<p>The Calgary Flames have six restricted free agents that they need to re-sign before training camp. Easily the most important player to re-up is netminder Dustin Wolf.</p>
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2109" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="328"></div>
<p>But not far behind is winger Jakob Pelletier, the Flames&#8217; first-round selection from 2019.</p>
<p>While Wolf, another 2019 pick, has been able to stay healthy and keep himself on a consistent upward trajectory in 2023-24, Pelletier hit some injury challenges that really seemed to derail his progression. Initially pencilled into an NHL roster spot to begin 2023&#8217;s training camp, Pelletier suffered a shoulder injury in a pre-season game against the Seattle Kraken that required surgery.</p>
<p>Pelletier is a restricted free agent, and one in a pretty unique circumstance. He&#8217;s played 37 NHL games and has 10 points, though he&#8217;s never had a clear NHL role due to (a) Darryl Sutter&#8217;s coaching techniques in 2022-23 and (b) his injury challenges in 2023-24. He&#8217;s also played 119 AHL games and has 111 points. He&#8217;s a <em>really</em> good AHLer, but he hasn&#8217;t quite carved out a niche in the NHL quite yet.</p>
<p>So what should Pelletier&#8217;s next contract look like?</p>
<h2><strong>How many years?</strong></h2>
<p>It&#8217;s unclear what Pelletier is at the NHL level. Given that, a one year &#8220;show me&#8221; contract would make a lot of sense. Pelletier&#8217;s eligible for salary arbitration in one more season, and a one year deal would help each side figure out more clearly what Pelletier is.</p>
<p>It is worth noting, though, that Pelletier requires waivers to be sent to the AHL starting this season. A two year deal may make other teams a bit more hesitant about claiming Pelletier if he hits the waiver wire – that said, he&#8217;s <em>good</em> and as a first-round pick, he&#8217;ll always have a bit of allure with other teams because of that pedigree. A multi-year deal might not do much to dissuade teams from a claim.</p>
<h2><strong>One-way or two-way?</strong></h2>
<p>We&#8217;ve seen a few 2019 picks get one-way deals recently: Nils Hoglander and Vasily Podkolzin with Vancouver, Bobby Brink with Philadelphia, and Simon Holmstrom with the NY Islanders. The common denominator there is that all of those players managed to carve out a niche for themselves in the NHL, so one-way deals are completely logical.</p>
<p>Pelletier hasn&#8217;t done that yet, so a two-way deal would make a lot of sense.</p>
<h2><strong>What cap hit?</strong></h2>
<p>Typically, players that haven&#8217;t carved out a role in the NHL yet tend to take league minimum NHL cap hits. In Pelletier&#8217;s case, that would be $775,000.</p>
<p>Recently, three different players from the 2019 draft have re-upped with their teams:</p>
<ul>
<li>Samuel Fagemo (Kings) signed a one year, two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $375,000 in the AHL. (This is his third NHL deal; he signed a one year deal after his ELC expired last summer that just ended.)</li>
<li>Samuel Poulin (Penguins) signed a two year, two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $100,000 (in 2024-25) and $325,000 (2025-26) in the AHL.</li>
<li>Adam Beckman (Wild) signed a one year, two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $125,000 in the AHL.</li>
</ul>
<p>Pelletier&#8217;s entry-level deal carried an $863,334 cap hit, with $832,500 in NHL salary and $70,000 in AHL salary last season. What tends to happen on the deal after an ELC expires is the player takes less NHL salary but more AHL salary, but it varies based on the particular situation with the player.</p>
<p>If we were to make an educated guess, based on the information available, we&#8217;d project that Pelletier gets a one year, two-way deal worth $775,000 at the NHL level and $100,000 (or so) at the AHL level. In a year, he&#8217;ll be eligible for salary arbitration, and he&#8217;s in a position with a decent season with more NHL reps, he could be in for a pretty significant raise.</p>


The Calgary Flames have six restricted free agents that they need to re-sign before training camp. Easily the most important player to re-up is netminder Dustin Wolf.
<div class="bam-inline-promotion-block" data-max-length="2" data-placement-id="2109" data-context="web-content-promocard" data-property-id="328"></div>
But not far behind is winger Jakob Pelletier, the Flames' first-round selection from 2019.

While Wolf, another 2019 pick, has been able to stay healthy and keep himself on a consistent upward trajectory in 2023-24, Pelletier hit some injury challenges that really seemed to derail his progression. Initially pencilled into an NHL roster spot to begin 2023's training camp, Pelletier suffered a shoulder injury in a pre-season game against the Seattle Kraken that required surgery.

Pelletier is a restricted free agent, and one in a pretty unique circumstance. He's played 37 NHL games and has 10 points, though he's never had a clear NHL role due to (a) Darryl Sutter's coaching techniques in 2022-23 and (b) his injury challenges in 2023-24. He's also played 119 AHL games and has 111 points. He's a <em>really</em> good AHLer, but he hasn't quite carved out a niche in the NHL quite yet.

So what should Pelletier's next contract look like?
<h2><strong>How many years?</strong></h2>
It's unclear what Pelletier is at the NHL level. Given that, a one year "show me" contract would make a lot of sense. Pelletier's eligible for salary arbitration in one more season, and a one year deal would help each side figure out more clearly what Pelletier is.

It is worth noting, though, that Pelletier requires waivers to be sent to the AHL starting this season. A two year deal may make other teams a bit more hesitant about claiming Pelletier if he hits the waiver wire – that said, he's <em>good</em> and as a first-round pick, he'll always have a bit of allure with other teams because of that pedigree. A multi-year deal might not do much to dissuade teams from a claim.
<h2><strong>One-way or two-way?</strong></h2>
We've seen a few 2019 picks get one-way deals recently: Nils Hoglander and Vasily Podkolzin with Vancouver, Bobby Brink with Philadelphia, and Simon Holmstrom with the NY Islanders. The common denominator there is that all of those players managed to carve out a niche for themselves in the NHL, so one-way deals are completely logical.

Pelletier hasn't done that yet, so a two-way deal would make a lot of sense.
<h2><strong>What cap hit?</strong></h2>
Typically, players that haven't carved out a role in the NHL yet tend to take league minimum NHL cap hits. In Pelletier's case, that would be $775,000.

Recently, three different players from the 2019 draft have re-upped with their teams:
<ul>
 	<li>Samuel Fagemo (Kings) signed a one year, two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $375,000 in the AHL. (This is his third NHL deal; he signed a one year deal after his ELC expired last summer that just ended.)</li>
 	<li>Samuel Poulin (Penguins) signed a two year, two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $100,000 (in 2024-25) and $325,000 (2025-26) in the AHL.</li>
 	<li>Adam Beckman (Wild) signed a one year, two-way deal worth $775,000 in the NHL and $125,000 in the AHL.</li>
</ul>
Pelletier's entry-level deal carried an $863,334 cap hit, with $832,500 in NHL salary and $70,000 in AHL salary last season. What tends to happen on the deal after an ELC expires is the player takes less NHL salary but more AHL salary, but it varies based on the particular situation with the player.

If we were to make an educated guess, based on the information available, we'd project that Pelletier gets a one year, two-way deal worth $775,000 at the NHL level and $100,000 (or so) at the AHL level. In a year, he'll be eligible for salary arbitration, and he's in a position with a decent season with more NHL reps, he could be in for a pretty significant raise.

What should Jakob Pelletier’s next contract with the Calgary Flames look like?

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