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The Calgary Flames entered a rebuild of sorts when they traded Tyler Toffoli to the New Jersey Devils before the 2023 NHL Draft. Calgary wanted to get younger after failing to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This deal achieved their aim, to an extent. The Flames acquired forward Yegor Sharangovich as part of the trade.
At the time, Sharangovich was a 24-year-old who had flashed potential. He had scored 24 goals in his sophomore campaign, even. However, a disappointing 2022-23 campaign saw him shipped out for a more established goal scorer. Joining the Flames was a chance for the young Belarusian forward to reset.
And reset he did. He made an immediate impact in with the Flames in 2023-24. He scored a career-high 31 goals for the Flames last season while scoring nearly 60 points. Sharangovich nearly doubled his point total from his final season with the Devils, in fact.
This performance led to him receiving a major contract extension in the offseason. The Flames signed Sharangovich to a five-year, $28.75 million contract on July 1, 2024. This deal includes a modified 10-team no-trade clause, which kicks in during the contract's first season, the 2025-26 campaign. It officially goes into effect on July 1, 2025.
Unfortunately, Sharangovich has not replicated his 2023-24 success this season. Entering the 4 Nations break, the Flames forward has 11 goals and 22 points in 48 games. At his current pace, he will end he regular season with 17 goals and 25 points. A far cry from what we saw from his last year.
The Flames aren't exactly locked into this five-year contract. However, their ability to make a move is significantly hampered on July 1 when his no trade clause kicks in. This is certainly a tough decision, but Calgary should consider trading the Minsk, Belarus native before his no-trade protection begins.
Yegor Sharangovich can't find consistency
The Devils traded Sharangovich mainly because they felt they were in a Stanley Cup window. It was less about a lack of faith in his ability than what they were getting in Tyler Toffoli. Toffoli was one of the best veteran goal-scorers on the trade market at the time. And on paper, he elevated their odds at winning it all.
The Flames certainly believe in Sharangovich's ability to produce in the NHL. In a way, he proved them right in his debut campaign for the club. However, in a way, he is currently proving the Devils right.
Sharangovich has produced two impressive offensive campaigns at the next level. And he has followed both of them up with vastly disappointing performances. There is a lack of consistency here that can come back to bite Calgary down the line.
The Flames are currently fighting for a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. A consistent Sharangovich is an incredible piece to this puzzle. The issue is that he isn't consistent. And this could limit how far Calgary goes with the Belarusian forward.
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31-goal campaign may be an outlier
As mentioned, Sharangovich scored 31 goals for the Flames last season. And that is certainly part of an argument to keep the 26-year-old around. How many teams trade their leading goal scorer from two seasons ago and go on to have a ton of success?
However, it may be fair to call that campaign a bit of an outlier. On paper, 2023-24 was his best offensive campaign. He scored the most goals and points than any other point in his career. It would stand to reason that his impact was rather significant.
Looking deeper, this may not be the case. Sharangovich had an expected Offensive Goals Above Replacement of 13.6 in 2023-24, according to Evolving Hockey. To put this in perspective, this would have given him the 42nd-highest OGAR in the NHL last year, ahead of Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin.
However, his actual OGAR was much lower. He had just 3.2 OGAR for the Flames in 2023-24. This placed him 305th in the NHL, between Urho Vaakanainen and Alex Kerfoot. Sharangovich was not particularly strong at even strength, recording just 1.2 even strength OGAR. His power-play OGAR of 2.0 wasn't much better.
Compare this to his breakout campaign with the Devils. His OGAR that season was 8.8, per Evolving Hockey. The vast majority of those came at even strength, as well.
Beyond this, his underlying numbers from this year are worse than those in 2022-23 when he had a down year in New Jersey. Sharangovich currently has -3.1 Expected Goals Above Replacement and -0.5 WAR. In his final season with the Devils, he ended the season at replacement level in both categories.
It is certainly admirable for a team to believe in its players. The Flames certainly have cause to believe in Sharangovich if this is the route they want to take. However, there is an argument to be made that his 2023-24 campaign was an outlier. And they should explore the trade market before July 1 while they can still freely do so.
