Calgary Flames: This is the year Oliver Kylington sinks or swims

Oliver Kylington and the Calgary Flames are approaching an inflection point.

When the Calgary Flames landed Oliver Kylington with the 60th overall pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft, it felt like a massive steal.

Initially considered the number one international skater by many a national publication, Kylington’s stock slide after an underwhelming 2014-15 split between Färjestad BK and AIK and watched his stock fall as a result – landing anywhere from sixth to 32nd overall in international skating rankings according to our friends over at The Hockey Writers.

From there, things only got worse for the offensive-minded defender, as he had to wait even longer than most expected to hear his name called in the draft – falling all the way to 60th overall, where he was selected by the Flames via Tampa Bay’s second-round pick acquired in a draft weekend trade with the Arizona Coyotes.

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Though Kylington’s addition was far from the team’s biggest defensive acquisition of the weekend, as they traded a first and two second-round picks to the Boston Bruins for then-21-year-old golden boy Dougie Hamilton, the Stockholm, Sweden presented a unique upside that in-theory could have been the perfect fit to fill out the team’s defensive lines for years to come.

Fast forward to December of 2020and Hamilton is set to enter his third season with the Carolina Hurricanes, the players acquired to land him – Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin – remain fixtures of the team’s top-six and top-four respectably, and Kylington’s future is up in the air – having hit restricted free agency at quite possibly the worst time in NHL history due to the bizarre nature of the 2020 offseason.

Could some external team swoop in and offer a massive package to take Kylington off the team’s hands? Sure, but if that was going to happen, don’t you think it would have already? No, for better or worse, Kylington’s best free agency value is as a member of Flames, where the team has spent the last half-decade polishing his skillset to eventually become a full-time member of their defensive rotation.

Assuming the team can lock the 23-year-old on a new contract, something in the vein of their $1,010,834 in available cap space, this could be the year Kylington fully establishes himself as one of the league’s bright young defensive stars – or is finally shipped out of town to a team willing to play to his strengths.

While playing for the Stockton Heat for multiple stretches from 2016-19, Kylington maintained his offensive firepower with an average of 6.6 goals per season but really came into his own as a passer, recording 56 assists over his 140 game tenure with the team. Though his statistics haven’t been as impressive at the NHL-level – recording five goals, 10 assists, 76 blocks, and 47 hits in 87 games – Kylington has shown flashes of being the first-round caliber player many projected before his draft-weekend slide.

Measuring in at 6-foot, 183 pounds, Kylington has solid size, a good shot, and even better on-ice vision. He’s among the best pure skaters in the organization and presents enough offensive firepower to theoretically be a fixture of Flames’ power play.

Then again, Kylington isn’t exactly a committed defender who forfeits offensive opportunities to remain a stalwart on the defensive end of the ice. He bites on fakes a bit more than you’d like from a top-line guy and has largely failed to develop into the true two-way player Elite Hockey Prospects expected him to become back in 2015.

Had the Flames opted to hire a more offensive-minded head coach, maybe Kylington’s defensive liabilities would be a bit more overlooked in favor of what he brings to the table as a shooter and a playmaker but under Geoff Ward, a coach not particularly well known for his innovative offensive attack, it’s hard to see the former second-round pick ever becoming more than a third-line defenseman with the versatility to play on either the left or right side.

But hey, even if that ultimately becomes the case, it’s not like Kylington’s upside couldn’t fetch the team a decent return in the way of picks and/or players.

Though he surely isn’t worth a second-round pick, not anymore, he could probably fetch a third or serve as a trade chip to acquire a veteran scorer on an expiring deal like Kyle Palmieri from a rebuilding team like the New Jersey Devils.

Either way, assuming the two parties are able to agree to terms before the 2020-21 season, expect Kylington to help the Flames out one way or another.

When draft weekend came to a close in 2015, the Calgary Flames thought they’d shored up their defense for years to come. Instead, they landed high-upside defensemen they’d later flip for better-fitting pieces and a 23-year-old too good to play in the AHL but too inconsistent to become an NHL fixture. If Oliver Kylington can develop his defense to the same level as his already stellar offensive game, maybe he’ll one day make fans forget about Dougie Hamilton once and for all. But if he continues to struggle in 2020-21, it may be time to finally cut bate on the Swedish defensemen and flip him for a better-fitting veteran piece.