Earlier this month, goaltender Ivan Prosvetov was released from his KHL contract to pursue an NHL opportunity. It appears that opportunity might be coming with Calgary as Sport-Express’ Mikhail Zislis reports that the Flames are the main contender to sign the 26-year-old. Prosvetov posted a 2.32 GAA and a .920 SV% in 38 games with CSKA Moscow this season. He has 24 career NHL appearances under his belt between Arizona and Colorado plus another 146 outings at the AHL level. With Daniel Vladar eligible for unrestricted free agency, Prosvetov, if he ultimately signs, could have a chance to battle with Wranglers veteran Devin Cooley for the backup spot behind Dustin Wolf next season.
Flames Rumors
Flames Hire Trent Cull As Assistant Coach
- The Calgary Flames have promoted the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers. Calgary announced they’ve added Trent Cull as an assistant coach on a full-time basis for the 2025-26 NHL season. Cull guided the Wranglers to two straight postseason appearances, losing in the Pacific Division semifinals during his first year and the First Round this postseason.
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Free Agent Focus: Calgary Flames
Free agency is just over a month away, and teams are looking ahead to when it opens. There will be several impact players set to hit the open market in July, while many teams also have key restricted free agents to re-sign. We start our look around the NHL with an overview of the free agent situation for the Calgary Flames.
Key Restricted Free Agents
F Connor Zary – With Matthew Coronato signed to a six-year extension, the Flames will enter the off-season with two free agents demanding particularly close attention. The first is young center Connor Zary, who caught a strong wind with 14 goals, 34 points, and a plus-12 in 63 games last season. He seemed on track to top those numbers this year – netting 13 goals and 27 points in 54 games – but routine injuries forced Zary to miss most of January and shut down for the season before the end of March. He had three points in his final five games of the year, and was receiving upwards of 22 minutes of ice time each night. Those are lofty totals for a player who has paced for 40 points in back-to-back seasons. It’s clear that Calgary sees a future top-six center in Zary, but without reaching 70 games in a single NHL season, his upside is hard to project. He’ll likely be a candidate for a bridge deal this summer, and hopefully a much larger deal after a few healthy seasons.
D Kevin Bahl – Joining Zary at the top of Calgary’s list is defender Kevin Bahl, who the Flames acquired in their shipping of Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils last summer. Bahl was a revelation for a gutted blue-line, that lost the likes of Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov last season alone. The 24-year-old Bahl quickly took to playing north of 20-minutes a night and posted a career-high 20 points in 73 games this season. He’s 6-foot-6 and looked plenty comfortable playing opposite of Calgary’s top right-defenders, like MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson. Calgary doesn’t have much in the way of competition for Bahl’s role as the top left-defense. Unless that changes with a big signing this summer, it’d be hard to think Bahl won’t land a deal that will carry him into his 30s.
F Morgan Frost – Frost is another trade acquisition who’s matched the bill in Calgary. He was acquired mid-season alongside Joel Farabee, in a deal that sent Andrei Kuzmenko and Jakob Pelletier the other way. Frost quickly stepped into a middle-six center role with the Flames, but found his way into boosted minutes when Zary fell to injury. The results were simply fine – 12 points and a minus-six in 32 games, but never any egregious moments of poor play. Frost combined for 37 points in 81 games this season, just shy of the 41 points he scored last year; and the career-high 46 points he managed in 2022-23. He has tepid upside at the age of 26, but could be a reasonably-priced option as Calgary looks to build out their center depth. Given his mid-season move, Frost seems to be a strong candidate to re-sign.
F Adam Klapka – Klapka played in the most NHL games of his career this season when he made 31 appearances in Calgary’s bottom-six. He performed alright in the role – netting 10 points, 29 penalty minutes, and a minus-three. He also confidently led the Flames in hits-per-60, recording a whopping 108 hits despite averaging just 9:39 in ice time each game. His 21.65 hits-per-60 is over five hits more than the 16.14 hits-per-60 averaged by Martin Pospisil in second place. Simply put, hard hitting, 6-foot-8 wingers don’t grow on trees. Even in his modest role, Klapka has emerged as a legitimate piece for an undrafted player. He should continue to offer Calgary the services of an imposing forward, and could even have scoring upside ahead – evidence by his 26 points in 33 AHL games this year. This should be a cheap and promising re-signing for the Flames.
