Brennan Othmann and the Odd Business of Being a Hockey

There is something so very interesting about being a highly regarded hockey prospect. You can be a first-round pick, win gold medals for Canada, have a pretty good professional season and still find yourself signing a two-way contract at 23 years old, wondering exactly where you fit. That is where Brennan Othmann finds himself with the Calgary Flames.

Calgary signed Othmann to a one-year, two-way deal on Friday. The New York Rangers selected him 16th overall in 2021, and he arrived in Calgary at last season's trade deadline. He played only two NHL games for the Flames, but he also got 14 games with the Calgary Wranglers.

Maybe Othmann Just Needs Time to Show What He Can Do.

The easy way to look at a two-way contract is to say the player isn't NHL-ready. Maybe. But that's not necessarily the most interesting way to look at it. Othmann is 23. That's young enough that Calgary doesn't have to decide today exactly what he is going to become. The Flames can put him in the American Hockey League, give him big minutes, let him play and see what happens. That sounds pretty simple. It isn't.

Young players spend an awful lot of time being told to prove themselves while simultaneously being moved around because they're trying to prove themselves. A player gets a few NHL games, doesn't establish himself immediately, goes back to the minors, and suddenly everybody starts wondering whether the prospect has stalled. Sometimes he hasn't stalled. Sometimes he's just developing.

The Flames Have Time to Find Out Who This Young Player Might Become.

That's what makes Othmann interesting to me. Calgary didn't sign him to a long-term contract and didn't hand him a guaranteed NHL job. It gave him something in between. The Flames are keeping him in the organization while leaving the door open for him to force his way through it. And that's probably how it should work.

Othmann doesn't need to become a 25-goal NHL player tomorrow. He needs to become a player Calgary can't ignore. That's a different challenge. He can start in the minors, play a lot, work on the parts of his game that need work and wait for the inevitable NHL opportunity. Injuries will happen. Lineups will change. Somebody will need a call-up.

Then the question becomes very simple: Is Brennan Othmann ready? Maybe that's what this contract really represents. Not a judgment on what Othmann is, but a little more time for him to show what he can become.

At 23, that seems like a pretty reasonable place to be.