Even if general manager Craig Conroy doesn’t make all of the Flames’ picks at the upcoming NHL Draft, Calgary will still be bursting at the seams with prospects and future assets this summer.
After this season’s mass sell-off of Rasmus Andersson, Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar, the organization will soon have too many bodies to deal with in its development pipeline. As it stands, even the parent club currently boasts more guys than active roster spots.
While the Flames are not in a position to start trying to lean out of the rebuild to become a playoff contender again, it might be time to start looking to consolidate some of the club’s future capital by flipping it for young reclamation projects.
With that in mind, there are three potential trade targets Conroy might have his sights set on this off-season: Kent Johnson, Mason McTavish and Shane Wright.
All three players are young centres with strong pedigrees who have fallen out of favour with their current clubs.
Johnson might have the highest ceiling of the three, but he also might have the highest bust risk as well. The highly-skilled 23-year-old was selected fifth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2021 after scoring at a better than point-per-game pace as a teenager in college.
Unfortunately, Johnson’s performance in the NHL has been uneven, at best.
His two decent seasons of 40 and 57 points during his young career have been punctuated by 16-point (in 42 games) and 22-point (in 72 games) efforts. Johnson isn’t very big at 6-foot, 170 pounds, and he hasn’t developed a strong two-way game (yet). Known for his shifty skating and remarkable vision in college, Johnson hasn’t been able to translate his strengths at the NHL level consistently.
With Johnson ranking 14th in team scoring last year and his development apparently plateauing, the Blue Jackets may be looking for an immediate upgrade in a trade.
Mason McTavish of the Anaheim Ducks has put up consistent numbers in the NHL.
McTavish was a late riser at the 2021 draft where he was selected third overall by the Anaheim Ducks. A 6-foot-2, 212-pound centre, the Ducks coveted his mix of size and goal-scoring ability.
The 23-year-old has been much more consistent than Johnson from a production perspective. He has scored 40+ points and at least 17 goals in each of his four NHL seasons. Nevertheless, the Ducks seem to be souring on him due to his poor foot speed and lacklustre defensive awareness. In fact, McTavish has been sliding down the rotation under coach Joel Quenneville and was even a healthy scratch during the playoffs.
The Ducks are also facing a salary-cap crunch as many of their high-profile young players mature. McTavish has a $7-million per-year cap hit that the team is now looking to get out from under.
The price for the player would likely be higher than Johnson’s, given his superior production, but his onerous contract might also help bring the price down.
Shane Wright of the Seattle Kraken is often praised for his two-way effort and defensive awareness.
As for Wright, he was the consensus first overall pick for much of the 2022 draft year, until the Canadiens selected Juraj Slaf in the top slot instead. Wright slipped to fourth, where the Seattle Kraken were thrilled to pick him at the time.
Since then, Wright’s stock has slowly but gradually declined. After being drafted, he played one season in the OHL and one season in the AHL before making the Kraken in 2024-25. His rookie effort was good, but not great, with 19 goals and 44 points. He did not get any consideration for rookie-of-the-year honors.
Wright took a big step back as a sophomore last year, managing just 12 goals and 27 points on a Seattle team that is desperate for offensive punch. His ice time fell to just over 13 minutes a night under Lane Lambert, and he was often shunted to third-line duty.
Unlike Johnson and McTavish, Wright is often praised for his two-way effort and defensive awareness. The 22-year-old doesn’t have great speed, however, and the offensive instincts and heavy shot that made him a high-end prospect in junior haven’t materialized in his NHL game.
With blue-chip prospects Berkly Catton and Shane O’Brien knocking on the door, Seattle is likely looking to flip Wright to free up space down the middle.
None of these players are at the level of, say, a Jack Eichel: established superstars who will immediately step in and improve a team’s top line. They also all come with a real risk of plateauing or worse in Calgary, with each having warts in their game that their current organizations can’t seem to fix.
Nevertheless, all three guys are also 23 or younger, fitting well with the Flames’ timeline. They play a premium position (centre) that the team is still lacking in, and Calgary is in a position of prospect and draft pick excess, like never before.
That’s why this summer might be a good time to buy low to see if Calgary can snag more young skill down the middle.