There are a lot of players attending Calgary Flames training camp. When camp breaks on Oct. 7, the Flames will have to cut down their roster to around 22 or 23 players. Right now, they have just shy of three time that many in camp.

In the hope of providing a bit of clarity regarding the many, many players the Flames are juggling right now, we thought we’d dig into the various categories of players currently in camp

(Stick-taps to our pals at PuckPedia for confirming several key details for us.)

What’s everyone’s contractual status?

There are 49 players on NHL contracts:

Goaltenders Dan Vladar, Dustin Wolf, Devin Cooley and Waltteri Ignatjew
Defencemen Kevin Bahl, MacKenzie Weegar, Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov, Joel Hanley, Rasmus Andersson, Jeremie Poirier, Brayden Pachal, Joni Jurmo, Artem Grushnikov, Yan Kuznetsov, Hunter Brzustewicz, Jarred Tinordi, Jonathan Aspirot, Ilya Solovyov, Etienne Morin and Zayne Parekh
Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Andrei Kuzmenko, Yegor Sharangovich, Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, Martin Pospisil, Connor Zary, Anthony Mantha, Ryan Lomberg, Kevin Rooney, Matt Coronato, Jakob Pelletier, Sam Morton, Walker Duehr, William Strömgren, Clark Bishop, Adam Klapka, Samuel Honzek, Justin Kirkland, Martin Frk, Lucas Ciona, Ilya Nikolaev, Dryden Hunt, Rory Kerins, Cole Schwindt, Matvei Gridin and Parker Bell

There are 4 players on AHL contracts:

Goaltender Connor Murphy
Forwards Trevor Janicke, David Silye and Alex Gallant

There are 3 players on try-out deals:

Goaltender Matt Radomsky
Defenceman Tyson Barrie
Forward Luke McNamara

There are 8 players that are unsigned Flames draft picks:

Defencemen Alex Hurtig, Eric Jamieson and Henry Mews
Forwards Andrew Basha, Jacob Battaglia, Jaden Lipinski, Luke Misa and Hunter Laing

In order to play for the Flames in 2024-25, players need to be on an NHL deal. The Flames are currently close to the 50 contract limit, but as noted recently on the site, the Flames have three junior-aged players (Gridin, Morin and Parekh) who could see their deals slide once they’re assigned back to junior. Once they’re sent to junior, their deals would no longer count against the 50 contract limit, so the Flames could (hypothetically) then sign someone like Barrie or look at waiver claims without exceeding the limit. Hypothetically.

What’s everyone’s waiver status?

These 30 players require waivers to be assigned to the AHL:

Goaltenders Dan Vladar and Devin Cooley
Defencemen Kevin Bahl, MacKenzie Weegar, Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov, Joel Hanley, Rasmus Andersson, Brayden Pachal, Jarred Tinordi, Jonathan Aspirot and Ilya Solovyov
Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Andrei Kuzmenko, Yegor Sharangovich, Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, Martin Pospisil, Connor Zary, Anthony Mantha, Ryan Lomberg, Kevin Rooney, Jakob Pelletier, Walker Duehr, Clark Bishop, Justin Kirkland, Martin Frk, Dryden Hunt and Cole Schwindt

These 19 players are waiver exempt this season:

Goaltenders Dustin Wolf and Waltteri Ignatjew
Defencemen Jeremie Poirier, Joni Jurmo, Artem Grushnikov, Yan Kuznetsov, Hunter Brzustewicz, Etienne Morin* and Zayne Parekh*
Forwards Matt Coronato, Sam Morton, William Strömgren, Adam Klapka, Samuel Honzek, Lucas Ciona, Ilya Nikolaev, Rory Kerins, Matvei Gridin* and Parker Bell

Yes, this means that it’s literally impossible for the Flames to put together an opening night roster without placing anybody on waivers.

It’s worth noting that Morin and Parekh are teenagers and are subject to the CHL’s transfer agreement, so they can only be assigned to their junior teams, not the Wranglers. Similarly, Gridin will be subject to the transfer agreement if/when he signs with Shawinigan of the QMJHL.

