Flames Rumors

Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Gaudreau Pass Away

August 30, 2024 at 6:49 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 49 Comments

Blue Jackets winger Johnny Gaudreau and his brother, Matthew Gaudreau, passed away on Thursday, the team has confirmed in a statement. They were struck by an accused drunk driver while biking near their New Jersey home, police confirmed to Jeff Goldman of NJ Advance Media. They were 31 and 29 years old.

“The National Hockey League family is shocked and saddened by the tragic passing of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew,” said league commissioner Gary Bettman. “While Johnny’s infectious spirit for the game and show-stopping skills on the ice earned him the nickname ‘Johnny Hockey,’ he was more than just a dazzling hockey player; he was a doting father and beloved husband, son, brother and teammate who endeared himself to every person fortunate enough to have crossed his path. Gaudreau often told the story of how his father taught him to skate as a child in his home state of New Jersey, and he carried that same youthful passion throughout his 11 NHL seasons.”

Both Gaudreaus prefaced their professional careers with stints at Boston College, where Johnny immediately emerged as a star after being selected in the fourth round by the Flames in 2011. After recording a point per game as a freshman, he was the best player in college hockey by his junior year, leading the NCAA in scoring in 2013-14 with an incredible 80 points and 40 games. He won the Hobey Baker Award for the top collegiate player in the country and signed his entry-level contract with Calgary to end the campaign, scoring his first NHL goal in his first NHL game against the Canucks on April 13, 2014.

Gaudreau was an immediate standout, locking down a top-six role and posting 64 points in 80 games during his rookie season to help the Flames to their first playoff berth in six years. He led the team with nine points in 11 postseason games as they upset the rival Canucks in the first round and stole a game from the heavily-favored Ducks in Round 2.

Over the next decade, Gaudreau would cement himself as the cornerstone of the Flames’ offense. He was their representative at the NHL All-Star Game for five years to begin his career and quickly made a name for himself as one of the league’s most agile wingers.

His first true breakout came in 2018-19 when he torched the league for 36 goals and 99 points en route to Calgary’s first division title since 2006. He averaged over 20 minutes per game and finished fourth in Hart Trophy voting.

Gaudreau continued to serve as Calgary’s top offensive option up until 2021-22. Entering the final season of a six-year, $40.5MM contract, Gaudreau, along with linemates Elias Lindholm and Matthew Tkachuk, put up one of the most dominant seasons from a single forward unit we’ve seen in quite some time. He recorded career-highs with 40 goals, 75 assists and 115 points and also led the league with a remarkable +68 rating. His expert playmaking also helped Lindholm and Tkachuk to breakout campaigns, and for a time, they were the most suffocating two-way line in the league at 5v5.

An unrestricted free agent for the first time the following summer, Gaudreau opted to head east to return closer to his New Jersey home. The top UFA on the market that summer, he landed a seven-year, $68.25MM deal with Columbus. Both he and the team hoped he would be the veteran offensive presence necessary to help guide the team out of a rebuild. Gaudreau led the Blue Jackets in scoring each of the past two seasons, posting 33 goals, 101 assists and 134 points in 161 games.

Matthew never made his way to the NHL, but he did have a strong career in the minor leagues. After playing spot duty as a freshman at Boston College in Johnny’s junior season, he later emerged as an important player for the program in his own right, tying for the team lead in scoring during his senior season with 35 points in 40 games.

The younger Gaudreau began his pro career in the Islanders organization in 2017, signing a two-way AHL contract with their affiliate, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. He had five points in 17 games over his first two years there, spending most of his time down in the ECHL with the Worcester Railers. It was there he was able to shine offensively, posting 24 goals and 36 assists for 60 points in 88 games.

In 2019-20, Gaudreau opted to join Johnny in the Calgary hockey pyramid, inking a deal with the Flames’ AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat. He made four appearances for them and had a breakout year on loan to the ECHL’s Reading Royals, where he erupted for 29 assists in 40 points in 38 games.

Gaudreau headed overseas when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, posting six points in 12 games for Sweden’s Tyringe SoSS. He returned to the Railers for 2021-22, making a lone appearance before announcing his retirement.