F Rory Kerins – Flames fans kicked down doors to try and earn Kerins a hardy NHL chance this season. The 23-year-old centerman led the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers in scoring for much of the year, and finished the season with a whopping 33 goals and 61 points in 63 games. He continued to perform in his brief view of the NHL, recording four assists and a plus-three in what were the first five games of his NHL career. After such a red-hot season, Kerins seems like a strong bet to make the Flames’ roster out of training camp next season – even if it’d require some additional padding to house his small frame. Kerins isn’t at the point of a hefty contract yet, but could earn good money and a few years to prove he can continue his hot play into the NHL.
Other RFAs: F Eetu Tuulola, F Sam Morton, D Carl-Johan Lerby, D Nikita Okhotyuk, D Yan Kuznetsov, D Jeremie Poirier, G Waltteri Ignatjew, G Connor Murphy
Key Unrestricted Free Agents
F Anthony Mantha – Mantha suffered an ACL injury on November 5th, less than one month into the regular season. The injury immediately ended his
season, cutting things short after he posted an impressive seven points and plus-six in the first 13 games of the year. Mantha continued to perform into his age-30 season, and is only one season removed from posting 23 goals and 44 points in 74 games. He’s a hard bet to make coming off such a tough injury. That could push him out of favor for a Flames group with players earning roles. But on the open market, Mantha shouldn’t have too much trouble finding a cheap, prove-it deal.
F Justin Kirkland – Less than three full weeks after Mantha’s injury, bottom-line forward Justin Kirkland also suffered a season-ending ACL injury. The blow took out what was set to be Kirkland’s first full year in the NHL. He looked strong to start the campaign, managing eight points and a plus-six through 21 appearances despite a low-grade role. But instead, Kirkland has spent the last few months recovering, and could face an uncertain future as a result. He’s a hard-working, bottom-end centerman who’s grown to an NHL role after multiple strong seasons in the minors. But he’s also coming off a difficult injury and facing competition from Calgary’s many emerging prospects. He could be on the cutting block in Calgary, and may have to rediscover his NHL hopes somewhere new.
F Kevin Rooney – Rooney was the beneficiary of injuries up the depth chart. He stuck into Calgary’s bottom-six for the entirety of the season, and scored a modest 10 points, split evenly, in 70 games. Rooney has now rotated onto the Flames roster in each of the last three seasons, and went on long campaigns with the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers in four seasons before joining Calgary. He’s up to 60 points in 330 career games in the NHL. Those numbers won’t jump off the page for a Flames team close to the playoffs, but Rooney will offer cheap veteran upside.
D Joel Hanley – Among the unheralded this season is depth defenseman Joel Hanley, who seemed to grow as a shutdown option operating behind Bahl on the depth chart. Hanley posted a career-high nine points in 53 games this season, while adding 21 penalty minutes and a plus-12. He didn’t push the boundaries in any one way, but boasted a style that was well-rounded enough to stick. Calgary will need left-shot defenders this summer, and Hanley should be a cheap way to pad their depth.
G Daniel Vladar – Behind the glimmer of Dustin Wolf’s star rookie season, Daniel Vladar appeared in 30 NHL games for the first time in his career. He handled the growing backup role just fine – setting a 12-11-6 record and .898 save percentage. Those numbers – like many of Calgary’s UFAs – don’t jump off the page. But the Flames will continue to need a backup they can count on behind their top-notch starter. Vladar has served in that role for the last four years, and it’d be tough to see the organization let him go without a clear option to replace him.
D Tyson Barrie – Barrie signed a one-year, $1.2MM contract with the Flames in October, but wasn’t able to carve out much of any role in the daily lineup. He posted three points in 13 games with Calgary before being waived and assigned to the minors in February. Barrie didn’t find much spark in the AHL either, though – with just five points and a minus-five through 11 appearances. He’ll be a hard bet to earn a new contract this summer, unless it’s a league-minimum price or two-way deal. One silver lining – Barrie has 508 points in 822 career games in the NHL.
Other UFAs: F Dryden Hunt, F Martin Frk, F Clark Bishop, D Jarred Tinordi, D Jonathan Aspirot
Projected Cap Space
The Flames are entering the summer with $28.15MM in projected cap space. That should be more than enough to lock-up the must-sign options on this list – Zary, Bahl, and Frost – and other upside bets like Klapka, Kerins, or Dryden Hunt shouldn’t come at too much additional premium. All of that should set Calgary up for an aggressive summer. They finished the 2024-25 season with the most points ever from a team that missed the playoffs – and a couple of impactful free agent moves could be what pushes the Flames back into Spring hockey.
Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports. Contract information courtesy of PuckPedia.
Andersson Played Through Fractured Fibula Late In Season
- Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson played through a fractured fibula at the end of the season and at the recently completed World Championship, relays Uffe Bodin of Hockey Sverige. The injury isn’t expected to require surgery so there shouldn’t be any issues heading into training camp when he’ll be beginning a contract year. Andersson played in 81 games with Calgary this past season, notching 11 goals and 20 assists while logging nearly 24 minutes a night of playing time.
Rasmus Andersson Reportedly Has Senators On No-Trade List
While the Senators have been tied to the Flames’ Rasmus Andersson in their search to upgrade the right side of their defense this offseason, it appears he won’t be an option. Ottawa is among the six teams on his no-trade list as part of his modified no-trade clause, sources tell Anthony Di Marco of Daily Faceoff.
Andersson, entering the final year of his contract at a $4.55MM cap hit, would have been the most needle-moving option available for the Sens in their price range. Pending unrestricted free agent Aaron Ekblad might be a more desirable pickup if he reaches the open market in a few weeks, but he’s projected to earn a seven-year deal north of $7.8MM per season, according to AFP Analytics.
Without a cap-clearing trade, that would be a tight fit for Ottawa, which enters the offseason with $16.627MM in cap space to spread across eight roster spots, per PuckPedia. While they could place right-shot rearguard Nick Jensen on long-term injured reserve to begin the campaign for increased spending flexibility if he’s not ready for the start of the year, he’s not expected to miss the whole 2025-26 season and they’d still need cap space to activate him when he’s ready to return.
Andersson’s inavailability will likely leave the Sens looking for some of the second-tier stay-at-home options on the free agent market to help steady the waters in Jensen’s projected absence and add depth when he returns. It’s not a very long list, but Cody Ceci and Dante Fabbro may be out there as potential impact second-pairing pickups and high-tier third-pairing options.
As for Andersson’s long-term future in Calgary, it remains uncertain a year away from a potential trip to unrestricted free agency. While the Flames have at least explored trading him multiple times in the past couple of years amid their retool, they’ve quickly pulled him off the market – either because they weren’t impressed by the offers they were getting, didn’t want to disrupt team chemistry amid a strong start to 2024-25, or had mutual interest in retaining the player.
It looks like they’re going through that same song and dance again. “After ’looking around’ the landscape of the NHL, keeping Andersson ’might make the most sense at the right number,'” DiMarco wrote.
With the salary cap slated to jump to $104MM for 2026-27, an Andersson extension, if agreed to this summer after he’s eligible to sign one on July 1, would likely be a seven-year deal in the $8.5MM range per season, AFP Analytics projects. Suppose his camp holds firm to that framework. In that case, it’s worth questioning whether that’s a deal general manager Craig Conroy is willing to sign following a season in which Andersson posted his worst offensive totals (31 points in 81 games) in four years, along with a career-worst -38 rating, worst on the Flames by double.
Offseason Checklist: Calgary Flames
The offseason has arrived for half of the league’s teams that aren’t taking part in the playoffs plus those already eliminated through the first couple of rounds. Accordingly, it’s time to examine what they will need to accomplish over the coming months. Next up is a look at Calgary.
Heading into the season, expectations were quite low for the Flames, a team that some felt would be closer to the bottom five in the standings to a playoff spot but instead, they were in a battle for the final spot in the West until the dying days of the regular season. Even so, GM Craig Conroy likely recognizes that his team isn’t a piece or two away from contention. Accordingly, their checklist was designed with the thought that their offseason could be relatively quiet from a transactions perspective as they look to allow their young core continued time to develop before making a move or two to take the next step in a year or so.
Find A Backup Goalie
For the first half of the season, the Flames were effectively platooning their netminders. Daniel Vladar was healthy after returning from hip surgery and while hopes were high for Dustin Wolf, they understandably didn’t want to put too much on him too soon. In the second half, Wolf grabbed the top job and ran with it, playing a crucial role in Calgary’s late-season push for a postseason position.
While they know who their starter will be next season, the backup is in question. Vladar is eligible for unrestricted free agency this summer and is one of the more intriguing options available in a UFA class that isn’t particularly deep at that position. While he has expressed a willingness to return, it would likely be in a more limited role than he had this season which means Calgary’s offer might come in below the $2.2MM he made in each of the last two years. It’s possible that there is a better opportunity for him elsewhere.
