Gould: Calgary Flames' trades with New Jersey Devils paying dividends

It was certainly a bit of a shock when the Calgary Flames knocked off the defending Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes over the weekend.

However, it wasn’t remotely surprising to see yet another former New Jersey Devil come up big and score the game-winning goal, as Yegor Sharangovich did late in the third period of the 3-2 victory on Sunday.

After all, Flames general manager Craig Conroy has made three major trades with the Devils — including the very first one of his tenure — since taking over from Brad Treliving in 2023.

Those trades have paid dividends for the Flames in the early stages of the 2026-27 regular season. They haven’t translated into consistent wins, but the underlying results have been highly positive for the Flames’ most prominent ex-Devils.

Sharangovich, Kevin Bahl, Simon Nemec and Maxim Tsyplakov are the four current Flames with previous experience wearing a Devils sweater. But it’s also critical to remember that the Flames wouldn’t have Aydar Suniev and Cole Reschny without the draft picks they acquired from the Devils for Tyler Toffoli and Jacob Markstrom, respectively.

That Markstrom trade in June 2024 fetched the Flames both Reschny and Bahl, the latter of whom has emerged as the club’s go-to guy on the blue line early this season. No longer blocked by the likes of Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar, Bahl leads the Flames in average ice time and has been far and away the club’s best defender.

Already familiar with each other from their time in New Jersey, Bahl and Nemec have re-teamed in Calgary to form one of the league’s best pairs in the early goings. In just over 82 minutes of 5-on-5 action, the Bahl-Nemec duo has helped the Flames out-chance their opponents 54 to 32 (according to hockey analytics website Natural Stat Trick).

Nemec, drafted second overall by the Devils in 2022, is overdue for his first goal in Flames colours, having already racked up a team-leading 45 shot attempts at 5-on-5 through eight games. With all due respect to Tsyplakov, Nemec was the piece the Flames truly coveted from the Devils when they parted with two future first-round picks, a second-rounder, and prospect Etienne Morin over the summer.

And then there’s Sharangovich, who became something of a lightning rod for fan and media criticism after following up his 31-goal, first-year campaign with the Flames in 2023-24 with 17 in 2024-25 and 15 last season.

But with the salary cap skyrocketing, Sharangovich’s $5.75-million hit no longer seems particularly unreasonable, especially considering that the Flames have outshot their opponents 60-39 with him on the ice at 5-on-5 this season — the best differential of any Flames player.

Sharangovich and Suniev both factored into the game-winning goal against Carolina, with Suniev acting as a decoy in the slot while Morgan Frost found Sharangovich for a wicked one-timer at the right circle.

Suniev, who is only 21, is now up to 12 games with the Flames, while Sharangovich is approaching 250; Toffoli played just 61 games for the Devils before being traded to the Winnipeg Jets to continue his journeyman career.

Bahl, Nemec, Sharangovich and Suniev are all making tangible impacts for the Flames right now. Even Tsyplakov is getting a regular shift.

But the gravy on top of everything Calgary has gotten from New Jersey is Reschny, who is the No. 1 centre and captain for the North Dakota Fighting Hawks and will likely play the same roles with Team Canada at the 2027 world juniors.

The Flames drafted Reschny with the 2025 first-round pick they received from New Jersey for Markstrom, who underwhelmed in two seasons with the Devils before being flipped to the Florida Panthers this past June. If Reschny lives up to his full potential as a top-six NHL centre with the Flames, that Markstrom trade — which, as you’ll recall, also brought Bahl to Calgary — could go down as one of the most lopsided in recent memory.

New Jersey is widely known as the Garden State, but Calgary has been the place where many of the Devils’ intriguing former players have blossomed over the past few seasons. With a bit of luck, the Flames will be able to continue their harvest for many more years to come.