All of us at PHR send our deepest condolences to the Gaudreau family, their friends, their fans, and the many organizations where the brothers took their talents.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Evening Notes: Jagr, Baertschi, Necas

August 25, 2024 at 8:15 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 8 Comments

Hockey legend Jaromir Jagr has hit a lull in his off-season prep, announcing in an Instagram post that he’s suffered a torn hamstring. He’ll now be out for three-to-six weeks, adding that the injury was likely a result of overtraining, which team physio Pavel Kolar warned him against. In a quote translated from Czech by Derek O’Brien of The Hockey News, Jagr said, “When I talked to the physiotherapist Pavel Kolář about the fact that I would like to properly train, he warned me not to do anything that my body is not used to. Of course, I didn’t listen to him… I went for a run. Not the sprints I used to do uphill, but normally straight. But I put weights on my ankles and tore my hamstring.”

Jagr, a partial owner of Kladno, will now miss the team’s remaining four pre-season games and could be out for the start of the Czech Extraliga season on Sep. 18. Kladno has a game roughly every other day from there on out, eating into Jagr’s goal to play in every Extraliga game this season. The inevitable Hall-of-Fame winger has stayed productive into his 50s, scoring 18 points across his last 31 Extraliga games, dating back to 2022. He’s never shown any reason for doubt, and even through a hamstring injury, he hopes to continue a productive playing career in Kladno as soon as possible.

Other quick notes from around the NHL:

Former Vancouver Canucks winger Sven Baertschi has joined the WHL’s Portland Winterhawks as an assistant coach, shares Ryan Pike of Flames Nation. Baertschi spent two years with the Winterhawks in 2010 and 2011, ultimately scoring a dazzling 240 points in 156 games with the club. That was enough to motivate the Calgary Flames to select Baertschi with the 13th overall selection in the 2011 NHL Draft, though he never managed to live up to that precedent. His career year came with Vancouver in 2016-17, when he posted 18 goals and 35 points in 68 games. Baertschi finished his NHL career with 138 points in 292 games, playing in parts of 10 seasons. That’s a hockey career to be proud of – meager scoring or not – and Baertschi will now look to carry his experience back to the juniors team that helmed his early career.
Plenty of teams expressed interest in former top trade piece and recent Hurricanes re-signee Martin Necas, shares Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in the latest written 32 Thoughts. Among the interested parties were the Winnipeg Jets and Columbus Blue Jackets, though Necas was ultimately swayed to stay in Carolina thanks to the support of his teammates off the ice. Necas will now look to make the most of his two-year contract after posting 71 and 53 points in the last two seasons, respectively. That’s strong production, and Necas should earn an impressive contract when he becomes an unrestricted free agent, pending any collapse over the next two years.

Snapshots: Pospisil, Moline, Chabot

August 18, 2024 at 8:04 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

Flames winger Martin Pospisil said last week that he’d be representing Slovakia in this month’s Olympic qualifying tournament, but that may no longer be the case. Pospisil recently told Slovak outlet Dennik Sport that he’s reconsidering his decision after the country’s hockey governing body invited Slovak players from Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League to suit up for the tournament.

“I was surprised by the news, we’ll see how it all develops,” Pospisil said. “It’s hard for me to comment on that, because I found out everything just a while ago. I have to process that information first… It is still an honor for me to wear the national jersey. Sometimes, however, one has to put sports aside, but it’s hard for me to talk about it now. I will decide in the next few days.”

His potential departure from the national squad would be a large blow, as he was one of the few NHL-contracted players who were willing to participate for their respective countries during what’s otherwise the final ramp-up period to training camps. Pospisil finished third on the Slovak team in scoring at the World Championship earlier this year with seven points in seven games, his first appearance for the senior national team. The Slovak roster will still have a decent amount of big-name talent at the tournament and is a favorite to land one of the three spots remaining in men’s ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics, namely Devils Simon Nemec and Tomas Tatar and Capitals defenseman Martin Fehervary.

Morning Notes: Maple Leafs, Andersson, Sabres

August 18, 2024 at 9:34 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 1 Comment

Unlike other teams that have recently claimed their offseason checklists are complete, the Maple Leafs are still open for business, general manager Brad Treliving said on TSN 1050 last week. “To me, we’ve still got five weeks or so till camp,” Treliving said. “And, you know, we’re not set yet. We continue to look at ways to make our team better.”

