The AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, the Calgary Wranglers, made a pair of signings today as Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey reports the organization has signed forward Connor Mylymok to an AHL contract and has also signed forward Deni Goure to an AHL contract. Both players will be making their AHL debuts next season.
Flames Rumors
Flames Re-Sign Dustin Wolf To Two-Year Deal
The parade of unsigned RFAs inking deals today continues. Joining the list is Flames top goaltending prospect Dustin Wolf, who PuckPedia reports has signed a two-year, $1.7MM deal. It’s a two-way pact in 2024-25 ($850K NHL/$275K AHL) before transitioning to a one-way structure in 2025-26 ($850K). He has a $375K salary guarantee this season. The team made Wolf’s deal official shortly after the initial report.
It looks to be a short-term bargain pact for one of the best young goalies in the world. Wolf, 23, was a seventh-round pick back in 2019 but has been dominant in the juniors and minors since. The California native won the Western Hockey League’s top goaltender award in his final two seasons with the Everett Silvertips and followed that up by winning the AHL’s top goalie award in each of his first two professional seasons. Over the last four seasons, Wolf has a 2.29 GAA, .926 SV%, 11 shutouts and a 97-32-10 record in 141 games with the Calgary Wranglers and Stockton Heat.
Things haven’t been quite as smooth at the NHL level for Wolf, though. The 6’0″ netminder has gotten spotty action the past two years but was relied upon more heavily as a third-string option last season, starting 15 games and making two relief appearances. He was below average in that run, posting a .893 SV% with a 3.16 GAA and a 7-7-1 record. Putting such a young goalie behind a non-playoff team is always a tough ask, though.
But with Jacob Markstrom traded to the Devils and no other notable moves in the Calgary crease, Wolf projects to start next season on the NHL roster, working in tandem with Daniel Vladar. It would be surprising to see the Flames take advantage of the two-way structure of his deal this fall, although it is worth noting he’s still waiver-exempt. That changes in 2025-26. Behind Wolf and Vladar, the Flames’ third-string option is 27-year-old Devin Cooley, who had a .870 SV% in six games for the Sharks to end last season. It was his first time seeing NHL action.
Wolf will be 25 years old upon expiry in 2026 and will still be an RFA. He’ll be eligible for salary arbitration at that time.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Flames Hoping To Contend When New Building Opens
- Wes Gilbertson of The Calgary Herald wonders if the Calgary Flames will be a contender when their new arena opens. The Flames are going through a dramatic roster overhaul that has seen them move Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm, Andrew Mangiapane, and Jacob Markstrom out for future assets. The Flames haven’t gone through a change like this since the early 2010s when they moved on from veterans Jarome Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester and they seem better equipped for this rebuild off the ice as they have a larger management team and development staff than they had a decade ago.
Evening Notes: Flames, Demidov, Strome
The Calgary Flames announced today that their new arena will be called Scotia Place. The downtown building and culture and entertainment district will replace the aging Scotiabank Saddledome which has been the Flames home since 1983. The Flames released a first look at the new building today, showing drawings of the building that is expected to house the team beginning in the 2026-27 season.
The Scotia Place arena deal is expected to keep the Flames in Calgary for the next 35 years and will include upgrades to the infrastructure in the surrounding areas. The design plans currently show a capacity limit between 18,000 and 18,400 fans which will mark a small downsize from the current capacity limit of 19,289 at the Saddledome.
In other evening notes:
- Stu Cowan of The Montreal Gazette believes that Montreal Canadiens prospect Ivan Demidov will play out the final season of his contract with St. Petersburg but concedes that there is a slim chance he will make the jump to the NHL this season. The fifth overall pick in this year’s entry draft is contractually bound to the KHL for this season but if SKA opts not to hold onto him, his situation could mirror that of Philadelphia Flyers forward Matvei Michkov. However, Szymon Szemberg the Managing Director of the Alliance of European Hockey Clubs doesn’t believe that is a possibility. Canadiens general manager Kent Hughes has been non-committal about where Demidov will play next season, saying simply that the KHL would be a good place for him to play for the upcoming season and that the team would keep their options open if he doesn’t play there.
- Tony Androckitis of Inside AHL Hockey is reporting that forward Matt Strome has re-signed with the Hershey Bears. Strome signed a two-year AHL contract with the Bears that will keep him with the reigning Calder Cup champions through the 2025-26 season. Strome scored the championship-clinching goal in the AHL finals to help Hershey secure their second consecutive AHL title. The 25-year-old is the brother of NHLers Ryan Strome and Dylan Strome and was a fourth-round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers back in 2017. The two-time AHL champion posted seven goals and 13 assists in 50 games last season and is expected to play a depth role again next year.
