Folks, we’re a week away from the 2024 Young Stars Classic tournament beginning in scenic Penticton, B.C., and about two weeks away from main training camp opening for the Calgary Flames. And Craig Conroy still has a bit of work to complete before camp begins.

The Flames have three players that remain as unsigned restricted free agents. They’re all young. They’re all promising. They all spent time in the NHL last season. But all three players are in fairly unique situations, so we thought we’d delve into why they’re not signed quite yet.

(Spoiler: The blanket answer is “because the two sides haven’t agreed on term and contract structure yet.)

A first-round pick from 2019, Pelletier is a 23-year-old left shot winger who’s put together a pretty impressive resume between junior and minor-pro hockey, but hasn’t quite been able to carve out a regular NHL gig. Since 2017, Pelletier has made the QMJHL’s All-Rookie Team, Second All-Star Team and First All-Star Team, been named the QMJHL’s Most Sportsmanlike Player, won gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, won silver at the World Juniors, and been named to the AHL’s All-Rookie Team.

Pelletier split last season between the NHL and AHL, and was limited to just 31 regular season games due to a shoulder injury that required surgery… and a less serious upper body injury that thankfully didn’t. Pelletier’s a versatile forward that can play up and down a lineup and brings a lot of energy, tenacity and two-way prowess to the table. He’s not huge and he’s not dominant offensively or defensively, but he’s a tremendously useful player because he can do a lot.

But after three seasons of pro hockey and 37 NHL games, what’s that worth? He’s got first-round pedigree and a strong reputation built honestly as a really good junior and minor-pro player, but his NHL results have been mixed – though there are some extenuating circumstances given the coaching of Darryl “What number is he?” Sutter and his subsequent injury last season. It’s difficult to find an apples-to-apples contractual comparative to Pelletier, so… we wait.

We probably don’t talk about Schwindt enough. A 23-year-old right shot forward – primarily a centre – Schwindt was acquired as part of the Matthew Tkachuk/MacKenzie Weegar mega-trade. At the time, Flames general manager Brad Treliving mentioned that Schwindt could become a really good third-line centre given his ability to win face-offs and kill penalties.

His first season with the Wranglers was uneven, as he seemed to struggle at times to find his footing and carve out a role for himself within the Flames’ established prospect base. But he was much better last season, and he both got a cup of coffee with the Flames and was really relied upon down the stretch by the Wranglers in key moments, especially in the defensive zone. Schwindt’s a reliable two-way AHL centre who scores at between a 0.46 to 0.56 pace.

Like Pelletier, Schwindt has put together a good body of work in minor-pro but his NHL results are pretty thin. Like Pelletier, their aren’t a lot of clear comparables to draw upon.

The Flames selected Solovyov in the seventh round in 2020 in his second year of draft eligibility. Since being drafted, he’s played a year in the KHL and three seasons in North America, primarily in the AHL with the Flames’ farm teams. He’s developed quietly into, well, the defenceman version of Schwindt. His offensive game is pretty understated, but he’s a reliable tough minutes blueliner who played 10 games in the NHL in 2023-24 and didn’t look out of place on the third pairing and penalty kill.

Considering he doesn’t move the needle a ton offensively, and that he’s played so few NHL games, what’s the market value for a 24-year-old left shot defender? Like with Pelletier and Schwindt, there doesn’t seem to be a clear-cut comparable out there.

Back in July, we projected Pelletier would get a one year, two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $100,000 at the AHL level, while Schwindt and Solovyov would get one year, two-way deals worth $775,000 in the NHL and $90,000 at the AHL level. We still think those are the general ballparks given each player’s lack of clear-cut NHL success, but we’ll see how things shake out when things eventually get hashed out.