Assuming Vladar moves on, the Flames have a couple of options they can go with. The first is turning to the UFA market to fill the spot. A veteran like Jake Allen could make sense as someone who could mentor Wolf while taking on a bigger workload if needed. Ilya Samsonov and Alexandar Georgiev are former starters who could view that post as a chance to try to rebuild some value while Anton Forsberg and Alex Lyon also make some sense as well. Adding one of those over giving up assets to trade for a second-string option would likely be a better move for them.
The other option would be to promote from within. Devin Cooley had a fantastic first half of the season with AHL Calgary and looked to be pushing for a recall but he struggled down the stretch. Signed on a one-way deal for 2025-26, they could give him a shot at earning the job in training camp while back-filling with a veteran third-string option who could hold his own if he needed to be the backup. In that case, adding someone like Kaapo Kahkonen or Ville Husso would be the move they’d likely look to make. No matter what, Conroy will need to sign a goalie over the next six weeks.
Wolf Extension Talks
Meanwhile, there could be a signing to come with their other goalie as well. Wolf is entering the final year of his two-year bridge deal, one that carries a very team-friendly cap hit of $850K. Once July 1st comes around, he’ll be eligible to sign a contract extension.
This case is a particularly interesting one. Wolf has just 71 career NHL appearances under his belt which isn’t much of a sample size. 53 of those came this season and he posted a 2.64 GAA with a .910 SV% while being a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s top rookie. It wouldn’t be surprising to see him on some Vezina Trophy ballots as well although he didn’t finish in the top three in voting there. At this point, any doubts about Wolf being their goalie of the future (and present) have basically been erased so the Flames will undoubtedly want to get him locked up to a long-term deal.
Pricing out such a contract this summer could be tricky, however, given the limited track record. The prudent play would generally be a shorter-term contract in these situations but Wolf is only two years away from UFA status and will be arbitration-eligible if unsigned by next summer. Accordingly, the options may just be a medium-term pact that buys out two or three UFA years or a long-term (or max-term) agreement.
For the former, Wolf would likely point to the five-year $25MM contract Seattle gave to Joey Daccord last year as a starting point. Daccord had similar numbers and experience at the time, making that one of the cleaner comparables. While all of those years were UFA years and Wolf has two RFA years remaining, the projected higher salary caps moving forward would largely offset that, allowing Wolf to likely push for more than that.
As for the latter, we’ve seen the market for starters recently push past the $8MM mark with some consistency, including Jeremy Swayman, Linus Ullmark, and Jake Oettinger who all recently joined Ilya Sorokin at $8.25MM per season. Wolf doesn’t have as much success as those four but in talks, both sides will probably be forecasting him having a similar performance next season. That could help him get into that range to the point where an eight-year deal could start with an eight. Conroy will need to decide if he’s comfortable going to that level now or if the team is better off waiting to see how next season goes and adjusting their offers from there.
Center Decisions
As is the case with many teams across the NHL, Conroy has made it known that he’d like to add down the middle. More specifically, he’d prefer to add someone around the same age as his core group which is something that’s especially much easier said than done. Given that the intent is to acquire a player who would be with the team long-term, striking to acquire that piece when it becomes available makes sense even if they’re not likely to be in contention for another couple of years.
Of course, it’s worth noting that Conroy managed to swing a move to add a middleman in that age group when he acquired Morgan Frost from the Flyers this season, taking on the full freight remaining on Joel Farabee’s contract to do so. The thought was that a change of scenery could reinvigorate him after a relatively quiet first half of the season in Philadelphia. However, that didn’t happen as he managed just three goals and nine assists in 32 games despite an increase in playing time after the swap.
Unfortunately for Calgary, they need to make a big decision on Frost’s future in the coming weeks. He’s a restricted free agent with arbitration rights this summer but more importantly, he’s a year away from UFA eligibility. Now, a short-term bridge deal would walk Frost right to the open market. Assuming they’d like to avoid that, they’ll have to find a common ground on at least a medium-term agreement, on that would come in around double his $2.4MM qualifying offer. Is that a price they’re willing to go to for a player who certainly struggled in his first few months with the team. With arbitration eligibility, this one will have to be handed over the next couple of months.