It’s more like four weeks now, but Treliving’s right in that there are still multiple minor moves Toronto intends to make before veterans roll in for training camp. Chief among them is likely finding a home for disgruntled winger Nicholas Robertson, who remains an unsigned RFA after reportedly requesting a trade in June. The 2019 second-round pick finally broke into an everyday role with the Leafs last season after a few years of being relegated to minor-league roles, producing well in a depth role with 14 goals and 27 points in 56 games. That was good enough for 39 points over a full 82-game sample, but his ice time remained limited at 11:23 per game. Going pointless and averaging less than 10 minutes per game in six playoff contests against the Bruins didn’t boost his stock.

That means there’s still an unknown ripple effect on the Leafs’ forward depth. They’ll undoubtedly replace Robertson’s role one way or another, either by recouping a similar player in a swap or making a UFA signing to avoid putting too much pressure on rookies Easton Cowan and Fraser Minten to crack the opening night roster. Doing so would be a tricky fit with the salary cap if injured defenseman Jani Hakanpaa ever puts pen to paper on his reported two-year, $3MM deal, though. As things stand, they only have $1.275MM in space with a roster size of 21, per PuckPedia, which is not enough to be cap-compliant with Hakanpaa on the roster to start the season.

Summer Synopsis: Calgary Flames

August 16, 2024 at 6:10 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 1 Comment

The Calgary Flames are in a season of transition for the first time in quite some time. The organization is only three years removed from knocking off the stingy Dallas Stars in the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs before losing at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers in five games. Since that run in the playoffs, the Flames have traded away the likes of Matthew Tkachuk, Sean Monahan, Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom, and Andrew Mangiapane while also seeing franchise icon Johnny Gaudreau leave the team via unrestricted free agency. Not many teams can sustain that level of talent walk out the door but Calgary is fortunate that they didn’t let many find greener pastures for nothing in return.

Draft

1-9: D Zayne Parekh, Saginaw (OHL)
1-28: F Matvei Gridin, Muskegon (USHL)
2-41: F Andrew Basha, Medicine Hat (WHL)
2-62: F Jacob Battaglia, Kingston (OHL)
3-74: D Henry Mews, Ottawa (OHL)
3-84: G Kirill Zarubin, Tula (MHL)
4-106: C Trevor Hoskin, Cobourg (OJHL)
5-150: C Luke Misa, Mississauga (OHL)
6-170: C Hunter Laing, Prince George (WHL)
6-177: D Eric Jamieson, Everett (WHL)

The Flames picked in the top 10 of the draft for the first time since the 2016 NHL Draft. They used the ninth overall selection on Parekh who was listed in the top five of North American skaters and the third-best North American defenseman. He’s a very talented offensive-minded defenseman coming off a season with the Spirit in which he scored 33 goals and 96 points from the blue line in 66 games. He doesn’t project to have the same defensive awareness as Cale Makar of the Colorado Avalanche — but his puckhandling skills and ability to create holes in the ice are eerily similar.

Calgary used their second first-round selection on Gridin who shares a similar ability in opening up space in the offensive zone. Playing for the USHL’s Lumberjacks the past two years after coming over from his native Russia, Gridin has scored 46 goals and 104 points in 100 appearances. He may take a bit longer to develop compared to Parekh as the Flames will see how he fares against stiffer competition but he projects to be a solid scoring option to place in the middle-six.

One of the better picks for the Flames after Day One was the selection of Battaglia from the Frontenacs. He’s an impressively quick player from his footspeed to his passing ability and could feature in Calgary’s top six if his development continues upward. He scored 31 goals and 65 points in 67 games for Kingston this past season but his goal-scoring ability may decrease as he climbs to the NHL.

Trade Acquisitions

D Kevin Bahl (New Jersey)

Bahl was the only player acquired by the Flames this summer but the team also added notable draft picks. In the trade that saw Bahl join the Flames organization, the team also acquired New Jersey’s 2025 first-round pick. Furthermore, Calgary traded Mangiapane to the Washington Capitals a few days before the start of free agency with Washington’s second-round pick in 2025 headed to Alberta.