Flames To Begin Building New Arena
The Calgary Flames are expected to reveal plans for, and finally break ground on, a new arena this coming Monday, shares Sportsnet’s Eric Francis (Twitter link). Francis adds that the Flames’ new stomping grounds will include 18,000 seats, a community rink, indoor and outdoor event plazas, and a parking deck. The new arena will cost $926MM and be built two blocks north of the current Saddledome, with the hope of being operational for the 2027-28 season.
Sportsnet adds that $330MM of the funds for this arena will come from the Alberta government, who also plan to demolish the existing Saddledome as a part of their plans.
This news finally puts into motion the Flames’ move out of the Scotiabank Saddledome, where they’ve played since 1983. It stands alongside Madison Square Garden as the two oldest arenas in the league – with the Saddledome not receiving major renovations since 1995.
That’s beginning to change, with the team set to receive a new scoreboard this summer, though the Saddledome is still missing many of the amenities that had the Flames pushing for a new arena in 2017. The team could not reach an agreement with the city at the time, sparking strong comments from NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, who said in an interview with TSN, “This building was built in the 1980s, they don’t build buildings like this any more… it’s historic in many ways. But these aren’t the facilities that our hockey teams typically have.” Bettman’s comments came amid Detroit’s move to Little Caesars Arena and Seattle’s bid for the top-of-the-line Climate Pledge Arena.
Calgary will now join the list of top-end facilities, though they’ll be leaving a truly incredible arena behind. The Saddledome’s sloped roof and expansive, high-ceiling interior made it quickly iconic. It would enter hockey legend within a decade of being built, after hosting parts of the 1988 Winter Olympics and the 1989 Stanley Cup-winning Calgary Flames. The arena, which also hosts the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers and WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, has stood as a testament to hockey’s history in Calgary – giving any new build a hefty past to live up to.
Brett Sutter Announces Retirement
After playing in parts of seven NHL seasons, Brett Sutter has officially retired. The forward made the announcement via a statement from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers, whom he’d captained since 2022-23. He said he’d be staying with the Flames’ affiliate as an assistant coach.
“Following 17 seasons as a player, I’m very proud and excited to leave the game and have the opportunity to step directly into this role with the Flames organization,” Sutter said. “Saying goodbye to playing isn’t easy, the game has treated my family and I so well for so long but the opportunity to stay within the organization that my family loves, makes this transition easier. I’m grateful to the Flames for the opportunity.”
Calgary selected Sutter in the sixth round of the 2005 draft, during which his father, Darryl Sutter, was both the Flames’ general manager and head coach. He made his NHL debut in the 2008-09 campaign and played 18 games in a Flames uniform before being traded to the Hurricanes in November 2010. That kicked off a run of three and half seasons in Carolina that saw the minor-league fixture see the most NHL time of his career, scoring once and adding four assists in 36 games before reaching free agency in 2014. He landed with the Wild, and his six games in Minnesota during the following campaign ended up being the last of his career.
But Sutter was still in the early stages of one of the lengthier careers the AHL has ever seen. After being traded to the Kings in 2015-16, Sutter signed a series of minor-league contracts to stay on with their affiliate, the Ontario Reign. He stayed for parts of seven seasons before landing back where his professional career began in Calgary in 2022. He was the Reign’s captain from 2017-18 until his departure.
Sutter retires with 1,090 AHL games played under his belt in parts of 17 seasons, fourth-most in league history. He was never a truly premier offensive talent at that level, as his 463 career points don’t even rank in the top 100 among AHLers. But his run of captaining three different clubs, including serving as one for seven straight to end his career despite last being under NHL contract eight years ago, is telling of his impact. He was awarded the Fred T. Hunt Award for the player “who best exemplifies the qualities of sportsmanship, determination and dedication to hockey” while with Ontario in 2018-19.
Now nearly 20 years after he was drafted, Sutter will again attempt to work his way up the ladder to NHL ice, this time as a coach. He’ll look to follow in the footsteps of his father, who spent parts of six seasons behind the Calgary bench as a head coach across two separate stints, leading them to the 2004 Stanley Cup Final. Darryl spent another five years with the Flames solely in a GM capacity from 2006 to 2011. All of us at Pro Hockey Rumors congratulate Sutter all the best as he embarks on his coaching career.
Reunion Seems Far Off For Flames, Oliver Kylington
The Calgary Flames have made a long list of additions to their defense since the calendar turned to 2024, bringing in each of Jake Bean, Daniil Miromanov, Kevin Bahl, Joel Hanley, and Brayden Pachal. The litany of defenders will compete for the holes left by Nikita Zadorov, Noah Hanifin, and Chris Tanev. That crowded competition leaves unsigned defenseman Oliver Kylington on the outside looking in, shares Sportsnet’s Eric Francis on the Big Show Podcast. Francis’ sentiment was seconded on Sportsnet 960’s Flames Talk, where host Pat Steinberg agreed he doesn’t think Calgary should add to their logjam.
