'Good Spot For Us'

Yegor Sharangovich is here for the long term.

And he couldn’t be happier.

The 26-year-old has landed back in Calgary after signing the team’s biggest contract of the summer free-agency period, a five-year extension worth an average of $5.75 million per season.

For Sharangovich, the pact represented a two-part commitment, first from the Flames - with whom he put up a career-high 31 goals and 59 points in 2023-24 - but also from himself and his family, putting pen to paper with club and community until the summer of 2030.

Sharangovich didn’t waste any time either, getting the extension signed, sealed and delivered as soon as he was able - a year before the new contract takes effect.

He admits it was an easy decision, too.

“Actually yes,” Sharangovich said Tuesday. “We talked with (my) agent, we talked with Conny, I think we found a way to sign a deal.

“My family and me are just happy to stay here (for) six more years.”

It’s easy to tell Calgary offers the soft-spoken Sharangovich a sense of comfortability.

Leading the team in goals helped, but so too did the fact that over the course of his first season with the Flames following that June 2023 trade from New Jersey, he felt encouraged - and empowered - to play his game.

“I’m comfortable here, but the first thing when coaches trust you, they support you in the game,” he noted. “It’s a really good thing for me and for my game. I think I had a really good season last year because coaches almost always (trusted) me, I played a lot.

“I think I’m ready for next season.”

But that sense of comfort extends beyond the ice for Sharangovich and his young family, despite being thousands of miles - and an ocean - away from home.

“Good organization, good teammates, good equipment (and) medical staff, and it’s a good city for us,” he said. “My family likes it here, it’s a good spot for us.”

“My parents already opened a Canadian visa, it’s more easy for them to open a Canadian (visa) than U.S., so they will come.”

On the ice, Sharangovich is looking forward to having another ex-Devil in the fold, too, in defenceman Kevin Bahl.

The 6-foot-6 blueliner was an off-season addition to Calgary’s defence corps, and Sharangovich figures the 24-year-old can bring an element of grit and defensive responsibility to the back end.

“He’s a big guy, strong guy, really good in the defensive zone,” Sharangovich said of Bahl. “A really physical guy and I think he will help us in the D zone.”

Another familiar face, another layer of comfort.

And after what he admits to have been a long summer, Sharangovich feels as though he’s in a good place - physically and mentally - to continue excelling as a Flame, with opening night less than a month away.

“I think it was a good summer for me, hard practices on the ice and in the gym,” he said.

“(I’m) just ready to go for next season.”