Because of New Jersey’s depth on the blue line, it took Bahl several years to become a regular fixture in the lineup. Last season, he played in all 82 games for the Devils and scored one goal and 11 points while averaging 17:24 of ice time per night. Due to the departures Calgary saw on their blue line last season, it stands to reason that Bahl could crack the top four with the Flames and receive close to 20 minutes a night.

UFA Signings

D Jake Bean (two-year, $3.5MM)
G Devin Cooley (two-year, $1.55MM)*
F Martin Frk (one-year, $775K)*
F Justin Kirkland (one-year, $775K)*
F Ryan Lomberg (two-year, $4MM)
F Anthony Mantha (one-year, $3.5MM)

* denotes a two-way contract

As expected, the Flames were not very involved in the free agent market this summer and did not sign any deal longer than two years. Bean, Lomberg, and Mantha project as the biggest signings of the offseason with the former being an interesting bounceback candidate. Bean skated in 73 games for the Columbus Blue Jackets last season and scored four goals and 13 points overall but is not far removed from being a top-15 pick in the 2016 NHL Draft.

Lomberg spent much of the last four years serving as a depth piece for the Florida Panthers but should earn a regular bottom-six role with the Flames. Over the last three years in Florida, Lomberg skated in 212 games while scoring 26 goals and 45 points but the most notable aspect of his game became his physicality. Lomberg amassed 445 hits over those three years with the Panthers and should make Calgary’s bottom six much more annoying to play against.

Mantha is another potential rebound candidate for the Flames and should get regular minutes in the top six and the team’s powerplay. Before being traded to the Vegas Golden Knights last year, Mantha scored 20 goals in 56 games for the Washington Capitals but floundered dramatically after being traded. The Golden Knights went as far as to make Mantha a healthy scratch for the playoffs but now has an opportunity to rebuild his value in Alberta.

RFA Re-Signings

D Jonathan Aspirot (one-year, $775K)*
F Adam Klapka (one-year, $775K)*
D Yan Kuznetsov (one-year, $775K)*
F Yegor Sharangovich (five-year, $28.75MM)
G Dustin Wolf (two-year, $1.7MM)

* denotes a two-way contract

As the main piece acquired in the trade that sent Toffoli to the Devils last offseason, Sharangovich greatly impressed with the Flames this year leading to a heavy commitment from the organization. With a bigger opportunity in Calgary, Sharanovich averaged nearly two more minutes of ice time per night as compared to his time in New Jersey and scored 31 goals and 59 points for the Flames in 82 games. The young forward finished second on the team in scoring as well as leading the team in goals. He will have his work cut out for him if he plans on being the leading scorer for Calgary but he is exactly the type of forward they need if they hope to keep their head above water.

The other notable re-signing for the Flames this summer is Wolf who’s contract may already be a bargain. Wolf has struggled in his brief time in the NHL up to this point but he is firmly the goaltender of the future after the team sent Markstrom packing for the East Coast earlier this offseason. His play in the AHL over the last several years has earned him quite the pedigree as a prospect as he’s accrued a record of 97-32-10 in 141 games played while averaging a .926 save percentage and 2.29 goals against average.

Departures

D Dennis Gilbert (Buffalo, one-year, $825K)
F A.J. Greer (Florida, two-year, $1.7MM)
F Ben Jones (Minnesota, two-year, $1.55MM)*
D Oliver Kylington (Colorado, one-year, $1.05MM)
F Andrew Mangiapane (traded to Washington)
G Jacob Markstrom (traded to New Jersey)
D Jordan Oesterle (Boston, two-year, $1.55MM)*
D Colton Poolman (Buffalo, one-year, $755K)*

* denotes a two-way contract

Thanks to their actions on the trade market throughout the 2023-24 NHL season, the Flames didn’t have much in the way of departures on the free-agent market. The most notable departure in free agency came in Kylington who the team had previously expressed a desire to keep around. The Swedish defenseman spent the entirety of his career in the Flames organization since being drafted in the 2015 NHL Draft and chose to leave for a more competitive opportunity in Colorado.

The deal sending Markstrom to the Devils had been in the making for several months as the two teams were close to a deal at last year’s trade deadline. The return for Markstrom seemed underwhelming as the Flames only acquired a first-round pick in 2025 and Bahl as previously mentioned. However, the team already had Wolf waiting in the wings and the team can get out from under Markstrom’s $6MM salary for the next two years.

