With three signings announced today, all that is left for Calgary Flames General Manager Craig Conroy is to get Connor Zary inked to a new contract and buckle up for next season.
And maybe continue to take calls on UFA-to-be Rasmus Andersson. After all, when do NHL GMs really ever get time off?
Three Deals, Three Flames Story Arcs
Defencemen Jérémie Poirier and Yan Kuznetsov, as well as center Rory Kerins, can rest easy knowing that they have a place to play professional hockey next year. All three contracts have some interesting context behind them, so let’s dig in.
1. Movin’ On Up
Kuznetsov has the most assurances and the longest term of the three in the form of a two-year deal that begins as a two-way contract and converts to a one-way at the start of year two.
Clear as mud?
What the terms imply is that the six-foot-five, 220-pound defenceman is expected to be making a push for an NHL job by at least the 2026-2027 season. Not entirely unreasonable.
The only player on the Wranglers to dress for all 72 games last year, Kuznetsov’s even strength goal differential stood out at +21. The next highest on the team was Ilya Solovyov and Dryden Hunt; both at +8.
Offence isn’t the 23-year-old’s calling card, but Kuznetsov did manage to put up a modest six goals and 15 assists for 21 points, ranking him fifth among Wranglers defencemen.
Speaking of plus-minus.
2. Desperation Time
Talent certainly doesn’t seem to be the issue for fellow defenceman Jérémie Poirier.
The Flames took a risk at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, moving down twice in the first round. From pick number 19, to 22, to 24.
The return? Two third round picks. One used to select Jake Boltmann, and the other to select the offensively gifted Poirier, who was deemed a high-ceiling, low floor prospect.
The Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec product was coming off a 20-goal, 33-assist season with the St. Johns Seadogs off the QMJHL—but also bore an ominous -25 goal differential at even strength.
Poirier would spend two more seasons in the Q. His +/- progressed from -3 to +30 year over year. His ability to manage the puck and control play continued to improve, and even at the Memorial Cup, Jérémie was able to dictate possession at will.
The six-foot-one offensive defenceman went pro the following season, putting up nine goals and 32 assists for 41 points in 69 games.
Things took an unfortunate turn the following season when Poirier suffered a deep laceration to his arm in a collision with Canucks prospect Vasily Podkolzin. He missed 47 games and, more or less, called the 2023-24 season a wash, recording only 13 points in 23 games.
Seven of those points were recorded in his first three games. Game four featured the injury.
The recovery continued last season. Poirier posted a career high 42 points in 71 games—but the red flags that were present before seemed exacerbated. Breakouts looked harder, conditioning appeared to be an issue; it seems like Jérémie is still looking for that magic that had him skating circles around the opposition in Junior.
The blemishes were accompanied by a -9 goal differential at 5v5. Only the oft-injured Artem Grushnikov had a lower rating among Wranglers defencemen at -10.
With a one-year, two-way deal in hand, you have to wonder if this season is make-or-break for Jérémie Poirier and the Flames.
The Flames have a medley of talented left side defencemen ready to surpass Poirier on the depth chart, including Ettienne Morin, Artem Grushnikov, and Henry Mews. Not to mention Ilya Solovyov and Yan Kuznetsov already on the team.
It will be interesting to see how Jérémie Poirier looks in camp. This is the most important offseason of his career. He has more talent than at least half of the defencemen in the NHL. Now he has to take his conditioning to the next level and prove he’s ready for a greater challenge.
Speaking of being talented enough to make the NHL.
3. Forcing Their Hand
Oh, to be a fly on the wall.
How do you think the veteran forward group is treating AHL upstart Rory Kerins?
He’s a nice guy. He wants to learn. He wants to help the Flames be a better team by putting the puck in the net.
Something he’s getting pretty good at. Kerins potted 33 goals and 28 assists for 61 points in 71 games last season with the Wranglers. On the Flames, the five-foot-eleven pivot notched four assists in a five-game tryout. His linemate for part of those five games, Jakob Pelletier, scored three goals and three assists for six points over that same ten-day stretch (Jan. 13-23).
