Radomsky and Connor Murphy.)
Beyond that? It’s usually a bit of a numbers game, but if players impress, Flames brass has shown a willingness to keep try-out players around and give them some pre-season games if they’ve earned longer looks.
On paper, Waltteri Ignatjew is the fourth player on the Flames’ goaltending depth chart. He’s played precisely zero games in North America, and there’s going to be an adjustment period. My understanding is Connor Murphy has an AHL deal for this coming season, so between him and whichever other netminder isn’t in the NHL at the time, the Flames will have some familiar faces that will allow Ignatjew to adjust. I suspect they don’t want to throw him into the deep end, so he’ll probably be a secondary goalie… at least to start.
What is the possibility with how much offence we witnessed with these young guns will they get an opportunity to crack the lineup ?
The short answer is “that depends how their games progress.” The nice thing, to me, is that the Flames have some depth in the organization with NHL experience. If the Flames don’t want to throw a youngster into the deep end, they have players like Justin Kirkland, Clark Bishop, Dryden Hunt, Martin Frk and Jonathan Aspirot that can insulate them a bit. But if they think their kids are ready for a test, I don’t think they’d lose sleep over keeping those aforementioned gentlemen on the sidelines while they give a fresh face a shot.
Do you think the flames could trade for Tij Iginla this year or next maybe for players like Anderson,Coleman or Kadri and maybe some picks ?
Nope.
I don’t think Utah will be moving Tij Iginla anytime soon, nor do I think it would be prudent for the Flames to pay the necessary price to land him. And while the Flames are hoping to hold onto some key veterans to help steer the ship through the club’s re-(verb), I wouldn’t rule out future trades depending on the team’s situation.
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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