The Calgary Flames are no doubt heading into a very busy offseason after a disappointing year relative to their renewed expectations after last year’s disaster. The team failed to make the playoffs for the second year in a row, and while the team enters a retooling or rebuilding phase (whatever you want to call it), everybody will be on the table when it comes to a potential trade or contract extension if they are eligible for it.
One player who made waves this season for all the right reasons, Yegor Sharangovich, will be able to sign a new contract extension with the Flames as of July 1. With only one year left on his current contract, would the Flames be better off extending the guy who just scored 31 goals this season or would they be better off selling high on Sharangovich for a nice return?
Sharangovich’s first year as a Flame
When the Flames acquired Sharangovich on the day before the 2023 NHL Draft, it looked like they had been robbed. Tyler Toffoli went the other way after a career season with the Flames, and the only other asset coming back to Calgary was a third-round pick.
Well, the year went much better than many would have anticipated for Sharangovich. After an extremely rocky start to his time in Calgary where he was seeing plenty of time on the team’s fourth line and no power play time, something began to click in November and Sharangovich began to roll.
He would see lots of time on the team’s top line and the shot that we had heard so much about in the offseason began to get utilized more and more often. It seemed like in almost every game Sharangovich was lighting up the opposition’s net with an under-the-bar snipe.
The year got even better when he transitioned to centre after Elias Lindholm was moved to the Vancouver Canucks. Many thought he would not be able to handle the centre position, but he handled it with ease and the goals kept coming. No goal was more memorable this year for Sharangovich than his game-winning goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Miikka Kiprusoff‘s jersey retirement night that sent the Saddledome into a craze not seen since the 2022 playoffs.
Sharangovich would finish the season with 31 goals and 59 points, the most by any Belarusian in the history of the NHL. I would consider his first year as a Flame mostly a success.
The case to extend Sharangovich
The reasoning behind extending Sharangovich long-term is pretty simple, he is a pure sniper who can play both the wing and the centre ice position. The Flames have been waiting a long time to have a player that is a pure shooter, I can’t remember the last time they had a player with a release like Sharangovich has got.
He used that shot quite a bit this year and it resulted in a lot of goals. Considering they got Sharangovich back for another sniper in Toffoli, it was a nice little piece of business by Craig Conroy to identify that trait in Sharangovich, as the team did lack scoring in 2022–23. He could be a key piece moving forward through this next wave of Calgary Flames.
There will be some work to be done with Sharangovich as his game is far from perfect. He still isn’t the greatest player on the defensive side of the puck, and I would like to see him be more consistent, he was incredibly streaky at times this year.
If he is able to round out those parts of his game, he can become a consistent 25- to 30-goal scorer in this league on a year-to-year basis. It is a tall task, but we have seen players blossom a little bit later in their careers to become that and Sharangovich already has one nice offensive year in Calgary under his belt.
The case to trade Sharangovich
Now, time to look at what is definitely is going to be the unpopular opinion when it comes to Sharangovich: trading him.
I want to start off by saying that I am not exactly advocating for this to happen, I am simply pointing out why the Flames should at the very least consider the idea of moving Sharangovich this summer.
First off, Sharangovich’s on-ice impacts were not necessarily the strongest this season, even though he did set all-new career-highs in goals and points. For a lot of the season, Sharangovich was chasing the game in terms of his possession numbers, he ranked quite low when it came to comparing him to the rest of his teammates.
He finished the year with a Corsi For percentage of 52.8, which is good, but that number boosted over the last few weeks of the season, for most of the year he was hovering in the 46% to 48% range, which no, is not good. To finish the year Sharangovich had an expected goals for percentage of 43.3 and an expected goals against percentage of 47.3, which are also not good.
He was getting crushed in the offensive zone and not creating a ton offensively. He also shot at the highest clip of his career this season, he owned a 17.3 shooting percentage, well above his career average of 14.2. Maybe something finally clicked, but he shot over 3% better than his career would suggest, there is a chance for some regression next year. Numbers are taken from Natural Stat Trick.
The other part of this I would worry about would be the dollar amount of his extension. Coming off a career season, you can bet Sharangovich will be asking for a pretty penny if he decides that he wants to negotiate an extension this summer with the Flames. I have seen the number at around $5.5 million per year on a long-term deal and I don’t love that number at all. Until he can prove that he can at the very least hold his own from a possession standpoint, that much money on a long-term extension could be a disaster waiting to happen., especially if his shooting percentage regresses back to what it was in his last couple of years in New Jersey.
I don’t think Sharangovich is a centre long-term either, he is a better winger than he is a centre, and if the Flames can add a centre this summer, whether that’s through the draft, trade, or free agency, I would expect him to be a winger as opposed to playing the middle of the ice.
The last thing I will mention is that Sharangovich’s value may never be higher. Coming off a year scoring 31 goals is no small feat. Teams are always looking for more scoring, and guys like Sharangovich with his shot don’t come around every day. He is no longer a prospect—he will turn 26 in June—this is a player entering the prime years of his career, and does that necessarily fit the Flames long-term and what they are looking for? Maybe not. The Flames could potentially flip him for a player that fits their window a little bit better, maybe someone in the 22–23 years old range, who knows, but I think they should at least explore that option.
An interesting offseason for Calgary ahead
I have no idea what is going to happen with Sharangovich and the Flames this summer. The player seems to like the city and the team and he dug out a nice spot for himself within the Flames lineup, and the Flames certainly love Sharangovich.
So, if an extension can get worked out this summer, I imagine one will get finished. However, if Sharangovich is iffy about staying in Calgary long-term, Conroy will have to get on the phones to try and move him before he can walk directly to free agency in 2025.
Whatever happens, I am sure there will be loads of discussion on Sharangovich moving forward.