The departure of Mangiapane was more surprising than the deal sending Markstrom to New Jersey as it fully committed the Flames to a rebuilding year. He has not lived up to his $5.8MM salary but has been a consistent secondary scoring option for Calgary over the last three years. Mangiapane struck as a player the Flames may look to keep through the long haul of the rebuild but the team is opting to give his minutes in the top six to one of their younger options.

Salary Cap Outlook

Now that Calgary has moved out a decent chunk of their salaries over the last two years, the team has the second-most cap space in the NHL with $19.2MM. That leaves the Flames nearly $4MM above the salary cap floor and this is something they should weaponize throughout the 2024-25 NHL season.

For teams like the Vegas Golden Knights, New York Islanders, Vancouver Canucks, New York Rangers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, and Florida Panthers, the Flames could serve as a dumping ground for some of their bloated contracts so Calgary can effectively purchase draft and prospect capital. The team shouldn’t be near contention next season in an always difficult Pacific Division so the Flames would do well to utilize their cap space.

Key Questions

Is There More Selling Coming?

Circling back to their salary cap space for the 2024-25 season, the Flames will be limited in their ability to sell again. Depending on the team’s organizational window for getting back to contention, Calgary would do well at looking at the markets for Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman, Jonathan Huberdeau, and MacKenzie Weegar. The Huberdeau contract in particular has already become one of the worst in the league so the Flames would have to add some sort of kicker going back the other way.

Because the team has such a narrow window of being above the salary cap floor, they will need to take on a bad contract in return if they want to stay cap-compliant. Since the team projects to be one of the worst in the NHL this season, the Flames should do everything they can to build up their prospect and draft capital while transitioning more veteran players out of the organization.

When Will The Prospects Come Up?

Calgary has opened up several opportunities on the roster with the amount of trades they’ve made over the last calendar year. However, although training camp has yet to take place, Wolf and Connor Zary project as the only two top-level prospects on the roster heading into next year.

Because of the trades, the Flames have built up a notable farm system and they should see what they have sooner rather than later. Calgary would be doing a disservice to their prospects if they didn’t open up a full-time opportunity for Matthew Coronato at some point during next season and should create the flexibility to get notable 2024 draft picks Parekh and Basha into the lineup once their junior seasons end next year.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Morning Notes: Kadri, Grebyonkin, Pickering

August 16, 2024 at 9:05 am CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

The Jets’ wish list at last season’s trade deadline had second-line center written atop it, likely in all caps. Looking at the state of their roster now, a 2C will likely be a deadline priority again after they failed to keep 2024’s stopgap solution, Sean Monahan, from reaching unrestricted free agency. In an early look at potential mid-season trade candidates to fill the void, Ken Wiebe of the Winnipeg Free Press profiles Flames pivot Nazem Kadri as a longer-term solution to provide stability down the middle behind Mark Scheifele.

Kadri, who turns 34 in October, is on the block to some degree. A report from David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period in June indicated Calgary general manager Craig Conroy was at least exploring the market for the center, who still has five years left on his contract at a $7MM cap hit.

It’s a hefty price tag, but it’s one Kadri lived up to last season after a mediocre first campaign in Alberta the year before. He took over as the Flames’ top center and arguably their top forward overall, leading them in assists (46), points (75) and shots on goal (277). It was one of the best seasons of his career, save for the 87-point season with the Avalanche in 2021-22 that landed him his payday from the Flames on the free agent market the following summer.

That price tag, even with some degree of salary retention by the Flames, likely limits the Jets from pouncing this offseason. They do have $5.78MM in projected cap space, per PuckPedia, but a chunk of that is set aside for a new deal for RFA forward Cole Perfetti, who will be one of a few internal options at second-line center to start this season. A move would be easier to execute after they’ve had a few months during the season to accumulate cap space.

Wiebe writes that Winnipeg has had interest in Kadri before, dating back to when he was traded from the Maple Leafs to Colorado in 2019. Any move hinges on the interest being mutual, given he’s got a no-movement clause through 2025-26.

