Flames Nation - News, Roster, Scores, Schedule

Flames roster news: Three players sent to Wranglers, camp roster down to 45

Ryan Pike — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 23:03:28 GMT

In advance of Sunday’s pre-season opener for the Calgary Flames against the Seattle Kraken, the hockey club has trimmed their training camp roster by assigning a trio of players, all on American Hockey League contracts, to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.

Headed to Winsport are defencemen Kyle Walker and Kent Anderson and forward Alex Gallant.

Walker, 26, is a fun story. An Alberta kid from Leduc, he spent four seasons in the Western Hockey League with Everett and Regina, then headed to USports to play at Mount Royal University. When he finished up with the Cougars, he signed with the ECHL’s Reading Royals, then was called up to join an injury-addled Wranglers club last spring. He impressed enough to earn an AHL contract for this season. He’s a left shot defender.

Anderson, 22, is another fun story. A Calgary product, he came up through McKnight minor hockey, CNHA, the Northstars and the Canucks before moving to the AJHL’s Drumheller Dragons. After a season with the United States Hockey League’s Green Bay Gamblers he headed to college, where he spent four seasons with the NCAA’s University of Denver Pioneers, winning two national championships and captaining the club in his senior year. He’s also under an AHL deal for this season. He’s a right shot defender.

Gallant, 33, is one of the older players in the Flames organization and a staple in the club’s minor league system. Now entering his eighth season with the Heat/Wranglers, Gallant is well known in hockey circles for his physicality, boisterousness, and wildly entertaining fights. Perhaps not the highest-skilled player in terms of puck skills, you have to give him credit: he spent two seasons in the QMJHL, then spent time in the SPHL and ECHL before finding a niche as a pro. He’ll likely wear a letter for the Wranglers and while he won’t play all the time, this left shot winger will have his presence felt when he does.

With these three assignments, the Flames are down to 45 players on their training camp roster: four goaltenders, 14 defencemen and 27 forwards. They have to be down to a cap complaint 23-man roster by 3 p.m. MT next Monday.

The Future is Daily Faceoff Calgary

The future of hockey coverage is bigger than one team, one market, or one platform. By bringing our local hockey brands together under Daily Faceoff, we’re creating a more complete hockey experience — one that gives fans the best of local passion and league-wide expertise, all in one place. The community remains at the centre. The experience is simply expanding as part of the next evolution of how we cover the game.

Welcome to Daily Faceoff Calgary – Driven by hockey.

Flames Pre-Season Game Day: Here come the Kraken (6pm MT, Flames.com)

Ryan Pike — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 18:00:49 GMT

Exhibition hockey is here, friends, and the pre-season calendar is way shorter than it was previously. The Calgary Flames play their first of four pre-season games on Sunday evening when they host the Seattle Kraken!

The game starts just after 6 p.m. MT, streaming on the Flames website and over the airwaves on QR Calgary! (They have a 90-minute pre-game show on QR Calgary starting at 4:30 p.m. MT!)

The Flames

Here are projected lines for this evening via QR Calgary’s Pat Steinberg:

Alex Nylander – Rory Kerins – Matvei Gridin
Sam Honzek – Ben Jones – Dryden Hunt
William Stromgren – Tyson Gross – Andrew Basha
Brennan Othmann – Jonathan Castagna – Aydar Suniev

Joel Hanley – Brayden Pachal
Yan Kuznetsov – Zayne Parekh
Abram Wiebe – Hunter Brzustewicz

Devin Cooley starts in net and is slated to play the full 60 minutes, per Flames head coach Ryan Huska. Arsenii Sergeev is dressed as his backup.

The “veterans” for the Flames’ group are Nylander, Gridin, Honzek, Jones, Hunt, Hanley, Pachal, Kuznetsov, Parekh, Brzustewicz and Cooley. (Of those guys, Nylander, Hunt, Hanley, Pachal and Cooley are 100-gamers.)

It’s a pretty interesting group for the Flames at home, featuring all five younger players that played much of the season with the big club last season: Matvei Gridin, Sam Honzek, Yan Kuznetsov, Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz. The remainder of the roster is guys who seem on the roster periphery – if you want to nickname this group “the bubble boys,” we won’t hold it against you. This lineup is chock full of guys that likely really want to make an impression on Flames brass.

The Kraken

The Kraken opened their exhibition calendar on Saturday evening against Vancouver, winning 4-2.

Here are our guesswork lines for this evening based on the posted roster.