Kylington has gone unsigned through the first 11 days of free agency, despite being one of the youngest UFA defensemen on the open market. That’s likely thanks to his recent extended absence, returning for 33 games this season after missing all of the 2022-23 season and the first half of this year. He began to bounce back before the end of the year, ultimately totaling eight points as he fought to find his footing in the lineup. This year marked Kylington’s first showing since a career year in 2021-22, when he managed nine goals and 31 points in 73 games – playing through his first full year in the NHL. He earned the spot after fighting his way up form the minor leagues, then out of the team’s seventh-defender role.
At his best, Kylington is a smooth-moving, two-way defender who does well at pushing the puck across the red line. He’s been able to hone that skill to NHL-sharpness, though he still seems to be missing a true breakout season; even despite flashes of potential. Now 27 and two years removed from a full season, Kylington is undeniably hard to gauge. That downfall isn’t helped along by the rumor of a long-term ask, with Steinberg adding that Kylington reportedly had talks of a four-year extension with the Flames at one point.
That would be a hefty extension, and likely ensure Kylington an NHL role – both difficult guarantees for the league’s other 31 teams to provide a defender yet to take advantage of his prime. Kylington is no stranger to having to climb his way up a depth chart on short-term deals, a role he seems much more likely set for next season. He’s totaled 91 points in 192 career AHL games, predominantly coming between 2015 and 2019. That strong minor-league track record will be a great safety net for Kylington, as he shops his lanky NHL resume around the rest of the league – with Calgary’s blue-line seemingly full.
Flames Sign Zayne Parekh, Two Others To Entry-Level Deals
The Flames have simultaneously signed a trio of prospects to three-year, entry-level contracts, including 2024 ninth-overall pick Zayne Parekh (as relayed by Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson). Right winger Matvei Gridin, who they took with the 28th overall pick last week, and 2023 second-rounder Étienne Morin also signed their rookie deals.
Parekh, 18, stands the greatest chance out of the trio to be on the opening night roster in October, although it would still be a surprise. The right-shot defenseman has arguably the highest offensive ceiling of any blue liner in this year’s class, even ahead of the Blackhawks’ second-overall pick, Artyom Levshunov. He was electric for the Ontario Hockey League’s Saginaw Spirit last season, leading them across the board with 33 goals, 63 assists and 96 points in 66 games with a +39 rating. It would be an impressive feat for any draft-eligible skater, but especially from the back end.
He went a bit later than most people expected him to go, too, so there’s a fair bit of steal potential with the pick. Elite Prospects ranked him as the No. 5 prospect in the class, while TSN’s Bob McKenzie’s polling of NHL scouts yielded him at No. 8. He was the third defenseman off the board after Chicago took Levshunov and the Senators selected Carter Yakemchuk.
If Parekh does make the NHL squad out of camp, it’ll likely be on a nine-game trial to avoid burning the first year of his entry-level deal. At such a young age, another year with Saginaw would be beneficial to round out his two-way game. His ELC is eligible to slide twice, and he won’t be eligible for a full-time AHL assignment until 2026-27.
The 18-year-old Gridin also put pen to paper on his ELC, confirming he won’t be attending the University of Michigan in the fall as previously expected. Instead, the Flames will loan him to his junior club. The QMJHL’s Val-d’Or Foreurs took him first overall in the CHL Import Draft later this week, but they’re expected to deal him to the Rimouski Océanic before training camp begins, The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler reports. That would mean he’d play in the 2025 Memorial Cup, with Rimouski hosting the event. Only a few scouting sites pegged him as a late first-round pick – many more had him going in the second round. He was ranked 37th in McKenzie’s year-end polling. Gridin, a native of Kurgan, Russia, had 38 goals and 83 points in 60 games for the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the USHL last season.
Morin, 19, is a left-shot defenseman who went 48th overall in the 2023 draft. He’s a physically involved two-way threat who had a bit of a step back in his post-draft season, posting 12 goals and 37 assists for 49 points with a -9 rating in 58 games for the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL. He’d posted better offensive and defensive results the year prior, with 72 points in 67 games with a +29 rating. Calgary is expected to loan Morin back to Moncton for his final season of junior hockey this season, sliding the beginning of his ELC to 2025-26.
Flames, Justin Kirkland Agree To Two-Way Deal
The Flames have signed center/left winger Justin Kirkland to a two-way deal, per a team announcement. Financial terms weren’t disclosed.