Reminder: Whether a player is on a one-way or two-way deal has nothing to do with their waiver status.

Who has one-way or two-way contracts?

19 players are on one-way deals, which means these players would receive the same salary in the NHL or AHL:

Goaltenders Dan Vladar
Defencemen Kevin Bahl, MacKenzie Weegar, Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov, Joel Hanley, Rasmus Andersson and Brayden Pachal
Forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Andrei Kuzmenko, Yegor Sharangovich, Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, Martin Pospisil, Anthony Mantha, Ryan Lomberg, Kevin Rooney and Walker Duehr

30 players are on two-way deals which means that these players would receive different salaries in the NHL and AHL:

Goaltenders Dustin Wolf, Devin Cooley and Waltteri Ignatjew
Defencemen Jeremie Poirier, Joni Jurmo, Artem Grushnikov, Yan Kuznetsov, Hunter Brzustewicz, Jarred Tinordi, Jonathan Aspirot, Ilya Solovyov, Etienne Morin and Zayne Parekh
Forwards Connor Zary, Matt Coronato, Jakob Pelletier, Sam Morton, William Strömgren, Clark Bishop, Adam Klapka, Samuel Honzek, Justin Kirkland, Martin Frk, Lucas Ciona, Ilya Nikolaev, Dryden Hunt, Rory Kerins, Cole Schwindt, Matvei Gridin and Parker Bell

Who has NHL experience?

The following players have played NHL games, with their credited NHL experience in brackets and players sorted from most to least experience by position:

Goaltenders Dan Vladar [75], Dustin Wolf [18] and Devin Cooley [6]
Defencemen Tyson Barrie [809], MacKenzie Weegar [469], Rasmus Andersson [455], Jarred Tinordi [205], Jake Bean [197], Joel Hanley [193], Kevin Bahl [148], Brayden Pachal [62], Daniil Miromanov [49], Ilya Solovyov [10] and Yan Kuznetsov [1]
Forwards Mikael Backlund [990], Nazem Kadri [903], Jonathan Huberdeau [831], Blake Coleman [542], Anthony Mantha [494], Yegor Sharangovich [287], Kevin Rooney [260], Ryan Lomberg [257], Dryden Hunt [230], Andrei Kuzmenko [153], Walker Duehr [68], Martin Pospisil [63], Connor Zary [63], Clark Bishop [47], Jakob Pelletier [37], Matt Coronato [35], Justin Kirkland [9], Adam Klapka [6] and Cole Schwindt [4]

Which players are considered ‘veterans’ for the purposes of pre-season roster requirements?

The NHL requires teams to dress a minimum of eight “veteran” players for pre-season games. The general idea is to maintain some semblance of competitive balance, and to ensure that fans that pay their hard-earned money to watch a pre-season game get something resembling NHL hockey for their dollars.

The NHL defines “veterans” across four categories, which we’ve broken down below.

(1) a forward or defenceman who played in thirty (30) NHL Games during the previous season:

Forwards: Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Andrei Kuzmenko, Blake Coleman, Mikael Backlund, Anthony Mantha, Yegor Sharangovich, Ryan Lomberg, Martin Pospisil, Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, Kevin Rooney and Walker Duehr
Defencemen: MacKenzie Weegar, Rasmus Andersson, Jake Bean, Brayden Pachal, Kevin Bahl, Joel Hanley, Jarred Tinordi and Tyson Barrie

(2) a goaltender who either dressed in fifty (50) or more NHL Games or played in thirty (30) or more NHL Games in the previous season:

Dan Vladar

(3) a first round draft choice from the most recent year’s Entry Draft:

Zayne Parekh
Matvei Gridin

(4) any Player who has played one-hundred (100) or more career NHL Games:

Dryden Hunt
Martin Frk

The Flames have to dress eight of these players for each pre-season game. They currently have 26 players that meet the requirements.

Do any players’ placements in our categories surprise you? Which players are you hoping to see in the upcoming pre-season games? Let us know in the comments!

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