Jani Nyman – Oscar Fisker Molgaard – Jagger Firkus
Carson Rehkopf – Logan Morrison – Ryan Winterton
Eduard Sale – Mitchell Stephens – Jon-Randall Avon
Curtis Douglas – John Hayden – Nathan Villeneuve

Tyson Jugnauth – Ville Ottavainen
Gustav Olofsson – Ty Nelson
Caden Price – Kaden Hammell

Philipp Grubauer
Nikke Kokko

The “veterans” for Seattle are Douglas, Grubauer, Hayden, Olofsson, Sale, Stephens, Villeneuve and Winterton.

A decent chunk of the Kraken lineup played in that 4-2 win over Vancouver, and then made the trek to Calgary. We’ll see how they can keep the energy up playing on back-to-back evenings. (Nelson, Nyman and Morrison all scored against Vancouver.)

Which players are you looking forward to seeing in the pre-season opener? Let us know in the comments!

PRESENTED BY THE DFO CALGARY NEWSLETTER

Never miss what matters in the game. From lineup changes to breaking trades and must-read analysis, Daily Faceoff Calgary delivers the insight serious hockey fans rely on—straight to your inbox. Sign up for the Daily Faceoff Calgary newsletter!

NHL experience is in abundance at Flames training camp

Ryan Pike — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 16:00:17 GMT

The Calgary Flames are in the midst of their 2026-27 training camp, friends, and they began with a lower roster number than usual, bringing 52 players on main camp initially. (They’ve since dropped the roster down to 48 individuals.) In past years, they’ve bought upwards of 65-70 to camp.

But despite a smaller group, they have a higher number of players with NHL games on their resume than is typical. The Flames have 41 players on active NHL contracts. 37 of them, all but four, have played in NHL games. (Heck, they even have an AHL signee with NHL experience.)

Here’s a rundown of who has NHL games on their CVs.

Goaltenders

The Flames have four goaltenders under contract for this season.

Kirill Zarubin, entering his first year of North American pro hockey, has zero NHL games under his belt. But second year pro Arsenii Sergeev has one, incumbent NHL backup Devin Cooley has 37, and incumbent NHL starter Dustin Wolf has 128.

Defencemen

The Flames have 16 defencemen under contract for this season.

Axel Hurtig, entering his first year of North American pro hockey, has zero NHL games under his belt. Everybody else has some NHL games.

Some have a little experience: Abram Wiebe has played 4, Jake Livingstone has played 5, Mike Benning has played 18, Hunter Brzustewicz has played 35, Zayne Parekh has played 38 and Yan Kuznetsov has played 58.

Arguably the rest of the potential blueline group has quite a bit of NHL experience: Simon Nemec has 155, Brayden Pachal has 177, Andreas Englund has 200, Kevin Bahl has 297, Joel Hanley has 314, Jake Middleton has 381 and Zach Whitecloud has 399.

Forwards

The Flames have 23 forwards under active contracts for this season – Theo Stockselius isn’t counted, as his deal will slide this season.

Andrew Basha and Jonathan Castagna, entering their first full years of North American pro hockey, both have zero NHL games under his belt. Everybody else has some NHL games.

Among those with handfuls of games: William Stromgren has 3, Sam Morton has 4, Tyson Gross has 6, Aydar Suniev has 7, Rory Kerins has 9, Sam Honzek has 23, Matvei Gridin has 37, Brennan Othmann has 44 and Ben Jones has 56.

In the moderate experience group: Adam Klapka has 116, Maxim Tsyplakov has 126, Martin Pospisil has 166, Connor Zary has 191, Matt Coronato has 192 and Dryden Hunt has 238.

In the more experienced group: Morgan Frost has 392, Yegor Sharangovich has 438 and Joel Farabee has 497.

In the very experienced group: Ryan Strome has 916, Jonathan Huberdeau has 962 and Mikael Backlund has 1,148.

(Luke Philp, on an AHL deal, also has 3 NHL games. Alex Nylander, on a professional try-out, has 126 NHL games.)

Suffice it to say, virtually every call-up option the Flames will have at their disposal during the coming season will have some NHL experience to draw upon if they get the opportunity to get into big-league games.

NHL experience, at a glance

NHL-contracted players only.

