logo
FlamesNation has no direct affiliation to the Calgary Flames, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
‘Lot of optimism’ that Flames and Jonathan Castagna will get deal done: Friedman
alt
Photo credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Ryan Pike
Mar 28, 2026, 22:04 EDTUpdated: Mar 28, 2026, 22:05 EDT
Comments
On Friday night, Cornell University saw their season come to an end when they lost to the University of Denver in the NCAA national championship tournament’s regional semi-final round. However, it sounds like one of Cornell’s top players could see his season be extended a bit by way of signing a National Hockey League contract.
Earlier this month, the Flames acquired the rights to college prospect Jonathan Castagna from the Utah Mammoth as part of the deal that sent blueliner MacKenzie Weegar to Salt Lake City. On Saturday, a pair of reports from Sportsnet’s Eric Francis and Elliotte Friedman pointed in the direction of the Flames and Castagna hashing out a deal quite soon.
Francis posted on social media on Saturday afternoon that the Flames had sent some personnel to Colorado – where Cornell played on Friday – to talk turkey.
Later on Saturday, during the Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada, Friedman mentioned Castagna while providing updates on collegiate prospects;
“The other one is Castagna, the player who was traded from Utah to Calgary in the MacKenzie Weegar deal. His team was knocked out, Cornell, yesterday. And there’s a lot of optimism here that something’s going to get done. Eric Francis reported today that the Flames have sent a couple people to go meet with him and talk to him. Nothing, again, finalized at this time, but there sounds like there’s a lot of optimism that Jonathan Castagna and the Flames will get something done.”
Castagna is 20 years old (and turns 21 in April), so for the sake of the CBA’s signing age he’s considered 21 and would be getting a three year entry-level deal. Because he was drafted in 2023, he’s subject to a $950,000 maximum salary on his deal. As such, hashing out a contract with the Flames would likely just be a matter of figuring out what level of performance bonuses he would potentially get as part of the deal.
Selected in the third round in 2023 by the then-Arizona Coyotes, Castagna had a tremendous junior year with Cornell this past season, posting 34 points in 34 games, winning 65% of his face-offs, and being named to the ECAC’s First All-Star Team and the conference’s Defensive Forward of the Year.
We’ll have more updates on Castagna’s potential signing as the story unfolds.
Sponsored by bet365:

Editorials

Breaking News