The Calgary Flames will have career AHLer Jonathan Aspirot in training camp on a professional tryout, according to their training camp roster released Wednesday. If signed to an NHL or AHL deal, it’ll be his second pro organization after spending the last four seasons with the Ottawa Senators’ AHL affiliate in Belleville.
The 24-year-old Aspirot has appeared exclusively for Belleville since turning pro in 2019 and can play both defense and left wing, although he’s listed on Calgary’s roster as a defenseman. He’s amassed 19 goals, 44 assists and 63 points in 161 AHL games, certainly respectable numbers for a physical bottom-of-the-lineup defender. He’s a career +10 player across those four seasons in Belleville, too.
An undrafted free agent, Aspirot initially signed an AHL deal with Belleville for the 2019-20 and earned a three-year, entry-level contract with Ottawa the following summer. He never received a call-up to the Sens’ roster, however, aside from a few days on the team’s taxi squad during the 2020-21 season. As such, the team did not issue him a qualifying offer in June, and he became an unrestricted free agent.
It may be tough for him to earn a contract with the Flames, however. They already have seven defensemen under contract expected to be assigned to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. However, the Wranglers do have just one defenseman under AHL contract – 24-year-old Jarrod Gourley, who spent most of last season in the ECHL. Aspirot would provide the Wranglers with more quality depth should the Flames need to recall multiple of their mainstay defenders to the NHL roster due to injuries and provide more competition for the Flames’ young prospects.
Aspirot will be the only Flames player attending camp on a tryout who did not have a previous tie to the organization.