While his possession stats were dwindling, Kerins’ counter-attack style enticed fans and media.
It’s strange that his style didn’t fit with Head Coach Ryan Huska. The Flames play a counter-attack zone defence themselves. They also finished 29th in Goals For last season. Those results generally imply that trying out alternative roster options won’t get much pushback from the veterans.
Alas, Wranglers captain Clark Bishop took Kerins’ place after an underwhelming 6:57 of ice time and a -1 5v5 goal differential night on Jan. 23 against the Buffalo Sabres. Rory didn’t get another call-up in 2024-25.
Which is weird. Bishop, perhaps seen as a better fit as a bottom-six center, also struggled, scoring one goal and going -2 in six games. Perhaps he was seen as a better penalty killer, but the Flames went 86.7% on the PK while Kerins was in the lineup; not that he himself was killing penalties.
On the other hand, Kerins would be taking away someone’s job—and the Calgary Flames organization is notorious for giving veterans the benefit of the doubt regardless of how well a fringe prospect is playing. How kindly does one treat a person who might usurp your role?
By the time both Kerins and Clark were back on the Wranglers, the Flames had acquired Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. The lineup had settled to this:
Huberdeau-Kadri-Farabee
Coleman-Backlund-Coronato
Sharangovich-Frost-Pospisil
Lomberg-Rooney-Klapka
25-year-old Adam Klapka aside, the organization opted for the tried and trusted method of keeping younger players out for the remainder of the season. The Flames went 3-5-0 in the 14 days following Kerins’ final game of the season, scoring only 1.80 goals per game in their five losses. Seven Calgary forwards scored one point or less across those eight games.
Mikael Backlund, who was reportedly playing through a significant injury during that time, had two assists and was -5 during that span. Blake Coleman was -5. Matthew Coronato and Joel Farabee were -4. We could go on. Zero Flames forwards posted a positive goal differential in the two weeks following Rory Kerins being sent back to the AHL.
Conroy spoke firmly of younger players being given the opportunity to steal roster spots from veterans in an interview with the Fan 960 on July 1, when the team mostly stood pat on signing UFAs; only re-signing defenceman Joel Hanley to a two-year $3,500,000 contract.
“I thought good signings, guys you want,” reflected the second-year GM. “As those guys went off the board, like I said, I think I would rather give opportunity to our younger guys and continue to let them grow rather than just blocking the player we really like that’s a good NHL player, but maybe not with the upside of some of these younger guys that we have coming.”
As we saw in the past two seasons, Huska tends to revert to more established players, but maybe Kerins has a better opportunity in camp to grab a spot. The camp prior, the former Soo Greyhound was treated as an afterthought. Dressing in zero preseason games.
Does Rory have a better shot this time around? Leading the farm team in scoring and sitting atop the AHL in points for much of the season didn’t hurt his cause.
Whether the Flames, as an organization, can exorcise old ghosts in their perpetual tendency to over-respect veterans remains to be seen. The farm team is loaded, and with a one-year, two-way deal signed, it will once again be up to Rory Kerins to force their hand.
With the roster already plugged with one-way deals, the tea leaves don’t look encouraging, but like every NHL season, nothing ever goes perfectly according to plan.
Stats via Puckpedia, Elite Prospects, and the National Hockey League.
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Thanks Trevor.
Kerins didn’t even get a sniff last year at tc. Early demotion, not on the preseason rosters. Good on him for upping his game and forcing their hand. Parker Bell should be the next forward that has to up his game to get noticed.
Y2K should get a long look, Flames need some big D that clear the front of the net. He’s been on the farm long enough and I’d expect him to pass both Bean and Miromanov on the depth chart.
Poirier is a bit of a mystery, he looked like he was knocking on the door, then suffered that injury and hasn’t looked the same since. With guys like Bruz and Morin with the Wranglers he may see his role even lessened.
Cheers, I agree. Especially about Parker Bell. I think we’re unfortunately going to see the logjam continue.
It’s weird seeing insiders point out that almost every team wants to bring in a second line center. Conroy has arguably four of those.
Time for Conroy to pick a lane. We need to see what we have in Zary and Pospisil as centers.