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Snapshots: Stamkos, Backlund, International Games

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Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on his 32 Thoughts podcast that the Tampa Bay Lightning “wouldn’t be crushed” if Steven Stamkos didn’t sign an extension with the team. This comes in the wake of a surprising lack of discussion around Stamkos’ next contract, with the veteran center saying he was disappointed the team didn’t reach out this summer.

While the front office might not mind a Stamkos departure, Lightning fans may have a different stance. Stamkos has played all of his 1003 career NHL games with Tampa, netting 515 goals and 1056 points along the way. His performances have led him to two Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophies and a spot on the Hart Trophy ballot seven times, including being the runner-up to Evgeni Malkin’s Hart win in 2012. Stamkos even won the Mark Messier Leadership Award just last year. All of these accolades sit beside two Stanley Cup wins in Stamkos’ theoretical hardware cabinet, making it clear why his departure would be harder to stomach than these reports describe. Still capable of scoring over 30 goals and 80 points, Stamkos will be a luxury addition to any team in the league, if his time with the Lightning really is counting down.

Other notes from around the league:

  • Elliotte Friedman also spoke to Mikael Backlund’s contract situation on the 32 Thoughts podcast, sharing that talks may be tied to the idea that Backlund is Calgary’s natural leader. Friedman said, “I think the players believe that Backlund is the true captain of the team, and I’m sure the organization is not blind to it.” This could be the spark that ignites talks between Backlund and the Flames, two sides that haven’t come together yet.
  • ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski spoke to the NHL’s hope (article behind paywall) to build on the momentum brought on by the Australian pre-season games. More specifically, the league is considering holding an outdoor game in Mexico City. There have been, or are scheduled to be, 42 regular-season NHL games played outside of North America. Playing a game in Mexico would bring the total number of countries the NHL has played in up to 10 (USA, Canada, Sweden, Finland, Czechia, Australia, Denmark, Japan, Great Britain, Mexico*).

Calgary Flames Sign Parker Bell To Entry-Level Contract

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The Calgary Flames have announced that prospect forward Parker Bell has been signed to a three-year, $857k AAV entry-level contract.

The 19-year-old British Columbia native was a fifth-round pick of the Flames at the 2022 draft, selected 155th overall. In his draft year, he potted 18 goals and 49 points, placing him as the second-highest scorer on a low-scoring Tri-City Americans team. This past season, the rangy six-foot-four Bell took a step forward in terms of effectiveness, finishing with 25 points and 64 points in 55 games.

Bell’s uptick in production combined with the emergence of 2023 second-rounder Lukas Dragicevic helped Tri-City return to the WHL’s playoffs last spring, and now Bell earns his entry-level deal as a reward for his improved play.

Set to turn 20 in just a few days, Bell will have the opportunity to begin his professional career with the Calgary Wranglers in the AHL this fall. He has already played in two AHL games, and has scored his first pro point.

It’s always a difficult task for junior scorers to translate their production against their peers to production against seasoned pros, and that’ll be the major test for Bell in 2023-24.

Bell does have a physical game and impressive size to boot, meaning he could still stand to make an impact as a pro even if he doesn’t end up lighting the lamp as frequently as he did in the WHL.

Oliver Kylington Not Cleared For First Day Of Training Camp

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  • The Calgary Flames announced that the team’s medical and fitness testing determined that defender Oliver Kylington is unable to participate in the opening day of training camp. No further details were provided, in an effort to maintain Kylington’s privacy. The defender appeared in a career-high 73 games in 2021-22, recording nine goals and 31 points.

    [SOURCE LINK]

Calgary Flames Sign Jonathan Aspirot To PTO

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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.

Colorado Avalanche Had Interest In Mikael Backlund

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The Colorado Avalanche contacted the Calgary Flames about trading for veteran two-way center Mikael Backlund earlier this summer, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in his 32 Thoughts written column Tuesday.

Friedman notes these discussions took place before Colorado eventually filled their center vacancies by acquiring Ryan Johansen and the rights to Ross Colton in trades with the Nashville Predators and Tampa Bay Lightning, respectively. Colorado was in need of center depth after it became apparent they weren’t going to keep J.T. Compher, who filled in at second-line center after Nazem Kadri departed during the 2022 free agency period. Compher would sign a rather rich five-year deal with the Detroit Red Wings on July 1.

The Flames were likely less open to moving Backlund at the time than they might be now. This was before Backlund said in multiple interviews that his willingness to re-sign with the only NHL organization he’s ever known was contingent on the team’s success this season. He’s just one of many high-end pending UFAs on the Flames roster, a list that also notably includes Noah Hanifin, Elias Lindholm and Chris Tanev.

Backlund, while he’ll be 35 before next season ends, can still shoulder second-line minutes and would’ve been an ideal fit on a team with as much high-end wing depth in the top six as Colorado. He would’ve gotten to play with at least one out of a pair of extremely formidable two-way wingers in Artturi Lehkonen and Valeri Nichushkin, potentially forming one of the deadliest dual-threat trios in the league. However, his stock is at an all-time high after registering a career-high 56 points last season and averaging over 18 minutes per game. For comparison, they acquired Johansen and Colton for a combined return of the signing rights to Alex Galchenyuk and a second-round pick – it likely would’ve cost much more to pry Backlund away from Calgary.

Flames Notes: Zadorov, Wolf, Captaincy

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There have yet to be any extension talks between the Flames and Nikita Zadorov, according to the blueliner in an appearance on Sportsnet 960 (audio link).  He indicated that he was waiting for an offer over the summer but one hasn’t come just yet.  The 28-year-old is in the final season of a two-year deal that carries a $3.75MM AAV and is coming off a breakout year offensively, recording 14 goals.  His previous career best in that department was seven in a single season and he had just nine tallies over the prior three years combined.  With that in mind, it isn’t surprising to see Calgary take a wait-and-see approach with Zadorov to see if his offensive prowess last year was a one-off or a sign of things to come.