Other tidbits from around the league to close out the week:

Maple Leafs prospect Nikita Grebyonkin is still recovering from a lower-body injury as he prepares for his first training camp with the club, he tells Daria Tuboltseva of Responsible Gambling. Grebyonkin, 21, spent last season with Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League and played through the injury during their playoff run, which took them to the summit of Russian hockey with the franchise’s third Gagarin Cup win. The 2022 fifth-round pick signed his entry-level contract following the conclusion of the KHL final and has been in the Toronto area since. The 6’2″, 192-lb winger will be a dark horse to crack the Maple Leafs’ opening night roster after finishing second on Magnitogorsk in scoring last year with 41 points in 67 games.
Penguins 2022 first-rounder Owen Pickering is hoping to get a shot with the team out of camp ahead of his first full professional season, relays Wes Crosby of NHL.com. The towering 6’5″ 20-year-old, who says he’s put on weight this summer and is up to 200 lbs, faces an uphill battle to compete with depth players like Sebastian Aho, Ryan Shea, and Jack St. Ivany for roster spots. Pickering, a promising two-way threat, captained the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos last season and led their blue line with seven goals, 39 assists and 46 points in 59 games. He’s been named to the league’s Central Division First All-Star Team in back-to-back years.

Martin Pospisil Will Play For Team Slovakia In Olympic Qualifier

August 15, 2024 at 4:25 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 2 Comments

Calgary Flames forward Martin Pospisil is looking to continue his impressive run with Team Slovakia — this time in the 2026 Winter Olympics (Article Link). Later this month, Slovakia will host a three-game round-robin tournament against Austria, Hungary, and Kazakhstan with the winner receiving an automatic bid for the Olympic Games in Milan. The Slovakian Olympic team will likely rely heavily on Pospisil as he is coming off an impressive international tournament earlier this summer. In the 2024 World Championships, Pospisil scored three goals and seven points in seven games and helped Slovakia reach the playoff round for the first time since 2022.

[SOURCE LINK]

Evening Notes: Flames, Getzlaf, Glass

August 14, 2024 at 7:56 pm CDT | by Josh Cybulski 1 Comment

Calgary Flames players have reportedly been told that the team is unlikely to add any other pieces between now and the beginning of the regular season (as per Elliotte Friedman of the 32 Thoughts podcast). Friedman added that the Flames’ management wants to get a look at their group and see how they start the season, which makes sense given the turnover that has occurred in Calgary.

The Flames barely resemble the team that started the 2023-24 season, as most of the veteran players have been dealt to other teams in the past 12 months, including Jacob Markstrom and Andrew Mangiapane, who were both traded to Eastern Conference teams this summer. Calgary has largely tried to avoid calling their roster construction a rebuild, and in their defense, they did add a few veterans this summer on short-term deals. However, the team is certainly in sell mode, and they will likely look to move out more names during the regular season as they get closer to the NHL trade deadline.

In other evening notes:

Former Anaheim Ducks star Ryan Getzlaf has left the organization to join the NHL’s Department of Player Safety (as per NHL announcement). The two-time Olympic gold medalist will be reunited with his former Ducks teammate George Parros and will work in some capacity for the NHL. It is unclear what exactly Getzlaf will do, but as Parros noted today in a press release, Getzlaf’s experience on the ice should have a lot of value for the department. The former Stanley Cup champion retired after the 2021-22 season and re-joined Anaheim just over a year later in June 2023, serving as the player development coordinator for the team.
Newly acquired Pittsburgh Penguins forward Cody Glass entered this summer to work on his speed during his offseason training (as per Nick Kieser of the Nashville Predators radio network). Glass knew that he wasn’t good enough last season for Nashville and was feeling the pressure heading into the summer as he will be a restricted free agent on July 1st, 2025. If Glass can improve his speed next season, it could be a good fit with the Penguins, as Pittsburgh hasn’t had much speed in their bottom six since they won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan loves to use speed and deploy an aggressive forecheck, and if Glass can work on that part of his game, he could find himself in the top nine next year.

Snapshots: Kuznetsov, Oilers, Rosen, Aman

August 13, 2024 at 7:52 pm CDT | by Josh Cybulski Leave a Comment

Calgary Flames defenseman Yan Kuznetsov believes that he will take a big step in his development this upcoming season and is hoping a change to his training will allow him to do so (as per Flames writer Chris Wahl). The 22-year-old was re-signed to a one-year, two-way deal by the Flames yesterday after making his NHL debut last season, dressing in one game for Calgary. The former second-round pick believes that he is entering next season in the best shape of his career and is hoping that by being in tune with his body it will better allow him to use his size to his advantage as he pushes for an NHL roster spot with the Flames.

