Jakob Pelletier will be waiting until lunchtime Monday to learn whether his future is with the Calgary Flames or another NHL organization.
The Flames placed Pelletier, their first-round draft pick in 2019, on waivers Sunday.
If he clears, the 23-year-old left-winger will presumably be assigned to the AHL’s Wranglers. He could, however, be claimed by another team during the 24-hour waiver period, with the results revealed Monday at around noon MT.
Flames third-string netminder Devin Cooley and up-and-coming centre Cole Schwindt were also on waivers Sunday. Depth defenceman Joel Hanley was not, which indicates he will be one of eight blue-liners on the initial 23-man roster.
While wingers Sam Honzek and Adam Klapka don’t require waivers, it continues to look like both will make the team.
“Of course, you don’t want to go on waivers,” Pelletier said earlier this week, knowing his future was a hot topic in Calgary. “I want to stay here. I love the team. I love the players. I love the staff. I want to be a part of it. I want to be a part of what’s coming here. I want to play in the new arena.
“But I think it’s on me to kind of force their hand to play me each night and to stay here.”
Pelletier’s future has been a hot topic in Calgary, and there will certainly be criticism of Craig Conroy’s decision to put the popular prospect on waivers on Sunday.
Pelletier’s speed, draft pedigree and reputation as a ball of energy and fountain of positivity could appeal to another NHL organization. His contract comes with a cap hit of US$800,000, which won’t scare anybody off.
He did, however, struggle to make an impact in five pre-season appearances this fall, so other squads might decide he would not be an upgrade on their current pieces.
Pelletier has totalled four goals and 10 points in 37 career contests at the NHL level. He was limited to only 13 games during the 2023-24 campaign due to a pair of shoulder injuries and has been passed on the forward depth chart by fellow youngsters Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil and now Klapka and Honzek.
The should-be sparkplug is waiver-eligible for the first time.
Pelletier was held off the score sheet in his five exhibition appearances — including a couple of twirls with the trusted shutdown duo of Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman — and Flames coach Ryan Huska has acknowledged that he wanted to see more consistency from No. 22.
“We need to see the pace from him, where he hurries an opponent or a defenceman into mistakes. It’s using his speed to his advantage to create some problems for people,” Huska explained Friday. “We need to see that consistently from him. That’s a real part of the role that he is going to have to play. There’s a little bit of energy to his role.
“He has to be a guy who is responsible away from the puck. He had opportunities to play with Mikael and Blake for a couple games, because we see that in him, the kind of characteristics that we feel he can fit in that role. So it’s doing it consistently, and I think that’s probably the biggest thing you could say for most younger players that are trying to crack the lineup.”
Signed as a free agent over the summer, Cooley was impressive in his first camp with the Flames. The 27-year-old posted a .929 save percentage in 100 minutes of exhibition work, although he remains behind Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf on the netminding depth chart.
Schwindt had one assist and a plus-3 rating in four fall tuneups. The 23-year-old has seven nights of NHL experience.
Sunday’s transactions would hint that Matt Coronato will also be among Monday’s final cuts. The 21-year-old right-winger does not require waivers. Coronato was second on the team in pre-season scoring with five points, trailing only Honzek, but he did all that damage in his first two outings.