A way too early look at the Calgary Flames’ 2024-25 roster

A way too early look at the Calgary Flames’ 2024-25 roster

well it’s mid July as I’m recording this and the majority of the heavy lifting for the Calgary Flames has seemingly come and gone uh as we’ve discussed on the channel Flames made 10 selections at the 2024 NHL draft in Vegas uh and then they did a little bit of adding in the free agency market so considering that we have the better part of two months before the Cy Flames convene for the penon youngstars tournament and then main Camp following that uh we had some time to kill and what better way to kill some time than with what we’re affectionally calling the way too early roster projections so we’re going to do position by position and then do a quick rundown of kind of how we see the the flames and the Wranglers shaping up so far so first of all let’s start with the net minders cuz gold tending might be one of the more peculiar positions for the Calgary Flame this coming season uh obviously uh since the beginning of the summer uh they have divested themselves of Jacob markstrom uh and they haven’t really added anybody so uh it is more or less Wolf season uh we project uh right now that Dan Valar barring his health uh he’s recovering from hip surgery and Dustin wolf will be the NHL Tandem and the American Hockey League it’ll be Devin kie and first year North Amer American Pro volter ignu and behind them in Wrangler town is AHL gender Conor Murphy who was their third Stringer last year and prefered pretty well when Dustin wolf was up at the NHL so uh you know I I think uh we’ll see I Murphy is a dark horse for me to get an NHL deal at some point he was really good in spurts last year uh did not play a ton though so he’ll probably be shuttling back and forth between Rapid City and the Wranglers depending on the availability of other people so assuming that vdar is 100% to start the camp uh I’m assuming that we’re going to see wolf andar in the NHL and kolie and ignu in the American League which would probably push Conor Murphy down to Rapid City so that’s the goenda later on uh so the NHL group the seven who seem like they’re going to be playing with a big Club to start McKenzie weager denil miranov Rasmus Anderson Jake Bean Kevin Ball Braden Paul and Joel Hanley uh and that would mean at the American League level uh there would have this seven ilas salov Yen ketov Aram gr nikov Jeremy porier Yoni Yermo Hunter revish and Jonathan aspiro uh and they have etan Moran and Zane perek both signed to entry level Deals they will both slide uh we assume that perk will get an extremely long look at Main Camp uh but you know we’ll get into it when we get into the sort of the roster composition of each team but I just I don’t see how throwing perk into the NHL as an 18-year-old would be the best thing for him um same with Moren Moren you know he’s 19 uh but both these guys I think will have big years in junior so yeah seven in the NHL seven in the AHL and those two guys back to Junior on to the forwards all righty uh the forwards I kind of see them going like this and part of this is based on merits based on contract part of it’s based on waiver status uh so you’ll see what I mean in a second so the forwards on the NHL level look to be something like this Jonathan huberto Nasim Cadre Andre kusenko jagor Sharon goic Michael backland PL Coleman Martin POS fail Connor Zari Anthony mantha Ryan lomberg Kevin Rooney Walker door and I would also probably at the NHL level pencil in uh someone like Dryden hunt uh and I believe I’m also GNA Clump in Jacob pel into the NHL group uh Dryden Hunt is a left shot he can play everywhere uh pel left shot uh he’s got waivers this year and I think based on how highly touted pel was in his draft year uh if you’re a team that’s not great or has an empty empty forward spot I I wouldn’t want to risk losing P so uh we’ll see this is assuming he has a good camp if he has a terrible Camp they’ll throw him on waivers and plunk him in the AHL because you know I don’t think you want to be forcing guys onto the NHL roster who haven’t earned it via Merit but I mean pce he’s a a highly highly tattered Prospect and he’s shown in the past he can be a very effective Pro uh so I think you know at this rate I’m I’d imagine that the rank that the Flames carry 14 forwards because they have Oodles of cap space but I also think they’re going to be shuttling guys up and down all year depending on how things go so that’s sort of that’s kind of how I project the NHL group The AHL group will be uh who’s left basically uh Matt cornado Adam clapa Cole Schwin William stromgren Sam Morton Martin FK Justin Kirkland Sam honzik Clark Bishop R Karens Lucas ciona Ilia nikolia Parker Bell and three guys in NHL deals uh David silly Sil S I probably got with one of those pronunciations Trevor janicki and Alex Gallant uh and Matt Matt VI grin uh the Flames first round pick uh 28th overall this year he is another slide guy uh he has an NHL deal but I don’t know if you’re going to force him to play uh Pro Hockey this year even you know he’s I think technically he’s eligible to play the AHL until he starts in the queue but uh I just don’t I don’t see where he’d fit and I don’t think you really want to force him into that spot quite yet so uh that’s the fourward group let’s check out some extremely early and almost definitely uh inaccurate lines all right let’s get into the forward lines bear in mind these are entirely based on me pulling things out of thin air and guys who may or may not have played together last year worked out pretty well so one thing you’ll notice is I have slotted in uh Conor Zari right now at least to start as a center uh but I mean I also think that Zari could swap with ppal here and there uh my first line uh there are no real defined first lines with the Flames uh I have Sharon govic Kadri kusco as a trio with with Kadri in the middle then hubero Zari and mantha with Zari up the middle you could also swap posil into that Center spot and I think that could work pretty well especially because mantha’s got some size to him but we’ll see uh I have posil right now on the wing with backland and Coleman the fourth line if you can call it that pel Rooney and lomberg um I really like pel and lomberg as four Checkers and I think Rooney’s a good Center I don’t know if long term you necessarily want to have pel on the fourth line but I think it’s an opportunity to sort of ease him into the NHL with some some really structured minutes uh and Duran and dren Hunt are my extra forwards uh I think you’d basically bury the back L and Rooney lines in the defensive Zone and that way kadri’s line and zari’s line would have enough opportunities