Flames Review

Looking ahead to Expansion and 2021-2022

The 2021 season was a pleasant surprise to Flame fans as they returned to the playoffs and took the Sharks to 6 games. The team had a league-high 31 point improvement from the previous season and finished with 96 points and a 44-30-8 record.

EXPANSION DRAFT

The Flames are expected to go 7-3-1 with no real surprises in the upcoming expansion draft. It’s likely that it will be Campbell, Dermott, or Barbashev leaving depending on trades prior to the deadline. None of the three were major pieces to the future of the team so it won’t affect them regardless of who gets picked.

Protected Forwards

• Andrew Mangiapane
• Steven Stamkos
• Brian Rust
• Kevin Fiala
• Sam Bennett
• Alex Iafallo
• JT Compher

Protected Defence

• Charlie McAvoy
• Rasmus Andersson
• Ryan Suter

Protected Goalies

• Thatcher Demko

Exposed Forwards

• Paul Byron
• Ivan Barbashev
• Sheldon Dries
• Austin Czarnik
• Alain Quinn
• Joe Snively

Exposed Defence

• Travis Dermott
• Niklas Hjalmarsson
• Johnny Boychuk

Exposed Goalies

• Jack Campbell

TOP 10 Young Guns (Under 23)

1. Alex Lafreniere
2. Tim Stutzle
3. Quinn Hughes
4. Nick Suzuki
5. Dylan Cozens
6. Kailer Yamamato
7. Jesse Puljujarvi
8. Juuso Valimaki
9. Scott Perunovich
10. Joel Blumqvist

Notable Young Gun Graduates (23 Years Old)

• Charlie McAvoy
• Jordan Kyrou

PROJECTED 2021-2022 ROSTER

TRADE BLOCK

• Jack Cambell
• Travis Dermott
• JT Compher
• Ivan Barbashev
• Johnny Boychuk
• Niklas Hjalmarsson

CONCLUSION
While the future is incredibly bright and loaded with talent, the present team could use a top 6 winger and possibly backup goalie if Cambell is gone after the expansion draft. All in all, the team looks competitive going forward and they should compete for a playoff spot while awaiting for their three young stars Lafreniere, Stutzle & Cozens to join the party in 2022/2023.