Should the Flames make a waiver claim for Arthur Kaliyev?

On Sunday, the Los Angeles Kings announced that they placed forward Arthur Kaliyev on waivers. What was looked at as his “second chance” with the Kings at the start of the season has quickly come to an end. Kaliyev re-signed for one more year in Los Angeles before the start of this season but his attempt at a comeback with L.A. was something that was taken away from him when he sustained a fractured clavicle in the pre-season.

Kaliyev’s time with the Kings has been anything but pretty. Stuck behind veteran players and a couple of coaches who wouldn’t place him in the right situations, he was arguably never really given the proper chance to succeed. It got to a point where he requested a trade out of Los Angeles at the end of last season. Even though he ended up re-signing for another year, his time with the Kings has been wearing thin for a while.

The Kings are the hottest team in the NHL right now and there is no room for Kaliyev on that roster, especially with the emergence of Alex Turcotte and Alex Laferriere. If anything it would be a bottom six role, which would be like watching the same movie and expecting a different ending. 

It seems fairly likely that Kaliyev will be claimed. He’s a 23-year-old who was a second-round pick back in 2019 with NHL experience. Kaliyev is known to be a sniper, he’s a finisher with an elite array of shots and his ability to get open in the offensive zone and use his quick release is what makes him dangerous. 

In his first full season in the NHL, Kaliyev finished with 14 goals and 27 points through 80 games played. Decent numbers for a second-round pick in his first year in the show. The next year he finished with 13 goals and 28 points but this time only playing 56 games. Last season was a tough one for him, constantly ending up in former Kings head coach Todd McLellan’s dog house, being a consistent healthy scratch. 

How much of that really was his fault? He was stuck playing with an uninterested Pierre-Luc Dubois for most of the season who looked like he hated playing hockey on most nights. The truth is, it wouldn’t be fair to say we have seen Kaliyev’s true potential just yet. 

With a cap hit of $825,000, this move would be a low-risk, potential high reward for any team who claims him. So it begs the question: should the Flames consider making a claim for him?

For someone who has dealt with the amount of setbacks and adversity Kaliyev has dealt with, you would think the one thing he would want to do is go out and prove he can be a valuable asset. If anything, prove to the organization that made it difficult for him to thrive, that they messed up. 

It just so happens that Kaliyev’s biggest assets are his shot, goal-scoring, and IQ in the offensive zone, and the Flames struggle to put the puck in the net. The Flames are in a position to contend for a playoff spot right now but we know that has largely been due to their goaltending. They have scored the fifth-fewest goals out of any team in the league this season and have only managed to score more than three goals in a game five times. 

Jonathan Huberdeau who has had a bit of a resurgence this season leads the Flames in goals. A player who is known for his playmaking skill and not goal-scoring ability, even when he was a 100-plus point-getter, has the most goals with 16. Only three Flames have double digits in goals, Nazem Kadri with 14 and Connor Zary with 10. 

Two players who are supposed to be carrying a lot of the weight in that department have been underwhelming. Yegor Sharangovich who led the Flames in goals last season with 31, has six goals and is on pace for just 14. Andrei Kuzmenko who scored 39 goals in his rookie season and 22 last season has barely been able to remain in the lineup and has scored just once this season. 

The Flames’ power play ranks around the middle of the league. Not great but not terrible either operating at 20.2 per cent. That being said, they would welcome any improvement with open arms. Throughout his career, Kaliyev has collected 71 points. 25 of them have come on the power play with most of those points being goals. 35.2 percent of his points have come on the power play to be exact. He makes it count with that extra time and space on the man advantage. Right now, the Flames have a few guys playing on the power play who could be replaced by Kaliyev. The two most obvious choices would be either Kuzmenko or Blake Coleman. 

This team needs goal scoring so why not take a gamble on a 23-year-old winger who is known to be able to do that and is only making $825,000? Deep down Kaliyev has likely been looking for a change of scenery for a while given his challenges in L.A. and with the Flames, there is more flexibility as to where he could slot in the lineup. Surrounding him with players who can create and distribute in the offensive zone are players who will bring out the best in him. As long as the Flames don’t make the same mistake as the Kings did by sticking him in a bottom-six grinding role, he will be given a better chance to succeed. 

Obviously the thought of Kaliyev seems like it could pan out nicely but if the Flames were to actually go for it they would need to figure out a couple of things. The Flames don’t have any roster spots open which means someone would have to be placed on waivers in order for them to make room for Kaliyev. The only Flame who is waiver-exempt is Matt Coronato and while sending him down could be an option, it definitely isn’t the right one for multiple reasons – even if it was a short-term move to facilitate a claim while somebody else is waived to open a permanent spot. That makes this move much more complicated for the Flames who would have to decide who they would be willing to demote in order to give Kaliyev a shot. 

The only logical option would be to put Walker Duehr on waivers. While he’s a right shot winger, one of the few in the club’s system, he hasn’t carved out a niche the way Jakob Pelletier has since their recent call-up. He also cleared waivers once already at the beginning of the season. Three, he has just one points in 12 games, so it isn’t like he has made an undeniable statement that he should be on the club’s roster. While there is still a risk in putting him on waivers, this organization made it clear at the beginning of the season that they were comfortable with the potential risk of losing him.

It’s worth noting, though, that the Flames are 19th in waiver priority, so if a team below them in the standings puts in a claim they would get Kaliyev instead. If the Flames are looking for low-risk options to boost their offensive attack, a waiver claim on Kaliyev could be a viable option. It’s just a matter of whether or not that’s something general manager Craig Conroy wants to pursue.