Oliver Kylington to test free agency
Oliver Kylington.
For the past several weeks, the Flames and Oliver Kylington had been talking about a new contract with a mutual desire to get something done. Early in the day, Sportsnet’s Eric Francis reported that Calgary hadn’t given up hope on getting a new deal in place. However, TSN’s Salim Valji reports (X link) that the blueliner will indeed hit the open market on Monday.
Kylington is one of the wild cards of this year’s free-agent class. In 2021-22, he had a breakout campaign, collecting nine goals and 22 assists in 73 games while logging over 18 minutes a night. It looked like he had arrived as a legitimate full-time NHL blueliner, resulting in Calgary giving him a two-year, $5M agreement.
However, the 27-year-old hardly played on that contract. He took all of 2022-23 away from the team and missed half of this season to focus on his mental health. When he did return in January, the Flames were cautious with him, easing him in. Overall, Kylington played in 33 games, picking up three goals and five assists while averaging 17:15 per contest.
For his career, Kylington has played in just 201 games, recording 55 points. That’s not a significant body of work for a typical unrestricted free agent to be negotiating off of but TSN’s Darren Dreger relays (X link) that Kylington’s camp is hoping for a two-year deal with a small increase off his $2.5M AAV from the last two years.
Contending teams might be looking for more certainty when it comes to distributing their largely limited free-agent dollars around. However, teams with more flexibility might be intrigued by the potential upside if they feel Kylington can get back to the level he was at back in 2021-22. If a few of those feel that way, he might be able to get the type of commitment he’s looking for.
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