Are the Calgary Flames a wagon? Even after dropping their first game in regulation last night, they look like a legitimate playoff team as they sit first in the Pacific and fifth in the NHL. Coming into the year, the roster that was put together by Craig Conroy seemed like the exact opposite. Most predicted the patchwork lineup would contend for a lottery pick and not the playoffs. Yet here we are with the team pacing their division through seven games.
So, how was this roster constructed, and how did the Flames come to acquire each player? Let’s see how it breaks down.
The breakdown by position
The Flames currently have 25 players on the roster, including 15 forwards, eight defencemen, and two goalies. How those players got to Calgary is pretty evenly divided across the board. Take a look.
| Acquisition Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| Signed | 9 |
| Drafted | 7 |
| Traded | 7 |
| Waivers | 2 |
The Flames have an impressively even divide on their roster, but signings lead the way, with nine players acquired. Tied for second at seven apiece are players acquired through the draft and through trades. Lastly, they also have two players who were acquired through waivers. Here’s the breakdown by position.
Forwards
| Acquisition Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| Signed | 7 |
| Drafted | 5 |
| Traded | 3 |
| Waivers | 0 |
Of the 15 forwards on the roster, signings lead the way, with nearly half of the forward group coming in as free agents. Next up are the homegrown talents, with five players acquired through the draft, and last is the trade market, with three players. Under Craig Conroy, the team has acquired two forwards on the roster through trade, signed two, and drafted one.
Defencemen
| Acquisition Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| Traded | 3 |
| Signed | 2 |
| Waivers | 2 |
| Drafted | 1 |
The Flames’ current blue line is nearly completely devoid of homegrown talent, with just one current member of the blueline coming in through the draft. The numbers aren’t too surprising considering how much turnover this group has had in the last 12 months.
The blue line is very much a patchwork solution right now, with three players coming in through trade, two through free agency, and even two through waivers. Craig Conroy has acquired two members of the blue line through trade, two through free agency, and two through waivers.
Goaltenders
| Acquisition Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| Traded | 1 |
| Drafted | 1 |
| Signed | 0 |
| Waivers | 0 |
Not much to break down here. The Flames only have two goalies on the roster right now, with one coming through a trade and the other through the draft. Conroy didn’t acquire either one during his tenure as general manager.
The breakdown by acquisition type
Signed
Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman, Anthony Mantha, Justin Kirkland, Kevin Rooney, Ryan Lomberg, Adam Klapka, Jake Bean, Tyson Barrie
Free agent signings lead the way just barely, with nine total players on the team. Whether it’s through free agency or professional tryouts, the Flames have brought in plenty of players from the open market, including some major contributors and core players.
The first name that jumps out is, of course, Nazem Kadri. The 33-year-old is arguably the highest-profile free agent signing in franchise history and was handed the largest free agent contract in Flames history when he signed his 7×7 deal during the summer of 2022. Very rarely do top players sign with the Flames in free agency, but Kadri was the exception.
Past Kadri, the only other player of note would be Blake Coleman. He may not be as high profile as Kadri, but when the Flames brought him in during the summer of 2021, Coleman was coming off back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Tampa Bay Lightning and was highly coveted across the NHL. He’s since become a key veteran piece and leader with the Flames and currently dons an A.
The rest of the list contains depth pieces and short-term contracts to fill in empty roster spaces. Of the other seven free agent signings on the roster, none are signed for longer than two years. As has always been the case in a market like Calgary, the team doesn’t really build the core of their roster through free agency.
Drafted
Mikael Backlund, Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil, Matt Coronato, Rasmus Andersson, Dustin Wolf, Sam Honzek
The Flames currently have seven players on their NHL roster that were drafted by the team. Unsurprisingly, four of the seven are first-round picks, and only two of the seven were picked after the second round.
Also, it is not surprising that the Flames don’t have a single top-10 homegrown pick on their roster right now. The closest would be Coronato, who was selected 13th in 2021. With the departures over the years of Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett, and Matthew Tkachuk, the Flames have really lacked high-end draft picks on the roster.
As mentioned above, the Flames have four first-rounders on their roster. Mikael Backlund, who was taken 24th in 2007; Connor Zary, who was also selected 24th in 2020; Coronato, mentioned above; and lastly, Sam Honzek, who was selected 16th just a year ago in 2023. Of the four, Backlund and Zary are key core pieces of the roster right now, while Coronato is still trying to earn a full-time NHL job at the moment. Honzek, meanwhile, is still just 20 years old and will likely be sent down to the AHL once he’s healthy.
In terms of draft day steals, the Flames have two on their current roster in Martin Pospisil, who was a fourth-rounder in 2018, and the biggest of them all in Dustin Wolf, who was selected in the final round of the 2019 draft. Both players are yet to reach their prime but are already core pieces of the team.
Last but certainly not least is Rasmus Andersson, a second-round pick in 2015. Andersson has worked his way up since being drafted, going from the OHL to the AHL and finally to the NHL full-time in 2018. He’s since become a staple in the Flames’ top four and is one of their very best players.
With the current trajectory of the roster right now, expect the number of homegrown players on the team to only go up over the next couple seasons as the Flames look to the future.
Traded
Jonathan Huberdeau, Yegor Sharangovich, Andrei Kuzmenko, MacKenzie Weegar, Kevin Bahl, Daniil Miromanov, Dan Vladar
Tied with seven players acquired, the Flames have brought in a plethora of core pieces through trading over the year. Both previous general manager Brad Treliving and current general manager Craig Conroy love to bring in NHL players through trades. Three of the players were acquired by Treliving during his tenure, while four were acquired by Conroy over the last year.
The most obvious example of building the roster through trades is the Flames’ mega-blockbuster in the summer of 2022 that brought in Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar. The trade has certainly been a pretty big whiff thus far, but there’s no discounting just how massive Weegar and Huberdeau are to the Flames right now. Weegar, in particular, is one of the very best defencemen in the league and a potential future captain in Calgary. The longest-serving Treliving trade target is Dan Vladar, who is currently in his fourth season in Calgary as the team’s backup goalie.
Last season was a big year for trades as well, with Conroy bringing in Yegor Sharangovich, Andrei Kuzmenko, Kevin Bahl, and Daniil Miromanov within the span of 10 months. Sharangovich, in particular, was a homerun acquisition last year as he led the team in goals, which earned him a huge five-year extension in the summer. Kuzmenko was simply a cap dump in the Lindholm trade with Vancouver, but he’s become a solid middle-six winger and fan favourite. The jury is still out on Bahl and Miromanov, who were both acquired as reclamation projects. So far, Bahl has looked much better, and Miromanov has struggled.
Waivers
Brayden Pachal, Joel Hanley
The Flames have claimed two players on waiver. They were both defencemen, and both were last season. The Flames picked up Joel Hanley and Brayden Pachal for free. Hanley has mainly remained a depth, press-box option, but Pachal has turned into a regular on the Flames blue line and their third pairing. Any time you can grab some free veteran depth on defence, it’s likely worth it. The Flames did a great job getting these two last year.
