The Calgary Flames split their training camp roster into two groups this year, with one being comprised of the guys who are likely going to be on the NHL team and the other built from players who will probably start the season elsewhere.

Chase Harrington was the notable exception.

The 18-year-old, who was picked in the second round, 36th overall, of this year’s draft, was placed in the first group and has been skating alongside the NHLers this week at the Saddledome. 

He’ll be heading back to the Spokane Chiefs for the WHL season soon enough, but for a few days at least, he’s living the dream.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Harrington said. “It’s kind of hard to wrap my head around that I’m standing in an NHL locker room getting interviewed right now. I didn’t expect this, but I believe in myself. When I play my game I can do great things.”

Harrington, from Prince George, B.C., is coming off a season where he scored 28 goals and added 29 assists in 61 games for the Chiefs. He’s a winger who isn’t afraid to go into the dirty areas and plays with real physicality, picking up the eighth-most penalty minutes (105) in the WHL last year. 

Exactly the sort of player who Flames fans tend to love, basically.

And a player that Flames management really believes in, as evidenced by the staff choosing to place him alongside the established NHLers at camp this week.

“Zero expectations on him,” said Flames head coach Ryan Huska. “We want him to come here and learn how some of our older guys handle themselves on a daily basis. 

“If he gets better and better when he’s on the ice, that’s great for us, but we just want to have him see what a lot of these NHL players are like and how they handle themselves on and off the ice.”

The training camp opportunity caps a busy summer for Harrington that involved all the excitement that comes with the NHL Draft, attending his first NHL development camp in July at WinSport and an invite to the World Junior Summer Showcase with Hockey Canada in Windsor, Ont.

After all that, he came straight to Calgary, where he trained throughout August with an assortment of NHL and AHL players.

“Crazy summer, busy, lots of stuff,” Harrington said. “I came pretty much straight from the world junior thing to here and then I’ve just been training. I think it’s a big reason why I’m in this group and why I’m able to be so comfortable when I’ve been in this rink for a couple weeks now, so it’s definitely nice to know where I’m going, know where the bathroom is.”

Harrington will likely be heading back to Spokane to pick up where he left off last season with the Chiefs and it’s unclear what his timeline will be for eventually winding up in Calgary with the Flames and/or Wranglers.

Practising with the NHLers this week at training camp can only help with that process, though.

“I thought he did really well, I really did,” Huska said. “(Flames goaltending coach Jason LaBarbera) told me afterwards that both goalies were like ‘This guy can really shoot the puck.’ They both came to Barbs and said the same thing.

“I think he did a really good job, he played really well in the short rookie camp we had, did really well in the (Next Gen Showcase) game against Edmonton and deserves an opportunity to be here.”