In his very first press conference as newly-minted general manager of the Calgary Flames, Craig Conroy discussed at some length the importance of integrating young players into the team&#8217;s lineup. Sure, it&#8217;s big from a salary cap management perspective, but it&#8217;s also important in terms of continuity and succession planning.
With that in mind, let&#8217;s look at the Flames&#8217; reserve list by year of birth to get a sense of what trouble spots (if any) exist. (And apologies in advance if you start to feel old when you look at birth years.)

<table style="border-collapse: collapse;width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">Year</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Player(s)</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">1987</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Trevor Lewis [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">1988</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Milan Lucic [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 48px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 48px">1989</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 48px">Chris Tanev 
Mikael Backlund</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 72px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 72px">1990</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 72px">Nazem Kadri 
Jacob Markstrom 
Michael Stone [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">1991</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Blake Coleman</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">1992</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Tyler Toffoli</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 48px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 48px">1993</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 48px">Jonathan Huberdeau 
Kevin Rooney</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 120px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 120px">1994</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 120px">Elias Lindholm 
MacKenzie Weegar 
Nick DeSimone 
Troy Stecher [pending UFA] 
Oscar Dansk [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 96px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 96px">1995</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 96px">Nikita Zadorov 
Colton Poolman [pending UFA] 
Dryden Hunt [pending UFA] 
Nick Ritchie [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 96px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 96px">1996</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 96px">Rasmus Andersson 
Andrew Mangiapane 
Dennis Gilbert 
Clark Bishop [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 144px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 144px">1997</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 144px">Noah Hanifin 
Oliver Kylington 
Walker Duehr 
Dan Vladar 
Kristians Rubins [pending UFA] 
Nicolas Meloche [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 48px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 48px">1998</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 48px">Dillon Dube 
Matthew Phillips [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 72px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 72px">1999</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 72px">Adam Ruzicka 
Ben Jones [pending RFA] 
Martin Pospisil [pending RFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 96px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 96px">2000</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 96px">Adam Klapka 
Ilya Solovyov 
Emilio Pettersen [pending RFA] 
Demetrious Koumontzis [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 192px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 192px">2001</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 192px">Dustin Wolf 
Jakob Pelletier 
Connor Zary 
Cole Schwindt 
Ilya Nikolaev 
Josh Nodler [unsigned] 
Jake Boltmann [unsigned] 
Daniil Chechelev [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">2002</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Matt Coronato 
Jeremie Poirier 
Yan Kuznetsov 
Rory Kerins 
Arsenii Sergeev [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">2003</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Lucas Ciona 
William Stromgren 
Parker Bell [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">2004</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Topi Ronni [unsigned] 
Cade Littler [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
With the five guys the Flames didn&#8217;t sign on June 1, they&#8217;re losing one 2001 player (Lucas Feuk), one from 2002 (Cole Jordan) and three from 2003 (Cam Whynot, Jack Beck and Cole Huckins).
First, let&#8217;s look at the bright spots. The 2001 age group looks really promising: Wolf and Pelletier could be NHL regulars in 2023-24, while Zary had a very good AHL season and Schwindt had a pretty effective playoffs (after an uneven regular season). The 2002 group has some really good promise, too, between Coronato, Sergeev and Poirier.
A little bit up the age groups, that three-year period between 1996 and 1998 features basically every player you could say is a &#8220;young, established NHLer&#8221; in the system: Andersson, Mangiapane, Kylington, Hanifin, Duehr, Vladar and Dube.
The challenge for the Flames right now is all the money, term and prominence in the organization is skewed into the early 1990s (and 1989) cluster. Who wear letters for the Flames? Backlund, Tanev, Lindholm and Huberdeau. Who have the biggest contracts, in terms of cap and dollar? Huberdeau, Weegar and Kadri. Who are the guys leaned on to score in key moments? Or hold a lead in key moments? It&#8217;s all that 1989-1993 cluster.
Right now, the Flames feel like a team that leans on their older players. And that&#8217;s neither good nor bad, it&#8217;s merely a reality of how the team was constructed under Brad Treliving. But they have a few youngsters knocking on the door for potentially prominent roles. The challenge – for this off-season and the next few – will be figuring out if some of these young players can transition from being prominent prospects and into being key building blocks.
If the Flames want to become a younger, faster, more dynamic team, then some of their young faces need to grab hold of spots and show that they can be relied upon to be difference-makers for the hockey club.

