The Calgary Flames followed up their dismal 2022-23 season with a somewhat confusing offseason. This past summer, the team was slated to have six prominent players on expiring contracts: forwards Tyler Toffoli, Elias Lindholm, and Mikael Backlund as well as defensemen Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov. Fast forward to mid-December of the current 2023-24 season, and only three of those same players remain a potential issue for the organization. Backlund was re-signed to a two-year deal and subsequently named team captain and Zadorov was recently moved in a rare trade to the Vancouver Canucks. Before the season started, however, Toffoli was dealt to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for 25-year-old Belarusian forward Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round draft choice in the last NHL Entry Draft.
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At the time, the aforementioned Toffoli trade was viewed as a huge loss. After all, the then-30-year-old had just come off of a 34-goal, 73-point season, leading the Flames in both categories. He was on the books for one more year at an affordable $4.25 million cap hit to boot. The Flames and rookie general manager Craig Conroy held all of the cards in their hands and then let down many with such a seemingly measly return. Conroy also signed Sharangovich to a two-year, $6.2 million deal before he stepped on the ice. However, after a slow start in his first season as a Flame, Sharangovich has recently turned up the heat (pun intended) and is beginning to prove his doubters wrong. Let’s have a look at his season thus far and analyze how his trade to the Flames has aged over a few months.
Sharangovich’s Excellent Recent Stretch
From an outside perspective, Sharangovich looked like a work in progress. During his time in New Jersey, the 2018 fifth-round pick averaged 21 goals and roughly 42 points per 82 games. He showed flashes of brilliance but was quickly buried behind a deep forward core. As previously mentioned, Sharangovich began his first season with the Flames by scoring just two points in his first ten games. Fortunately for him and the team, he has begun to rediscover the talent that Conroy and the Flames’ pro scouts originally saw in him. In games 11-20, he improved to four goals and eight points. Most recently in games 21-31, he has taken his production another step further with six goals and nine points.
This stretch of success has Sharangovich currently on a five-game goal-scoring streak, and his now 11 goals lead the entire Flames roster. The Minsk native has found immense success playing right wing on the top line alongside Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane. A big part of his streak can be attributed to shooting the puck more: he had 35 shots on goal in his first 20 games and is already up to 30 in the last 10 matches. While his shooting percentage of 17.5 may not be sustainable all season long, if he keeps putting the puck on net like this they’ll keep going in. If he can continue his recent pace, he will finish the season with 29 goals and 50 points. Sharangovich has also provided value in other ways during this time; he has taken just two minor penalties all season, and his 16 blocked shots are good for fourth amongst Flames forwards.
Trade is Aging Well for Flames
Looking back on the Toffoli-Sharangovich swap now tells a bit of a different story. Sure, the Devils got a bonafide stud in Toffoli on the cheap. So far for them this season, Toffoli has been as advertised with 13 goals and 23 points in 29 contests which is good for a 37-goal, 65-point pace. Being that he requires a contract after this season and is approaching his mid-30s, the Flames would have been trapped into either losing him for nothing in free agency or signing another bad contract, which they could not afford given the big deals handed to Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri in the 2022 offseason. Having Sharangovich perform the way he is at $3.1 million per season is much more manageable.
The other forgotten piece of the trade was the 2023 third-round pick, which was theirs to begin with. The Flames had moved the pick for the Seattle Kraken’s Calle Jarnkrok back in March 2022, then the selection was jettisoned to the Columbus Blue Jackets for Oliver Bjorkstrand. After that, the Jackets traded it to the Devils for Damon Severson and it was finally brought back to the Flames for Toffoli. The Flames used it to select Russian forward prospect Aydar Suniev, who had scored 45 goals and 90 points in just 50 games for the Penticton Vees of the British Columbia Hockey League. Suniev is now looking like a potential steal, with 12 points in 15 games for the UMass Minutemen in the NCAA. It’s fair to say that the Flames didn’t make out as bad as originally thought.
All in all, Sharangovich may not currently be a game-breaker or franchise player, but he is now forming chemistry with Lindholm and Mangiapane and providing the Flames with strong, consistent offense. If he can maintain his pace or even take his performance a notch higher, all remaining critics of his acquisition would be relegated to irreverence. The Toffoli trade was a calculated move and Sharangovich’s name wasn’t just randomly chosen off of the Devils roster. The 25-year-old still hasn’t reached his full potential, but it’s good to see him finally able to showcase his immense skill whilst donning the Flaming ‘C’.