Flames Forced to Renegotiate With Prospect After NHL Denies Entry-Level Contract

The NHL has rules for basically everything, including contracts. When it comes to entry-level contracts, teams are fairly limited in how they can structure them. In this case, the Flames attempted to sign Morton, who is 25. However, one of the restrictions on ELCs is that the player can not be more than 24 years old. As a result, the NHL voided this contract from the Flames.

However, the story does not end there. As the team was still interested in signing Morton, they had to find another way to make it work.

The team ultimately gave the 25-year-old a very similar deal. It ended up being a one-year, two-way deal with a cap hit of 925k, essentially the same terms he would have gotten in the ELC. The Flames announced that Morton would be joining the Wrangles for the remainder of the season, but his contract does not officially kick in until 2024-25.

Morton has never looked like much of an NHL prospect until this season when he scored 24 goals in 37 games for the University of Minnesota Mankato. His previous career high in goals at the NCAA level was 9. He hasn't scored more than 24 goals in a season at any level since 2017-18 when he scored 29 in 58 games in the BCHL, a junior A league serving British Columbia.

As seen on Calgary Flames Caught Red-Handed Trying to Break NHL Contract Rules