The notion that American players don’t want to play in Calgary doesn’t align with history or reality

Blake Coleman mentioned on the Cam and Strick podcast that he had heard rumours that the relationship between Gaudreau and the Flames took a hit after those contract negotiations. “I had heard just kind of rumblings, you know, frustration with how things had been with his relationship (with the Flames). You know, the summer before he had wanted to extend and all these things. So, I guess I knew it (him leaving) was a possibility.”

The Flames dropped the ball with their contract negotiations with Gaudreau in the summer of 2021. And they weren’t able to get a deal done in a timely manner in the summer of 2022. It went down to the wire and Gaudreau decided to test the market. He loved his time in Calgary and was more than open to returning. But in the end it didn’t end up working out.

Matthew Tkachuk

Tkachuk arrived in Calgary after being selected by the Flames with the 6th overall pick in the 2016 NHL draft. He made the team out of training camp and immediately became an impact player offensively, defensively, all while getting under his opponents’ skin.

He finished the final season of his rookie contract putting up 77 points in 80 games as a 20/21-year-old. He was in line for a substantial raise on his next contract.

Rather than signing him to a long-term contract, Treliving was only able to get Tkachuk signed to a three-year bridge deal. The former GM wasn’t able to create enough cap space to sign his prized young winger to a long-term contract which would have a higher cap hit.

Treliving mismanaged the Flames salary cap as he didn’t set aside enough space to sign Tkachuk. Michael Frolik, Milan Lucic, and the buyouts of Troy Brouwer and Michael Stone accounted for $12,216,667 of cap space in the 2019 off-season.

That was mistake number one. When you have a player like Tkachuk, you do everything in your power to sign him for as long as possible in their prime years. Tkachuk even said in his press conference after signing his bridge deal that his goal and intention was to sign a long-term contract.

“I think the plan from the start, we were looking at kind of every option. But, you know, long term was kind of preferred at the start and wanting to be here as long as possible and being a Calgary Flame.’ said Tkachuk. ‘We thought that was going to be the way to get it done at the start.”

By the time Tkachuk’s bridge deal expired the Flames future was looking a little bleak. They had an aging roster, a bottom 10 prospect pool, and core members of the team becoming UFAs in 2024. I wrote about this in depth in September of 2022.

Tkachuk and his representatives could potentially see that the Flames were heading in the wrong direction due to the mismanagement of the roster by Treliving. Not because he is American. Or not because of the city of Calgary.

He saw greener pastures with a lot of different organizations including the Florida Panthers where he eventually ended up and where he became a Stanley Cup Champion.

Noah Hanifin

Similar to Tkachuk, the reason Hanifin likely didn’t want to sign a long-term extension with the Flames is because where they Flames are in their winning cycle. Simply put, Hanifin didn’t want to be part of a rebuild. And you can’t blame him.

Hanifin has repeatedly mentioned how much he loved his time in Calgary and how much he enjoyed living in the city. But he is entering the final years of his prime and signing a long-term extension with a competitive team like the Vegas Golden Knights made the most sense for where he and the Flames are at this point in time.

Adam Fox

Fox was not going to sign with any team in the NHL except the New York Rangers. The Carolina Hurricanes acquired his rights in the Dougie Hamilton trade in 2018. Even they weren’t able to sign Fox despite being in the eastern time zone, having a bright future, and a favourable tax situation.

Fox’s situation was unique in the sense that he was only going to sign with one team. It wasn’t a Calgary issue. It was an Adam Fox issue.

American success stories

What a lot of people don’t like to talk about when it comes to American players in Calgary are all the success stories.

Gaudreau signed with the Flames after winning the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in college hockey. He could have easily gone back for his senior season and become a free agent or could have forced a trade. But he didn’t. Instead, he signed with the Flames out of college and two years later signed a six-year contract extension. He should have been re-signed with the Flames in 2021, but as I already mentioned, it didn’t happen for a multitude of reasons.

Tkachuk embraced Calgary from the moment he arrived in 2016. He immediately signed his three-year entry-level deal. He wanted to sign a long-term deal to remain a member of the Flames in 2019, but Brad Treliving wasn’t able to make that work. That shouldn’t be looked at as Tkachuk not wanting to play in Calgary or Canada. It should be looked at as his situation being mismanaged.

Hanifin signed a six-year contract in Calgary in 2018 after being acquired in a trade with the Carolina Hurricanes. Hanifin could have easily said he wasn’t going to sign in Calgary. But he ended up playing five and a half years of his prime with the Flames. That’s a win.

The pride of Plano, Texas, Blake Coleman, signed a six-year contract with the Flames as an unrestricted free agent. He could have easily signed with an American team on July 1 but instead he chose to sign in Calgary.

Matt Coronato could have pulled an Adam Fox and forced the Flames hand with a trade request or by staying in college for four seasons. Instead, he signed with the Flames in 2023 at a time when things were not looking great for the Flames due to butting heads between Darryl Sutter and some of the Flames veteran players.

The 1989 Stanley Cup champion Flames team had a few key members who were American including Joe Mullen, Gary Suter, and Joel Otto.

The most obvious American success story with the Flames is their general manager, Craig Conroy. He had two successful tours of duty on the ice. And he decided to stay in Calgary after joining the front office staff in 2011. He’s remained in Calgary ever since and is one of the great ambassadors for the city.

There are also many examples of great American players committing to Canadian teams. Auston Matthews, J.T. Miller, Brady Tkachuk, Quinn Hughes, Connor Hellebuyck, Kyle Connor, Cole Caufield, Jake Sanderson, Brock Boeser, Thatcher Demko to name a few.

The narrative that American players don’t want to play in Calgary or Canada needs to stop. We need to stop asking every single American player about it. Stop discussing it on social media. It’s starting to become a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more it’s brought it up, the more people are going to believe it, despite the fact that it’s not true.

American players will play in Calgary. American players will play in Canada. Stop saying they won’t.