A Look at the Newest Calgary Flame: Calle Jarnkrok
After acquiring Tyler Toffoli a few weeks ago, Calgary Flames GM Brad Treliving pulled the trigger on another trade on Wednesday, adding Calle Jarnkrok to an already strong forward group. Let’s take a look Jarnkrok’s numbers to see how he will fit in with the Flames.
Jarnkrok comes to Calgary in the midst of a season where he is exceeding projections from the Puck Luck model. Along with the 50% salary retention, it makes for an efficient use of cap space by the Flames.
The Flames have acquired Calle Jarnkrok from the Kraken for a package of picks.
— Greg Amundsen (@PuckLuck83) March 17, 2022
Jarnkrok bolsters the Flames bottom six, which was a weaker area in their roster and they get good value with 50% salary retention by Seattle.#Flames #SeaKraken pic.twitter.com/GuOyHNJN2d
Let’s take a deeper look at Jarnkrok’s numbers, for which we’ll use numbers from Natural Stat Trick.
5v5 Defensive Impact
The Kraken have been a defensively sound team this season, ranking 4th in the league in 5v5 xGA/60, and Jarnkrok was certainly a part of that success. His on-ice xGA/60 ranks in the middle of the Kraken forwards and sits around the 25th percentile league-wide.
That success should carry over to Calgary, where the Flames play a defensively sound team game, sitting one spot behind the Kraken with 2.27 xGA/60. Jarnkrok’s 5v5 on-ice xGA/60 is actually the highest of his career (slightly) and it’s been very consistent throughout his career so there is every reason to expect his strong defensive impact to continue.
5v5 Offensive Impact
Jarnkrok’s offensive impact is exceeding the Puck Luck model slightly and his 5v5 on-ice GF/60 sits just above the league median. He’s had good success shooting the puck this year, leading to a 5v5 G/60 of 0.79. His 5v5 shooting percentage of 13.3% suggests some room for downward regression. However, he has shot over 13% twice before in his career, so it’s not likely to be a huge correction.
The biggest concern with Jarnkrok’s numbers this year may be the high number of secondary assists relative to primary assists. While he is not far off his career high 5v5 A/60, nearly 90% of them have been secondary assists this season. There isn’t an obvious explanation in Jarnkrok’s individual stats, so perhaps it’s a stylistic issue with the Kraken’s offensive approach and a change of scenery will bring more primary assists.
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Special Teams Impact
While it’s not clear whether Jarnkrok will see much powerplay time in Calgary given the personnel they already have, he did see regular time with the man advantage in Seattle. He picked up 2 goals and 3 assists on the powerplay with the Kraken this season. He’s also a right shot, of which the Flames are short on options, so he may be a good fit on the second unit. Jarnkrok was also a regular on the Kraken penalty kill and gives the Flames another option when shorthanded.