to really uh move the needle offensively so that’s kind of how I built those lines um on the blue line weer Mir manov Bean Anderson ball pahal and Hanley as the seventh kind of the same philosophy as I had for the forwards uh you know bean and Anderson I think you you know stack up uh in defensive Zone ball in pahal you can stack them up in the defensive Zone and we grir man off you sort of flex around based on game situations but you know bean and Anderson I think could really move the needle offensively but I think you need to give them the opportunities and the situations to do that weager I think is a bit more all over the place in that he can he can play everywhere you need him to so I think him Miram manov at least a start would work out really well uh but you know we’ll see him with that and Laren wolf sort of basically alternating starts and playing the play until you lose kind of philosophy uh the Wranglers lines once I actually got into these are kind of weird and fun and interesting and I think kind of showcase a lot of the uh the interesting looks the Wranglers could provide U I would I would I’m starting like this uh hanzak Schwin Coronado uh stromgren Morton clapa Kirkland Bishop F ciona Karen Bell and then the extra forwards I have are nikolia Gallant silly and J um I think the fourth line and the the the four extras could basically just churn and mix and match and do a whole bunch of different things with it uh I have a feeling we’re going to see a few names head down to Rapid City at some point especially among the forward group but I think you know you want to give hanzik offensive situations and I think you know schwind is a really reliable Center him and Morton I think could swap uh pretty much anywhere in the top six and I think would work and strong green clco were both really really good last year so I think that the top two lines that I have projected for the Wranglers could do a lot of different things and even Martin you know Martin FK I think is a guy who could you know you could use him if somebody gets called up if someone gets hurt uh you could use him him in a lot of different situations too so I think that could that gives you a little bit of an extra Dynamic and I think you know if you look at the way that group is composed you know with four extra guys uh that’s kind of why I wouldn’t want to have Matt V Gren come in because you know even at the NHL level there’s not really a defined spot for him I mean when you have Jacob pel playing the fourth line because you can’t really find a spot from the top nine that’s kind of what you would have for the Wranglers too so uh that’s kind of where my logic is there uh the the defensive group I find really fascinating because you could mix and match these guys in so many different ways uh I’m starting off kind of like this porier aspiro yo brevich gr nikov salvav and ketov is the seven uh grush nikov salvio would be your defensive Zone in tough minutes pairing and then po aspiro I think you’d really lean on them them to be your offensive zone guys uh aspir was great on the power play last year but he played on the third pairing uh at five on five because he’s not a great two-way defenseman so I think you you know you’re basically banking on poier sort of that part of his game evolving and I think if you if you swap those guys away from each other it might just be because they’re almost too close to each other in terms of playing style uh y brage played together a bit at development camp and they look really good I think they complimented each other very well uh ketov is sort of a guy that you know I think he might sort of rotate into the third pairing a bit but you know for him my big challenge is I don’t know exactly where he fits in because he is more of a complimentary piece and he could play with a lot of different guys but I think there’s arguably a better partner for basically everyone else on the team save outside from ketov but he’s still good and I think he’ll still contribute but it’s just a challenge of fitting figuring out where he slots in and go tenders uh kolie and and ignu with Murphy slotting in whenever he he’s up uh so you know I I don’t think the Flames are done making moves but I think they’re done making major moves and you know now that we’ put this out in the universe I can almost guarantee that my lines and my opening rosters will be wrong as you definitely you know the reason you do way too early projections is to be wrong and hopefully I’m wrong in interesting ways because you know I I sort of put together these lines and pairings and rosters based on kind of a conservative estimate of how guys will project guys will perform at camp and the fun thing about professional sports especially training camps is you don’t know who’s going to come in and knock the doors off I mean I don’t think anyone necessarily looked at the Flames last year and thought to themselves after training camp you know who’s going to come in and basically save the teams bacon this season uh Zari and ppil I you know they had decent camps but not of those guys really were the guys you pointed to and went hot damn they’re going to be the Cavalry and they were so I think that’s going to be the really fun thing to emerge in September and October to see which guys do really step up and surprise us because you know life’s life’s the fun thing about life is the surprises especially in sports and I think you know we got to leave ourselves open to that so that’s all I got for now uh if you like this video hit the like button if you really like the video hit the Subscribe button tell your friends putting put something in the comments uh tell me what you want to see from me next and I’ll keep adding stuff to the channel throughout the summer I’ll probably take a bit of a hiatus in August just to lay on the couch and enjoy uh the last month before hockey gets going and then expect sort of a fire hose of content for me in September and October so uh that’s all for me for now

The Calgary Flames have made a lot of changes to their roster since the end of the 2023-24 season! With the 2024 NHL Draft and the bulk of free agency complete, Ryan takes his stab at projecting the Flames’ NHL roster and the Wranglers’ AHL roster – complete with guesswork forward lines and defensive pairings!

Marvel at Ryan’s guesstimated Flames and Wranglers lineups, then revisit this again in the fall and revel in telling him how wrong he was!

Find more from me at FlamesNation.ca (https://flamesnation.ca/)! And for all kinds of great Flames-related content, check out the FlamesNation YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/@Flames_Nation!)

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