	0 games	1-99	100-199	200-499	500-899	900+
Goalies	Zarubin	Sergeev Cooley	Wolf	–	–	–
Defence	Hurtig	Wiebe Livingstone Benning Brzustewicz Parekh Kuznetsov	Nemec Pachal	Englund Bahl Hanley Middleton Whitecloud	–	–
Forwards	Basha Castagna	Stromgren Morton Gross Suniev Kerins Honzek Gridin Othmann Jones	Klapka Tsyplakov Pospisil Zary Coronato	Hunt Frost Sharangovich Farabee	–	Strome Huberdeau Backlund

PRESENTED BY VIVID SEATS

Take $20 off your first Vivid Seats order of $200+ using promo code FLAMESNATION (new customers only, $200 USD minimum before taxes & fees)

The NHL has expanded its definition of ‘pre-season veteran players’ under the new CBA

Ryan Pike — Sun, 20 Sep 2026 14:00:17 GMT

Friends, the Calgary Flames begin their 2026-27 exhibition schedule on Sunday evening when they host the Seattle Kraken.

As NHL clubs kick off their pre-seasons, they’re navigating a series of new rules as we begin the first year of a new collective bargaining agreement. We’ve discussed the limits being placed on players who’ve suited up for 100 or more NHL games – they’re limited to two pre-season appearances – but the NHL, likely to add some flexibility to teams after taking some away with those 100-gamer restrictions, has expanded what constitutes a “veteran player” for pre-season purposes.

What constitutes a veteran for NHL preseason games has changed. Here is the new criteria. AHL games count now. pic.twitter.com/uNcvIvshak

— Jason Gregor (@JasonGregor) September 19, 2026

Via Jason Gregor from Daily Faceoff Edmonton (and Sports 1440), here’s the new definition:

(Everyone is listed in first category that applies to them.)

Players that have played in 100+ NHL career games (Can only play two pre-season games)

22: Dustin Wolf, Devin Cooley, Kevin Bahl, Simon Nemec, Jake Middleton, Zach Whitecloud, Joel Hanley, Brayden Pachal, Andreas Englund, Morgan Frost, Matt Coronato, Mikael Backlund, Joel Farabee, Connor Zary, Ryan Strome, Yegor Sharangovich, Maxim Tsyplakov, Martin Pospisil, Adam Klapka, Dryden Hunt, Alex Nylander and Jonathan Huberdeau

Players that have played in 400+ combined NHL and AHL career games

2: Alex Gallant and Ben Jones

Skaters that played in 30+ NHL games last season

4: Matvei Gridin, Yan Kuznetsov, Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz

Goaies that played in 30+ NHL games (or dressed in 50+ NHL games) last season

Not applicable

First-round draft picks from the last five drafts (2022-26)

1: Samuel Honzek

Second-round draft picks from the last three drafts (2024-26)

2: Andrew Basha and Chase Harrington

(Of the 48 players currently in Flames camp, 31 fall into one of the “veteran” categories.)

The old definition, for the curious, was a bit more narrow:

Skaters that played in 30+ NHL games last season
Goaies that played in 30+ NHL games (or dressed in 50+ NHL games) last season
First-round draft picks from the most recent year’s draft
Players that have played in 100+ NHL career games

In each pre-season games, teams are required to play at least eight players that fall into these veteran categories. Again, it’s worth emphasizing that players in the first category – those that have played in 100 or more NHL games in their careers – can only play in two pre-season games per year.

If you assume that the Flames, like most teams, are going to roll with their likely opening night roster in their final pre-season game, they effectively have to ration their veteran players’ remaining appearances over the other three pre-season games.

It’s a bit of a juggling act, and we’ll do our best to help everyone keep track as the Flames – and all of the rest of us – try to muddle our way through the first pre-season of this new CBA.

The Flames kick off the 2026-27 pre-season at home against Seattle on Sunday night.

The Future is Daily Faceoff Calgary

Welcome to Daily Faceoff Calgary – Driven by hockey.

Flames roster news: Four players sent to Wranglers, camp roster down to 48

Ryan Pike — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 21:47:31 GMT

Following Saturday’s practice sessions at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Calgary Flames announced a set of roster adjustments. Per the club, they’ve assigned goaltenders Semyon Konopsky and Owen Say and forwards Ryder Boulton and Carter Wilkie to the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers.

All four players are on American Hockey League contracts with the Wranglers and, as such, aren’t subject to the NHL waiver process.

Konopsky, 20, spent last season with Loko-76 Yaroslavl in Russia’s top junior league, the MHL. After spending last year backing up Dmitri Borichev, one of Russia’s top goaltending prospects, he signed with the Wranglers in July. He’s likely destined for the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush to start the season, given the number of goaltenders in the fold.

Say, 25, signed an NHL deal with the Flames in the spring of 2025 after spending three years in college, most recently with the University of Notre Dame. He suffered an injury in mid January that required surgery, and he’s on an AHL deal this season as he gets his mojo back. On paper, he feels like he could spend a chunk of the year with Rapid City, but we wouldn’t be shocked if he spends a decent amount of time with the Wranglers, too, especially if he shows that he’s getting his pre-injury form back.