Kirkland, 27, has seen NHL spot duty the last two seasons after playing the previous six in the AHL without a call-up. After skating in his first seven NHL games with the Ducks in 2022-23, Kirkland landed a one-year, two-way deal with the Coyotes last summer after reaching UFA status early via a Group VI designation. In Arizona, he added two major league games to his career tally, laying five hits and averaging 7:14 per game in an early January call-up.
He remains a strong minor-league scoring forward, even if he’s still in search of his first NHL point. A third-round pick of the Predators back in 2014, he made 43 appearances for AHL Tucson last year, recording eight goals and 22 assists for 30 points.
Kirkland now returns for his second stint in the Flames organization, where he had a career-high 25 goals and 48 points with AHL Stockton in 2021-22. He spent three seasons in Stockton on consecutive one-year, two-way deals from the Flames beginning when the Preds didn’t qualify him upon completion of his entry-level contract in 2019.
He’s the second major veteran addition to Calgary’s group of projected minor-leaguers this fall, joining 30-year-old Czech sharp-shooter Martin Frk. They’ll help anchor an AHL Calgary offense that’s likely to include a pair of first-round picks in Matthew Coronato (2021) and Samuel Honzek (2023).
Two-Way Signings: Schueneman, Aspirot, Gaudette, Gambrell, Poolman, Richard, Entwistle
The first day of NHL free agency saw over $1B spent for the first time in league history. Much of that went to stars across the league, though general managers are also having to focus on building up their farm programs. Here are five smaller names signed on Tuesday. Each of these deals carry a $775K cap hit at the NHL level, unless otherwise specified.
- The St. Louis Blues have signed defenseman Corey Schueneman to a one-year contract. Schueneman, 28, appeared in 64 games with the Colorado Eagles this season, netting four goals, 22 points, 24 penalty minutes, and a +2. He’s a quick-paced, hard-shooting defender who carries a lot of heft in his frame, even at 5-foot-11. He’s already made his NHL debut, appearing in 31 games with Montreal between 2021 and 2023 and scoring two goals and seven points. Schueneman is likely set for a role on the Springfield Thunderbirds lineup, where he’ll compete for ice time with Blues prospects like Marc-Andre Gaudet and Hunter Skinner.
- The Calgary Flames have re-signed defender Jonathan Aspirot to a one-year contract. Aspirot, 25, spent 66 games with the Calgary Wranglers last season, scoring a career-high 33 points and adding 80 penalty minutes and a -6. It was Aspirot’s first year in Calgary, after spending four years with the Belleville Senators. He totaled 63 points in 161 games with Belleville, and will now be set to reassume his top-end role with the Wranglers next season.
- Belleville is due for their own reinforcements, with the Ottawa Senators signing Adam Gaudette to a one-year deal (Twitter link). Gaudette, 27, led the AHL with 44 goals last season, in his pursuit of 71 points across 67 games with the Springfield Thunderbirds. It was a breakout year for Gaudette, after totaling 27 goals and 51 points in 65 games between the Toronto Marlies and Thunderbirds in 2022-23. Gaudette was formerly a top prospect in the NHL, appearing in 220 games across six seasons in the NHL. He’s only managed 27 goals and 70 points in those appearances, though his recent scoring could suggest upside still untapped. The Senators will hope that’s the case, as they position Gaudette for a premier role in the AHL next year.
- The Columbus Blue Jackets have signed forward Dylan Gambrell to a one-year deal. Gambrell spent all of this seaosn in the minor leagues, playing in 66 games with the Marlies. He managed 14 goals and 36 points – his highest AHL scoring since the 2018-19 season. Gambrell has been based much more in the NHL over the last six seasons, totaling 233 games and 40 points. He’ll be set for a top line role with the Cleveland Monsters, and push for a spot near the bottom of Columbus’ NHL lineup.
- The Buffalo Sabres have signed defenseman Colton Poolman to a one-year deal (Twitter link). Poolman, 28, has spent the entirety of his four-year pro career in the Flames organization to date. The younger brother of Canucks defenseman Tucker Poolman had three goals and three assists in 66 games for the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers last season.
- The Philadelphia Flyers have signed forward Anthony Richard to a two-year deal (Twitter link). Richard spent 59 games with the Providence Bruins last year, netting 25 goals and 55 points. It was a small step down for Richard, after netting 30 goals and 67 points last year. He’s also totaled 24 NHL games since 2018, scoring eight points. Richard should be set for a starring role with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, with a chance to push for the NHL roster.
- The Florida Panthers signed MacKenzie Entwistle to a one-year deal. Entwistle, 24, has spent most of the last three seasons on the Chicago Blackhawks lineup, though he’s managed just 33 points in 188 games. He’ll now join the reigning Stanley Cup champions, though his two-way deal suggests he’ll have to work his way up to the NHL from an AHL start.