Latest news with #Vladar
Edmonton Journal
a day ago
- Sport
- Edmonton Journal
Flames ‘continuing to plug away' on contract negotiations with Dan Vladar, says Conroy
Article content Second-string goalie Dan Vladar was emphatic in his end-of-season interview about his desire to stick around the Saddledome, while the Flames seemed similarly keen on continuing with their current twine-minding tandem. But two months later, and less than two weeks before Vladar would become an unrestricted free agent, there's been no news of a contract extension for the 27-year-old from the Czech Republic, raising the possibility that rising star Dustin Wolf might have a different sidekick when the puck drops on the 2025-26 campaign. Article content 'We're talking to his representation and seeing where his mindset is at,' Flames general manager Craig Conroy told Postmedia on Thursday when asked for an update on negotiations with Vladar. 'We're open, just like he was open to a contract. But both sides have to come to terms with that. We're just continuing to plug away at that one.' Vladar is at the tail-end of a two-year contract that carries an annual cap hit of US$2.2 million. Coming off the heaviest workload of his NHL career, and after finishing the season on a 6-1-1 run, it's safe to assume that he's looking for at least a slight raise. The Flames have plenty of salary-cap wiggle room, but teams are often hesitant to be allocating too much loot to their backup puck-stopper. Vladar and Wolf split starts last fall, but the youngster emerged through the winter as the obvious workhorse in Calgary. Wolf, en route to his runner-up finish in the Calder Trophy race, was tapped for 76 per cent of the crease time in the second half of the season. Article content In 30 appearances, Vladar posted a 12-11-6 record with a 2.80 goals-against average and .898 save percentage. It did not go unnoticed by teammates and staff that he was handed a lot of tough assignments, including the second half of any back-to-back sets. 'We talk about Wolfie a lot and the season he did have, but I think a big reason why he had such a good year was the way Dan was, too,' said Flames head coach Ryan Huska on locker clean-out day. 'We had a great tandem. You look at our team and that was probably the strength of our team this year — those two guys in net gave us a chance to win every night, and it was rare when one of them had an off-night. 'When you're planning ahead, you know you have one area covered. For me as a coach, I know we're going to be good in net.' The big question is, have those plans changed since mid-April, when their backup stressed he would 'love to be back' for a fifth season with the Flames? Article content Is Vladar, who really seemed to find his groove after the 4 Nations Face-Off and continued to roll with a sparkling .950 save percentage in his four appearances at the world championship tournament, now wondering if another organization might view him as a potential starter or a platoon possibility? Is he hoping for more playing time so he can showcase himself for a chance to represent his country at the 2026 Winter Olympics? Is it simply a matter of finding some middle ground on term and dollar figure? If Vladar does opt to test the market when free agency opens on July 1, he will be one of the most appealing options available, a guy who can offer a blend of experience and upside. If the Flames need to go another route, the pickings are somewhat slim. Beyond Vladar, the list of soon-to-be UFAs in the crease is headlined by Jake Allen, Alexandar Georgiev, Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek, who just lifted the Stanley Cup as the No. 2 for the Florida Panthers. Article content The Flames have also been mentioned as potential suitor for Ivan Prosvetov, who is looking to return from the KHL. Also factoring in this conversation is whether there is internal belief that Devin Cooley can be part of the big-league plan. Cooley's contract upgrades to a one-way for this coming season, but there may be some second-guessing after his rollercoaster campaign with the Wranglers — a superb start that netted an invite to the AHL All-Star Classic and then a miserable finishing stretch. Cooley, who turned 28 last month, will certainly be among those keeping close tabs on Vladar's situation. While there's still time to get a deal done, the Flames might need a backup backup plan. Latest National Stories
Calgary Herald
a day ago
- Sport
- Calgary Herald
Flames ‘continuing to plug away' on contract negotiations with Dan Vladar, says Conroy
Article content Article content Is Vladar, who really seemed to find his groove after the 4 Nations Face-Off and continued to roll with a sparkling .950 save percentage in his four appearances at the world championship tournament, now wondering if another organization might view him as a potential starter or a platoon possibility? Article content Is he hoping for more playing time so he can showcase himself for a chance to represent his country at the 2026 Winter Olympics? Article content Is it simply a matter of finding some middle ground on term and dollar figure? Article content If Vladar does opt to test the market when free agency opens on July 1, he will be one of the most appealing options available, a guy who can offer a blend of experience and upside. Article content If the Flames need to go another route, the pickings are somewhat slim. Beyond Vladar, the list of soon-to-be UFAs in the crease is headlined by Jake Allen, Alexandar Georgiev, Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek, who just lifted the Stanley Cup as the No. 2 for the Florida Panthers. Article content Article content The Flames have also been mentioned as potential suitor for Ivan Prosvetov, who is looking to return from the KHL. Article content Also factoring in this conversation is whether there is internal belief that Devin Cooley can be part of the big-league plan. Cooley's contract upgrades to a one-way for this coming season, but there may be some second-guessing after his rollercoaster campaign with the Wranglers — a superb start that netted an invite to the AHL All-Star Classic and then a miserable finishing stretch. Article content