Boulton, 20, is the son of former NHLer Eric Boulton. He spent three seasons in the Ontario Hockey League as an energy forward, with stints in London and Brantford. He’s likely destined to be an energy forward with the Wranglers, albeit one that might not get into every game.

Wilkie, 26, is a Calgary product who signed an AHL deal with the Wranglers in spring 2025 after finishing up his senior year of college at the University of North Dakota. He’s a right shot centre who’s pretty reliable and consistent, and was a solid depth option for the Wranglers last season. He seems destined to return to a similar role in 2026-27.

The Flames’ camp roster is now down to 48 players: four goaltenders, 16 defencemen and 28 forwards. Of the remaining 48 in camp, 41 are on active NHL contracts, five are on AHL contracts, one (Alex Nylander) is on a professional try-out and one (Chase Harrington) is an unsigned draft pick.

PRESENTED BY VIVID SEATS

Take $20 off your first Vivid Seats order of $200+ using promo code FLAMESNATION (new customers only, $200 USD minimum before taxes & fees)

Scenes from practice: The Flames prepare to open the pre-season against Seattle

Ryan Pike — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 20:00:52 GMT

The Calgary Flames hit the ice for a morning of up-tempo practices on Saturday, their third day of training camp.

The club remains in two groupings as they prepare for the beginning of their exhibition schedule on Sunday, when they host the Seattle Kraken.

How did the groups line up?

Team Red

Matvei Gridin – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Sam Honzek – Mikael Backlund – Joel Farabee
Connor Zary – Ryan Strome – Yegor Sharangovich
Maxim Tsyplakov – Martin Pospisil – Adam Klapka
Chase Harrington / Alex Nylander

Kevin Bahl – Simon Nemec
Yan Kuznetsov – Zach Whitecloud
Jake Middleton – Zayne Parekh
Joel Hanley – Brayden Pachal

Dustin Wolf
Devin Cooley

First power play unit: Parekh, Gridin, Coronato, Farabee & Frost

Second power play unit: Nemec, Sharangovich, Tsyplakov, Strome & Zary

As noted by QR Calgary’s Pat Steinberg, seemingly the only changes from the first two days of practice was flipping the PP units that Parekh and Nemec were working with.

Team Black

Rory Kerins – Tyson Gross – William Stromgren
Dryden Hunt – Ben Jones – Aydar Suniev
Brennan Othmann – Sam Morton – Andrew Basha
Jonathan Castagna – Will Dineen – Luke Philp
Alex Gallant – Carter Wilkie – Ryder Boulton

Abram Wiebe – Hunter Brzustewicz
Andreas Englund – Mike Benning
Axel Hurtig – Jake Livingstone
Kyle Walker – Kent Anderson

Arsenii Sergeev
Kirill Zarubin
Owen Say

(Semyon Konopsky wasn’t part of the session, but he skated with the goalie group separately. They’re continuing to rotate Team Black goalies in practices like they did during prospects camp.)

First power play: Brzustewicz, Suniev, Stromgren, Kerins & Hunt

Second power play: Benning, Jones, Othmann, Basha & Gross

What did we see?

For both groups, there was an emphasis on pace and puck movement.

The drills were usually a mix of quick puck movement, quick transitions in the neutral zone, and utilizing all members of a line or grouping to generate puck movement (and scoring chances). We saw a few odd-man rush drills, along with some that transformed into full unit drills. (Often things would start as a couple offensive players moving the puck up ice, then transition in the neutral zone into a full rush drill with the addition of a third player as the duo changed directions and started attacking the other net.)

Similarly, the power play units also emphasized puck movement, along with deflections and screens in front of the net. It’s clear that the Flames (and Wranglers) are trying to play faster – both in terms of individual player movement and puck movement – as they try to improve upon their prior season’s positioning, and to try to help their many young up-and-comers take the next step.

The Flames begin their four game exhibition schedule on Sunday against Seattle.

Sponsored by bet365:

Alex Nylander is vying to become the third second-generation Flame ever

Ryan Pike — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 18:00:29 GMT

On a lot of levels, hockey is something that binds generations together – whether as players, fans , and sometimes as both – so it’s pretty fun when you see sons following their fathers into the upper echelons of hockey.

In the history of the Calgary Flames franchise, there have been two sets of fathers and sons that have worn the Flaming C. During this training camp, a surprising face has emerged as a contender to complete the third set.

