The Calgary Flames have been very diligent this season, finishing up much of the work that they had to do this coming summer already. They ended last season with seven pending unrestricted free agents: Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Mikael Backlund, and Oliver Kylington. They traded the first five, signed the sixth, and have just Kylington left to deal with.
What exactly do the Flames have in Kylington?
The Flames drafted the Swedish blueliner in the second round in 2015, just a few spots after Rasmus Andersson. However, unlike Andersson, Kylington took a little bit longer to season in the AHL, not becoming a full-time NHLer until 2021–22. Prior to that, the blueliner split his time between the Flames and Stockton Heat, being too good for the AHL but seemingly not good enough for the NHL.
But that breakout year was massive for him. Kylington put up 31 points in 73 games for the team, good for third among blueliners on the team. He also played primarily in a top-four role, and formed an incredible partnership with Tanev in his tenure. This was also Tanev’s most productive season of his career, and the defensive defenceman was just two points shy of 30 on the season.
After the season, Kylington would step off the ice and then step away from the team for the entire next season. The blueliner dealt with personal matters for that season and a good chunk of this one which precluded him from playing hockey. There were faint hints of him being back over the time away, but nothing materialized.
He is finally back on the ice in Calgary and has looked excellent since returning. In 17 games, Kylington has four points but has looked much better than those numbers would suggest. He is constantly pushing up on the rush, adding immense value to the team’s offensive capacity. Defensively, Kylington has been able to track back well, using his strong footspeed to stick with attackers and break up plays as they develop.
What is the market for Kylington?
The challenge with Kylington’s next contract is around comparables. There aren’t very many players who can play hockey at a high level, take a year and change away from the game, and come back and still be able to play top-four minutes. There are none that come to mind in recent memory.
Kylington is currently in the second year of his current two-year deal, which paid him $2.5 million a year in each of the last two years. This contract was signed while Kylington was a restricted free agent with arbitration rights, and this decision was made prior to his arbitration hearing.
Kylington almost certainly does not sign a long-term deal with the Flames. Given the last few years, both sides almost certainly want to have a bit more certainty in the fit before committing to a bigger-term deal. For the Flames, the risk is in term; for Kylington, he likely can earn more on a long-term deal with more games under his belt.
A betting man would say that Kylington probably gets another two-year deal, somewhere in the same ballpark that he is now. He probably sees a bit of a bump in salary given his role on the team going forward, and probably gets somewhere just south of $3 million a season for the next two years.