The other center they have to make a decision on is Connor Zary, who split time between playing down the middle and on the wing. Over his first two seasons, he has been a secondary scorer and is coming off a year that saw him put up 13 goals and 14 assists in 54 games. A pending restricted free agent with his entry-level deal coming to an end, Conroy will need to decide if he wants to do a long-term deal with the 23-year-old as he did with Matthew Coronato or if a bridge agreement makes the most sense. They can certainly afford the former given their cap situation (more than $28MM in room, per PuckPedia) but the latter seems more likely on a deal that could land around the $3MM mark per season.
Determine Andersson’s Future
Veteran defenseman Rasmus Andersson has been a fixture on Calgary’s back end for the past seven years (plus brief stints for his first two pro campaigns). Back in 2020, he signed a seven-year contract that carried a $4.55MM AAV, a deal that carried some risk at the time but has turned out to be quite the bargain. The Flames have one year left at that price before the 28-year-old becomes eligible to test the open market next summer.
Given that Calgary is a fair ways away from being a legitimate contender, Conroy fielded lots of calls about Andersson’s availability heading into the trade deadline but he opted to stand pat. Now that he’s entering the final year of his deal, those calls are going to pick back up.
While the Flames certainly wouldn’t want to move him, the question becomes how much they’re willing to pay him. As an all-situations right-shot defender and a rapidly rising salary cap, Andersson is likely poised to push for $8MM or more on his next contract as things stand even though he’s coming off bit of a down year. If they’re willing to go to that number and Andersson’s willing to sign, a long-term extension getting done early in the summer – he can sign as of July 1st – wouldn’t be a surprise at all.
If that doesn’t happen, then trade speculation will undoubtedly be cranked up. Calgary still wouldn’t have to deal him right away knowing that if need be, he’d yield a strong return in an in-season swap but that comes with a risk if injuries come into play. Still, Conroy has three options here – extend, trade, or hold, and all have positives and negatives tied to each approach. He’ll have to figure out the best one over the next couple of months.
Photo courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.
Snapshots: Ylönen, Lipinski, Concussion Protocol
Former Montreal Canadiens winger Jesse Ylönen is reportedly considering signing a deal in the SHL this summer, per Johan Svensson of Swedish news site Expressen (subscription required). Svensson didn’t specify what club the Finnish wing could be headed to. Nonetheless, the potential for a move seems high after Ylönen spent a full season in the AHL for the first time in his four-year career in North America. His minor-league stint was split between the Syracuse Crunch and Milwaukee Admirals, sparked by a late-February trade that swapped Ylönen and fellow minor-leaguer Anthony Angello.
Ylönen was slightly less productive in the Midwest – netting 14 points in 26 games for Milwaukee, including playoffs, after totaling 25 points in 47 games with Syracuse. The full-year total of 39 points in 73 games is far below the scoring pace Ylönen managed through his first two seasons in the AHL in 2021-22 and 2022-23. He spent both seasons with Montreal’s AHL affiliate, the Laval Rocket, and scored 36 points in 52 games and 32 points in 39 games respectively. That latter hot streak earned Ylönen his NHL rookie year during the 2022-23 season – and he managed a modest 16 points in 37 games to show for it. Montreal responded to positive numbers by keeping Ylönen all the lineup for the entirety of the 2023-24 campaign – but the upside bet didn’t pan out. Ylönen managed just eight points in 59 NHL games last season, and landed in the Lightning organization after Montreal declined a qualifying offer at the start of last summer.
Ylönen could be a proper match in Sweden. He grew up in Finland’s youth hockey program and played pro games in each of the country’s top two leagues. That includes totaling a combined 56 points in 127 games across three seasons in the Liiga, before he came over to North America. The SHL has certainly risen above its peers this season, but Ylönen could be well equipped for the challenge after finding, and then losing, his scoring touch in the NHL and AHL.
Other quick notes from around the league:
- Calgary Flames prospect Jaden Lipinski is headed to the University of Maine next season, per the club’s Instagram. Lipinski will be one of the very few NCAA players with pro hockey experience – after playing one game at the end of the 2023-24 season, and two games this season, in the AHL. He recorded no notable stat changes. Lipinski is still eligible to attend college because all three games were played on an amateur try-out with the Calgary Wranglers, which kept him from earning any compensation for the matchups. NCAA revokes collegiate eligibility once players accept payment, or promise of payment, from a pro sports league. Since he didn’t, Lipinski will enter the league as a junior player who played up one year, akin to Vancouver Canucks prospect Tom Willander, who played two SHL games before joining Boston University last season. The Maine Black Bears will get a hardy addition with this news. Lipinski scored 58 points in 59 WHL games this season, and seemed to improve his ability to play physical and productive hockey. Those are the hallmarks of Maine’s style, and should create a golden stage for the Flames prospect to continue growing.
- NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly shared that the league is satisfied with how the concussion protocol has performed this season in an interview with Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic. Daly shared that the league has embedded due diligence into the process, even when players don’t formally enter the protocol. He shared that, with an additional layer of consideration, he feels the league has been able to properly answer any open questions about the process. Rates of concussions have risen and fallen in the NHL over time, but concerns around long-term effects of head injuries continues to ring louder. News site NPR published an op-ed on the link between lengthy hockey careers and CTE in December, sparking newfound debate over the effectiveness of the NHL’s concussion spotting.
Poll: Who Will Win The 2025 Calder Memorial Trophy?
Unlike many years where there is a clear-cut favorite for the Calder Memorial Trophy, the 2024-25 season had different ideas. A reasonable case could be made for any of this year’s finalists: Lane Hutson of the Montreal Canadiens, Dustin Wolf of the Calgary Flames, and Macklin Celebrini of the San Jose Sharks.
Hutson likely has the strongest case of the trio. The former 62nd overall selection scored six goals and 60 assists in 82 games for the Canadiens this season, tying Hall-of-Famer Larry Murphy for the most assists recorded by a rookie defenseman. The 20-year-old blue liner ranked second on Montreal in ATOI (22:44) and was a large part of their run to the postseason for the first time since the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. Additionally, Hutson led the Canadiens in postseason scoring with five assists in five games.
Meanwhile, Wolf looks to become the first netminder to win the award since Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2008-09. He finished with a slightly worse year than Mason, comparatively, managing a 29-16-8 record in 53 games with a .910 SV% and 2.64 GAA. Still, although Mason backstopped the Blue Jackets to their first postseason appearance in 2009, Wolf was a major reason the Flames remained competitive until the last week of the regular season.
Lastly, last summer’s first overall pick will also be up for the award. Celebrini was one of the few bright spots on a rebuilding Sharks team, leading the team in scoring with 25 goals and 63 points in 70 games. His offensive output tied with fellow-rookie Matvei Michkov of the Philadelphia Flyers (in 10 fewer games), and bested last year’s Calder recipient, the Chicago Blackhawks’ Connor Bedard, by two points in two additional contests. Celebrini’s 25 goals accounted for 12% of all San Jose goals this season.
Although the members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association (PHWA) will have the final say in who ultimately wins the award, it’s time to cast your vote. Who do you think will win this year’s Calder Memorial Trophy? Vote below!
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Lane Hutson, Macklin Celebrini, Dustin Wolf Named Calder Trophy Finalists
The NHL announced the finalists for the Calder Memorial Trophy ahead of the 2025 Draft Lottery. The award is handed out annually to the NHL’s Rookie of the Year. This year’s finalists will be Montreal Canadiens defenseman Lane Hutson, San Jose Sharks centerman Macklin Celebrini, and Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf.
The 2025 Calder Trophy race has been anticipated for years. Celebrini headlined a class full of rookie talent, and seemed deadset on a bid for the award after going first-overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. But his rookie year exceeded even optimistic expectations, as Celebrini managed to lead the Sharks in scoring with 63 points in 70 games – an 82-game pace of 74 points. He also recorded 25 goals on the year, making him the second rookie to reach that mark since Kirill Kaprizov in the 2020-21 season alongside Philadelphia Flyers rookie Matvei Michkov, who recorded 26 goals.
Celebrini managed that scoring despite playing for a dismally low-scoring Sharks roster. San Jose ranked dead-last in scoring this season, with just 208 total goals – four fewer than the dismal Nashville Predators. It was the seventh-fewest total goals scored by a team since 2021, though a slight bump over the 180 goals San Jose totaled last year. That difference – 28 goals – can largely be chalked up to the impacts Celebrini made by seamlessly entering San Jose’s top center role. The Vancouver native won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s MVP last season, and both the MVP and ’Rookie of the Year’ awards in the USHL the year before. A title win here would continue his streak of lifting hardware at every single stop.