In other news from around the NHL:

Edmonton Oilers announcer Bob Stauffer tweeted about the Oilers’ current offer sheet conundrum with defenseman Philip Broberg and forward Dylan Holloway. The Oilers are currently on the clock after the St. Louis Blues issued a pair of offer sheets and have one week to match the offers or lose the players for draft pick compensation. Stauffer outlines in his tweet that if the Oilers elect to match the lucrative offer sheets, they will have to keep Broberg and Holloway for at least a year, which could be challenging given that they will need to issue lucrative extensions to Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard next summer.
The MSG Network has announced that New York Rangers television play-by-play broadcaster Sam Rosen will retire after the upcoming NHL season. The 77-year-old is entering his 40th year calling Rangers games full-time after he began calling New York games on the radio for MSG, filling in for Marv Albert. He then pivoted to becoming MSG’s studio host before moving into his current role as the Rangers’ primary television broadcaster in 1984.
Vancouver Canucks general manager Patrick Allvin spoke with Swedish network hockeysverige.se about Nils Åman and the contract extension he gave the center this past season. The 24-year-old signed a two-year deal worth $825K per season and proceeded to post three goals and four assists in 43 NHL games this past year. Allvin mentioned that he was impressed by Åman’s finish to the season and felt that he had become more assertive on the ice and played with more of an edge. Allvin added that he was hopeful that Åman would continue to develop this summer and build off the success he had in the second half.

Flames Sign Adam Klapka, Yan Kuznetsov To Two-Way Contracts

August 12, 2024 at 2:08 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

2:56 p.m.: Kuznetsov’s deal will pay him a $100K salary in the minors, Ryan Pike of Flames Nation reports.

2:08 p.m.: The Flames have signed RFA forward Adam Klapka and RFA defenseman Yan Kuznetsov to two-way deals for 2024-25, the team said in separate announcements Monday.

As the releases note, both deals will carry $775K cap hits if the players are on the NHL roster. Their minor league salaries weren’t disclosed.

Klapka, 23, was an undrafted free agent signing by the Flames out of Czechia’s Bili Tygri Liberec in 2022. He spent most of the last two seasons with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.

The massive 6’7″, 238-lb winger made his NHL debut last season, recording his first NHL goal as part of a six-game call-up. He also posted a -1 rating, 19 PIMs, and 21 hits while averaging just 6:46 per game.

Across 125 games in two AHL seasons, Klapka has accumulated 34 goals, 37 assists, 71 points, 170 PIMs, and a +9 rating. His 46 points last season led the team in scoring, as did his seven points in six playoff games.

With the Flames’ forward depth thinner than in years past, there’s a decent chance Klapka lands on the NHL roster come opening night. He’ll be one of many players battling it out for three or four forward spots up for grabs alongside Walker Duehr, Dryden Hunt, and Jakob Pelletier, the latter of whom remains an RFA.

The 22-year-old Kuznetsov faces longer but not impossible odds of making the team out of camp. Selected with the No. 50 pick of the 2020 draft out of UConn, he stuck in school for his sophomore season before opting to spend 2021-22 in juniors with the QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs.

Kuznetsov turned pro in earnest the following campaign, although he did see spot duty with the Flames’ former AHL affiliate, the Stockton Heat, in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons. Like Klapka, he made his NHL debut in 2023-24, posting a -1 rating and skating 11:58 in an appearance against the Senators on Jan. 9.

On the farm with the Wranglers/Heat, the Russian has 10 goals, 22 assists, 32 points, 74 PIMs, and a -5 rating in 144 games over the past four years. Those offensive numbers aren’t too concerning for a player who projects as a stay-at-home defender, and he has been able to use his 6’4″, 216-lb frame effectively since turning pro.

If the Flames opt to carry seven defenders and 14 forwards, their roster on the back end is likely set. But if they opt to drop a forward for an eighth defender, look for the extra spot to be a two-man battle in camp between Kuznetsov and Ilya Solovyov, who’s still an RFA in need of a deal.

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