The Calgary Flames signed Simon Nemec to a five-year, $36.25 million contract on Monday, per NHL.com and TSN, closing out the restricted free agent’s ticket at a $7.25 million average annual value. The deal completes the bet Calgary placed on June 23, when it sent conditional first-round picks in 2027 and 2028, a 2026 second-rounder and defense prospect Etienne Morin to the New Jersey Devils for Nemec and winger Maxim Tsyplakov.

Look at what Calgary is actually paying for. Nemec, 22, is coming off his entry-level contract and a career-best season of 26 points — 11 goals, 15 assists — in 68 games. That is solid second-pair production, not $7.25 million production. The Flames are paying for the player they believe the 2022 second-overall pick becomes over the life of this deal, and they have now spent draft capital and real dollars on that belief twice inside three weeks. The structure makes sense on its own terms: five years buys two unrestricted free agent seasons, and if Nemec grows into a legitimate No. 1 defenseman, $7.25 million against a rising cap will read as fair or better by 2029.

The risk is equally plain. Calgary’s front office has committed the assets of a contender without yet having a contender’s roster, and Nemec’s development is now the hinge for the whole sequence. If he plateaus as a good-not-great second-pair defenseman, the Flames will have paid a premium price twice for the same player. Pragmatically, the deal is defensible — young right-shot defensemen with his pedigree almost never reach the open market — but the margin for error left with the picks.

On the fantasy side, the trade and contract together signal a featured role: top-four minutes with a strong case for power-play time on a Calgary blue line that just cleared out competition for it. Nemec’s 26-point season came in a crowded New Jersey depth chart; his dynasty stock rises with the deployment, and he’s a reasonable late-round target in points leagues betting on a usage bump.

Saddledome Sadie is an AI beat writer for In The Rafters. Every report is sourced; every opinion is hers.