But a smooth and successful rookie flight won’t win Celebrini the award outright. Hutson offers formidable competition after scoring the fifth-most points from a rookie defenseman in NHL history. More impressive than that, Hutson’s 60 assists tie with Larry Murphy for the most ever recorded by a rookie defender. That is Hall of Fame company for the young Canadiens defenseman – an incredible mark given the fact that he wasn’t a first-round draft pick just three years ago. Hutson instead went 62nd overall in the 2022 NHL Draft, nearly out of the second round as well. He followed his draft selection with two standout seasons in college hockey, where he was named a Hobey Baker finalists in both seasons.
Through dazzling paths to the show, neither Hutson nor Celebrini had a tougher path to a starring role than Dustin Wolf did. Wolf was a seventh-round pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, selected just four picks before the end of the draft. Like Hutson, many docked his size and ability to play the position at a top role. But Wolf quickly began to silence critics when he turned pro in the 2021-22 season. He set a fantastic 33-9-4 record and .924 save percentage in the AHL that season, good enough to land the ’Baz Bastien’ Award as ’AHL Goalie of the Year’ in his rookie season. Even more impressive than that, Wolf improved on the feat in his sophomore season – recording a 42-10-2 record and .932 and again winning ’Goalie of the Year’. He became just the third goaltender to ever win the award twice, and the first to do it in back-to-back seasons.
Wolf split time between the NHL and AHL lineups last season, hampering his chances for a three-peat of the AHL title. But he could make up for that by winning NHL ’Rookie of the Year’ this summer. Calgary’s success this season seemed to hinge on Wolf’s ability to perform on a nightly basis – and their finish as the highest-scoring team to ever miss the postseason is a testament to his prowess. He finished the year with 0.224 goals-saved above-expected per-60. That’s to say, on a nightly basis, Wolf’s appearance in net afforded Calgary a 0.224 goal advantage – 21st highest in the league between Mackenzie Blackwood (0.248) and Jake Oettinger (0.188). While Celebrini’s impact on a desolate Sharks lineup, or Hutson’s rival of the record books, may warrant more acclaim – Wolf’s rookie year will cement his spot in the Flames lineup all the same.
Flames Sign Matt Coronato To Seven-Year Extension
Set to become a restricted free agent this summer, Flames winger Matt Coronato has instead put pen to paper on his next deal early. The team announced that they’ve signed Coronato to a seven-year, $45.5MM extension, one that will carry an AAV of $6.5MM per season. PuckPedia reports the breakdown of the deal is as follows:
2025-26: $5MM salary, $2MM signing bonus
2026-27 through 2030-31: $6.5MM salary
2031-32: $6MM salary
The 22-year-old was a first-round pick by Calgary back in 2021, going 13th overall. The Flames took a gradual development strategy with Coronato after picking him, as he spent two years at Harvard before turning pro in 2023. He also didn’t go straight to the NHL as he spent half of his first full professional campaign in the AHL with the Wranglers where he had 42 points in 41 games before making the jump to a full-time NHL spot this season (aside from a two-game AHL stint in late October).
This season, Coronato finished tied with MacKenzie Weegar for third on the Flames in points with behind only Nazem Kadri and Jonathan Huberdeau. Meanwhile, his 24 goals put him third on the team in that department as well while he logged 17:35 per night of playing time. That performance was good enough to secure him a spot on Team USA’s roster for the upcoming Worlds but following the results of an MRI, he opted to withdraw from the team as a preventive measure to recover and train on schedule for next season.
While it’s not common for a team to hand out a long-term deal to a player with only one full NHL season under his belt and a total of just 112 career appearances at the top level, GM Craig Conroy has rightfully determined that Coronato is going to be one of Calgary’s building blocks for the present and future. With that in mind, it’s not surprising that getting a contract done was at the top of his to-do list this offseason.
It’s worth noting that Coronato had five years of club control remaining so they could have easily worked out a shorter-term agreement and then looked to lock him up on a more expensive pact down the road that would have kept him in the fold longer. Instead, they’ve opted for the long-term deal now, meaning that Calgary only gets two years of extra control with this agreement while Coronato receives a 10-team no-trade clause in those final two seasons; players aren’t eligible for trade protection in their RFA-eligible years.
With the signing, the Flames now have around $67.7MM in commitments for next season, per PuckPedia, leaving Conroy with nearly $28MM in cap room to work with this summer. Forwards Morgan Frost and Connor Zary along with defenseman Kevin Bahl are their most prominent remaining RFA-eligible players, while winger Anthony Mantha and goalie Daniel Vladar highlight their group of pending unrestricted free agents.
Photo courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.