Vladar flourished in true back-up role and Calgary Flames should re-sign him
The Calgary Flames and Dan Vladar could wind up going their separate ways this offseason.
The 27-year-old goaltender is set to become a UFA for the first time in his career, and may end up testing the market to see not only what his value is, but whether or not he can find a new home that could present more playing opportunities. With the emergence of Dustin Wolf, it’s clear that sticking around in Calgary would keep him in a backup role.
Whether there is more opportunity for Vladar elsewhere, however, remains to be seen.
The 6-foot-5 netminder has a rather underwhelming 2.98 GAA paired with a .895 save percentage, suggesting he’s nothing more than a backup at the NHL level. In 30 games this past season, he recorded a 2.80 GAA along with a .898 SV% and a 12-11-6 record.
Despite the questionable numbers this past season, they don’t tell the whole tale of what Vladar provided.
The Flames tasked Vladar with the harder starts for the first half of the 2024-25 campaign as they tried to build up confidence in starting goaltender Dustin Wolf. That certainly hurt the former’s numbers, as he was given several starts in the second half of back-to-back games and was often tasked with going up against some of the NHL’s elite teams.
Once Wolf was trusted with such starts, however, Vladar’s workload became much easier, and he responded quite well. From February on, he appeared in seven games, during which time he posted a very impressive .927 SV%. That stretch, albeit a small sample size, indicates the Flames may be best to bring him back should he be willing to return.
Not only are the Flames and Vladar well familiar with one another, but he shouldn’t cost them much to bring back.
With the ample cap space GM Craig Conroy has been able to accumulate, the organization could easily afford to bring Vladar back on a very similar contract to the two-year, $4.4 million tag he signed in October of 2022. Should he be willing to return on such a deal, it would make plenty of sense for the Flames to do so.
- You might also like:
- Will the Calgary Flames bring back Sam Bennett this summer?