Flames defenceman returning to team next season after missing entire 2022-23 campaign
According to Frank Seravalli, Calgary Flames interim General Manager Don Maloney has confirmed that defenceman Oliver Kylington is expected to return to the team next season.
Kylington, 25, missed the entire 2022-23 season due to personal family reasons back in Sweden. He never showed up to the Flames' training camp back in September and then-GM Brad Treliving announced that he was dealing with a personal issue, but obviously didn't elaborate for privacy reasons. Treliving then said in November that the team remained in touch with Kylington on a regular basis and then in March added that it was unlikely he would join the team at all during the rest of the year.
The Stockholm native was a second round pick (60th overall) of the Flames in 2015 NHL Entry Draft and took a massive step in his development during the 2021-22 season. Kylington appeared in 73 games where he recorded 31 points (nine goals, 22 assists), 14 penalty minutes and was a plus-34. He went on to add three points in 12 games during the playoffs.
Kylington has one more year left on his contract with a cap hit of $2.5 million. He's set to become an unrestricted free agent in July 2024.
Getting Kylington back next season will be a huge boost for the Flames defensive core and it's likely that he'll be eased back into things as pre-season games go along, before jumping into a top-four role at some point early in the 2023-24 campaign.
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