In his very first press conference as newly-minted general manager of the Calgary Flames, Craig Conroy discussed at some length the importance of integrating young players into the team's lineup. Sure, it's big from a salary cap management perspective, but it's also important in terms of continuity and succession planning.

With that in mind, let's look at the Flames' reserve list by year of birth to get a sense of what trouble spots (if any) exist. (And apologies in advance if you start to feel old when you look at birth years.)


<table style="border-collapse: collapse;width: 100%" border="1">
<tbody>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">Year</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Player(s)</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">1987</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Trevor Lewis [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">1988</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Milan Lucic [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 48px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 48px">1989</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 48px">Chris Tanev
Mikael Backlund</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 72px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 72px">1990</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 72px">Nazem Kadri
Jacob Markstrom
Michael Stone [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">1991</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Blake Coleman</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">1992</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Tyler Toffoli</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 48px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 48px">1993</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 48px">Jonathan Huberdeau
Kevin Rooney</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 120px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 120px">1994</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 120px">Elias Lindholm
MacKenzie Weegar
Nick DeSimone
Troy Stecher [pending UFA]
Oscar Dansk [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 96px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 96px">1995</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 96px">Nikita Zadorov
Colton Poolman [pending UFA]
Dryden Hunt [pending UFA]
Nick Ritchie [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 96px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 96px">1996</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 96px">Rasmus Andersson
Andrew Mangiapane
Dennis Gilbert
Clark Bishop [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 144px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 144px">1997</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 144px">Noah Hanifin
Oliver Kylington
Walker Duehr
Dan Vladar
Kristians Rubins [pending UFA]
Nicolas Meloche [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 48px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 48px">1998</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 48px">Dillon Dube
Matthew Phillips [pending UFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 72px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 72px">1999</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 72px">Adam Ruzicka
Ben Jones [pending RFA]
Martin Pospisil [pending RFA]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 96px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 96px">2000</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 96px">Adam Klapka
Ilya Solovyov
Emilio Pettersen [pending RFA]
Demetrious Koumontzis [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 192px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 192px">2001</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 192px">Dustin Wolf
Jakob Pelletier
Connor Zary
Cole Schwindt
Ilya Nikolaev
Josh Nodler [unsigned]
Jake Boltmann [unsigned]
Daniil Chechelev [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">2002</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Matt Coronato
Jeremie Poirier
Yan Kuznetsov
Rory Kerins
Arsenii Sergeev [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">2003</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Lucas Ciona
William Stromgren
Parker Bell [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
<tr style="height: 24px">
<td style="width: 13.342%;height: 24px">2004</td>
<td style="width: 86.658%;height: 24px">Topi Ronni [unsigned]
Cade Littler [unsigned]</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
With the five guys the Flames didn't sign on June 1, they're losing one 2001 player (Lucas Feuk), one from 2002 (Cole Jordan) and three from 2003 (Cam Whynot, Jack Beck and Cole Huckins).

First, let's look at the bright spots. The 2001 age group looks really promising: Wolf and Pelletier could be NHL regulars in 2023-24, while Zary had a very good AHL season and Schwindt had a pretty effective playoffs (after an uneven regular season). The 2002 group has some really good promise, too, between Coronato, Sergeev and Poirier.

A little bit up the age groups, that three-year period between 1996 and 1998 features basically every player you could say is a "young, established NHLer" in the system: Andersson, Mangiapane, Kylington, Hanifin, Duehr, Vladar and Dube.

The challenge for the Flames right now is all the money, term and prominence in the organization is skewed into the early 1990s (and 1989) cluster. Who wear letters for the Flames? Backlund, Tanev, Lindholm and Huberdeau. Who have the biggest contracts, in terms of cap and dollar? Huberdeau, Weegar and Kadri. Who are the guys leaned on to score in key moments? Or hold a lead in key moments? It's all that 1989-1993 cluster.

Right now, the Flames feel like a team that leans on their older players. And that's neither good nor bad, it's merely a reality of how the team was constructed under Brad Treliving. But they have a few youngsters knocking on the door for potentially prominent roles. The challenge – for this off-season and the next few – will be figuring out if some of these young players can transition from being prominent prospects and into being key building blocks.

If the Flames want to become a younger, faster, more dynamic team, then some of their young faces need to grab hold of spots and show that they can be relied upon to be difference-makers for the hockey club.

Looking at the Calgary Flames reserve list by age group

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