Calgary Herald
09-06-2025
- Sport
- Calgary Herald
FLAMES RETOOL TRACKER: The depth chart in the crease
As we enter the final week of our position-by-position series tracking the Calgary Flames Retool, it's time to look at goaltenders. Article content It's a spot where a lot of ink has been spilled recently, whether that was about trading Jacob Markstrom a year ago to Dustin Wolf winning the starter's job and emerging as a Calder Trophy contender. Article content Wolf's emergence puts the Flames in a nice spot for the foreseeable future, but it doesn't mean there aren't questions. Article content Article content Article content There isn't much mystery about who is going to be starting in the crease for the Flames for the foreseeable future. Dustin Wolf 's fantastic rookie season has brought clarity to the position and you could comfortably argue that it has fast-tracked the retool as you don't want to waste his prime years. Wolf went 29-16-8 last season, with a 2.64 goals-against-average and a .910 save percentage, earning himself a Calder Trophy nomination. Only three goalies — Stuart Skinner, Jordan Binnington and Alex Nedeljkovic — have earned Rookie of the Year nominations over the past 10 years, so Wolf is in nice company. He'll have to prove he can do it again and again, year after year, but that's true of every goalie. Assuming he does, the Flames have a franchise cornerstone already in place. He's a restricted free agent next summer, so getting a new deal in place will be a top priority for the organization over the next 12 months. Article content Article content 2. Vladar's future Article content After Dan Vladar 's end-of-season media availability, the conversation around the Ed Whalen Media Centre at the Saddledome was cautiously optimistic about the Flames' backup of four years reupping for another stint. There hasn't been any news since and with Vladar set to become an unrestricted free agent on July 1, it gets more likely by the day that the Flames will be looking for someone else to fill the backup duties behind Wolf. There's absolutely still an argument for bringing Vladar back if a deal can get done. He shouldn't be too expensive, worked well with Wolf last year and already understands the team's culture. Article content If Vladar and the Flames do mutually decide to go their separate ways, who could find themselves backing up Wolf next year? There are a few contenders. Devin Cooley was the best goalie in the AHL for the first few months of last season and while his numbers dropped in the back half, he still finished the season with a 2.94 goals-against-average and a .905 save percentage. The 28-year-old has six games of NHL experience and will want to be competing. There are rumours the Flames are a leading contender to sign Russian shot-stopper Ivan Prosvetov, too, as he eyes an NHL return. The free-agency market for goaltenders is sparse this summer, with Jake Allen being the best of the bunch.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Flames UFA Dan Vladar Registers Second-Highest Save Percentage In 2025 World Championships (Does It Mean Anything?)
Coming into the final day of the 2025 IIHF World Championships, Czechia and Calgary UFA goalie Dan Vladar was leading the goalies in the tournament with a save percentage of 95.06. That is, until Leonardo Genoni of Switzerland came into the gold medal game and made 39 saves from 40 shots against team USA, taking not only the lead with 95.33% (a miniscule difference of just 0.27!), but also winning the MVP award of the tournament. No shame in coming second to a goalie who won MVP, as they say (or someone should say at least). Now we know usually a world championship doesn't count for much, but believe it or not, Vladar ranked BETTER than Four-Nations winning goalie Jordan Binnington and All-Stars Jeremy Swayman and Jacob Markstrom, who were also participating in the tournament. While it is certain the starter role belongs to Calder Trophy nominee Dustin Wolf, because of the 27-year-old Czech's experiences both internationally and in the NHL as a backup, the Flames should certainly consider re-signing him for the backup role next season. He will be reliable for a franchise with promising goalie prospects like Arsenii Sergeev and Owen Say in the system. These goaltenders need time for development and bringing back Vladar will allow the Flames not to rush these prospects quickly into NHL action. Signing him at a cheaper contract then the $2.2 million AAV in his previous one would also give the most bang for buck.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
LIVE Game Thread: Calgary Flames versus Los Angeles Kings
© Sergei Belski The Los Angeles Kings (48-24-9) will host the Calgary Flames (40-27-14) at Arena to close out the regular season for both teams. The Pacific Division rivals find themselves going in direct directions: Los Angeles is set to host Edmonton in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs on April 21st, while Calgary failed to make the playoff cut. Advertisement Last Ten Los Angeles 8-2-0 Calgary 6-1-3 Top Scorers LA- Adrian Kempe 35 G 38 A 73 PTS CAL-Nazeem Kadri 35 G 32 A 65 PTS Notable Forward Taylor Ward will make his NHL debut for the Kings tonight. 1st Period We are underway at Crypto! Byfield and Fiala go in a 2-on-1 but can't covert. Calgary gets some o-zone time and Kadri gets off a wrister that is eaten up by Rittich. Taylor Ward can't handle the pass on what could have been a Grade-A scoring chance. Mikey Andersson enters the zone with and finds Trevor Moore in deep but Vladar makes the save. BIG SAVE from Vladar on a walk-in by Taylor Ward who was looking for his first NHL goal. Advertisement PENALTY Samuel Helenius goes off two minutes for hooking. Coleman gets offs a hard wrist shot but Big Save Dave makes the pad save. LA is back to even-strength. Calgary outshooting LA 9-4 with about 7 minutes left in the 1st.