More from Calgary:

  • In an interview with Sportsnet’s Eric Francis, GM Craig Conroy stated that he wants to get goaltender Dustin Wolf into some NHL games this season but also doesn’t want him to be in a backup role where he’s playing just once a week. Accordingly, it seems likely that their plan for him this season will be to keep him with the AHL’s Wranglers where he was nothing short of dominant in 2022-23 with a 2.09 GAA and a .932 SV% in 55 games and then bring him up for spot starts with the Flames here and there.  With Calgary being quite tight to the salary cap, that plan may require some creative roster movement to accomplish.
  • Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson examines the captain conundrum that the Flames are facing.  The team has been without one since losing Mark Giordano to Seattle two years ago and their most logical candidate – Mikael Backlund – is on an expiring contract and is taking a wait-and-see approach to how the season starts before deciding on potentially starting extension talks.  Elias Lindholm is another logical choice but he’s also on an expiring deal.  In Conroy’s interview with Francis, he confirmed that a captain will be named for this season.

No Extension Talks Scheduled For Mikael Backlund And Oliver Kylington

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While there has been some optimism in Calgary regarding the possibility of both Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin signing extensions, things appear to be more of a wait-and-see approach when it comes to Mikael Backlund.  His agent J.P. Barry told TSN’s Salim Valji that there are currently no plans for discussions about Backlund or teammate Oliver Kylington.  Instead, the plan is to wait and evaluate how the season progresses before holding any sort of meaningful contract negotiations.

Backlund has spent his entire 15-year career with Calgary who drafted him in the first round (24th overall) back in 2007.  The 34-year-old is actually coming off his best season offensively, one that saw him put up 19 goals and 37 assists in 82 games.  For his career, he has 492 points in 908 games and he has expressed a desire to reach the 1,000-game mark in a Flames uniform.

Backlund has one more year remaining on his deal, a pact that carries a $5.35MM AAV and a 21-team no-trade clause.  A report surfaced last month that noted trade offers for the middleman had been particularly light in spite of his breakout year so it appears Calgary will go into the season with him anchoring the second line.

As for Kylington, the fact that no discussions are planned shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise.  Last month, the blueliner revealed the reason for his season-long absence was due to things going on with his family which caused mental and psychological problems.  Having missed that much time, it makes sense for both sides to wait and see how things go early on before pondering the idea of an extension.  Like Backlund, the 26-year-old will be an unrestricted free agent next summer.

When he took over as GM, Craig Conroy indicated that he wanted to avoid a situation where he could lose a key player without any return by seeing them walk in free agency like Johnny Gaudreau did in the 2022 offseason.  That played a part in them moving Tyler Toffoli, another pending UFA, to New Jersey earlier in the offseason.  However, with Lindholm, Hanifin, Backlund, and Kylington all appearing to want to see how things go at the start of this coming season before deciding on their willingness to extend, he won’t be getting any further clarity for a little while longer.

Flames Open To Bringing In Someone On A PTO

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  • The Flames haven’t ruled out bringing in someone on a tryout in the coming days, relays Sportsnet’s Eric Francis (Twitter link). While GM Craig Conroy has expressed a desire to let some of Calgary’s younger prospects push for a spot on the roster after not getting too many looks last season, a veteran willing to take the league minimum could give that player a leg up over a youngster on a more expensive entry-level deal.  That difference could be notable as Calgary is one of many teams that project to be close to the cap line this season.

Noah Hanifin Reverses Course, Open To Extension In Calgary

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Speaking with reporters, including Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg at the NHL’s media tour in Las Vegas, Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin said he’s “absolutely” willing to consider an extension with the team.

Hanifin, 26, was unwilling to sign an extension in Calgary at the beginning of the offseason, according to reporting from TSN’s Pierre LeBrun. Along with Mikael Backlund and Elias Lindholm, who have expressed a conditional willingness to extend depending on the team’s performance this season, Hanifin is slated for unrestricted free agency next summer. He’s coming off a 2022-23 season in which he played 81 of 82 games, registered seven goals and 31 assists for 38 points, recorded a 53.0% Corsi for at even strength, and averaged a career-high 22:39 per game. LeBrun said earlier this summer Calgary was likely to trade Hanifin – something that didn’t come to fruition, and he’s now projected to start 2023-24 alongside potential captaincy candidate Rasmus Andersson on the team’s top pairing.

If they do extend him, it certainly won’t be on a discount – as is the likely scenario with Backlund and Lindholm. With extensions unlikely to be reached before the start of the season, Evolving Hockey projects an eight-year, $7.5MM AAV deal for Hanifin to remain in Calgary. Their model also predicts an eight-year extension at $8.4MM per season for Lindholm, but recent reporting from Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman suggests that figure will be closer to $9MM if Lindholm does extend. For Backlund, they predict a four-year deal at around $5.5MM per season. For a team with little to no salary cap flexibility this summer, is extending all three even financially feasible if the players remain open to it?

The short answer is barely. CapFriendly currently projects the Flames with roughly $35.5MM in cap space for the 2024-25 season with a roster size of just 11 players, assuming the Upper Limit rises from $83.5MM to $87.5MM as projected. Taking the figures above means re-signing all three of Backlund, Hanifin and Lindholm would cost around $22MM, bringing that cap space figure to $13.5MM with a roster size of only 14. That would involve filling out the rest of their roster with contracts averaging less than $1.5MM AAV apiece, and it’ll likely take significantly more than that number to retain other pending UFA defenders like Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov as well as re-signing pending RFA forward Dillon Dubé.

Calgary Flames Make Changes to Scouting, Front Office Staff

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