Back in June, the Flames selected Western Hockey League forward Joe Iginla, youngest son of Flames all-time leading scorer Jarome Iginla, in the third round of the NHL Draft. After the draft, it was probably natural to ponder if (or when) Joe could follow his father into the NHL.

But another second-generation Flame may beat him to the punch: professional try-out forward Alex Nylander.

Which fathers and sons have played for the Flames?

Two sets of fathers and sons have played games for the Flames: Paul Reinhart and his son, Max, and Rob Ramage and his son, John.

Defenceman Paul Reinhart was a first-round selection by the Flames in the 1979 NHL Draft after impressing with the Ontario Hockey League’s Kitchener Rangers. He went pro immediately, joining the then Atlanta Flames for the 1979-80 season and finishing fifth in Calder Trophy voting with a 47 point rookie campaign. He ended up playing with the Flames for nine seasons, accumulating 517 appearances and 445 points in the regular season. His tenure ended with a trade to Vancouver prior to the 1988-89 campaign.

Paul had three sons that played high-level hockey: Maxwell, Sam and Griffin. Max, his eldest, impressed in the Western Hockey League with the Kootenay Ice and was a third-round selection by the Flames in the 2010 NHL Draft. He emerged as a good American Hockey League forward but failed to really get a toehold at the NHL level, playing in 23 games for the Flames across three seasons (2012-13 to 2014-15). He was traded to Nashville during the 2015 off-season.

Defenceman Rob Ramage was a fairly short-term Flame, but an important one. He joined the Flames in March 1988 as part of the trade that sent Brett Hull to St. Louis. A stay-at-home type, Ramage joined a pretty stacked Flames blueline, and he played a big part in the Flames winning the Stanley Cup the following season. He was traded to Toronto in the 1989 off-season in exchange for a draft choice that the Flames used to select Kent Manderville.

Rob’s son, John, was impressed in a similar role as his father with the U.S. National Development Team and the University of Wisconsin, and the Flames selected him in the fourth round of the 2010 NHL Draft – the same year they selected Max Reinhart. Ramage played four seasons at Wisconsin, including serving as captain in his junior and senior years, before going pro in 2013-14. He was a rock-solid AHLer, but failed to really progress past that point. He played a single NHL game with the Flames, a Game 82 call-up at the end of the 2014-15 season. He left the organization as a free agent the following off-season.

Can Alex Nylander make the Flames roster?

Michael Nylander joined the Flames at the 1994 trade deadline in a six player trade with the Hartford Whalers. He played another two full seasons and part of a third with the Flames before he was traded to Tampa Bay in January 1999. All-told, he played 239 games with the Flames, posting 180 points.

Michael had two sons that played high-end hockey: William and Alexander. William has become a fixture with the Toronto Maple Leafs, while Alex has bounced around a bit, with the Flames potentially being his sixth different NHL home after stops in Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Columbus and Toronto. Nylander is attending Flames camp on a professional try-out agreement.

In a nice nod, with Matvei Gridin wearing Alex’s father’s number (92), Alex has been assigned one digit up from him: 93.

After the first day of Flames training camp, head coach Ryan Huska discussed what Nylander brings to the table.

“He’s an offensive player,” said Huska, via Flames TV. “Like we know that he’s been around a lot. He’s helped teams win in the past, like last year. He’s a very good power play player. So I think when he plays the couple games that he’s allowed to play, those are things that we’ll look for out of him.”

The Flames begin their 2026-27 exhibition schedule on Sunday evening when they host the Seattle Kraken.

PRESENTED BY THE DFO CALGARY NEWSLETTER

With roof nearing completion, Scotia Place construction is entering the home stretch

Ryan Pike — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 16:00:34 GMT

On Monday, something quite important happened in Stampede Park, as Scotia Place construction hit a critical milestone.

The final piece of structural steel was installed, the final component of the roof support structure, and the building is considered “topped out.” Calgary Flames general manager Craig Conroy signed the final piece of steel and spoke to the construction crew during a ceremony.

A day to remember!

Conny stopped by @cgyscotiaplace to congratulate and thank the incredible crew ahead of the final structural steel frame being placed in the main arena. pic.twitter.com/DZIj0EFWGc

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 17, 2026

As Scotia Place construction enters the home stretch – the final year before the building is slated to open – we caught up with the city’s Scotia Place project lead, Bob Hunter, to find out how things are going and what’s left to be done.

In short: construction is going well, but there’s still a lot left to do to get things ready for opening night in 2027.

“Needless to say, we’ve still got a tremendous amount of work to do,” said Hunter. “And this last sort of 10, 11 months, pretty critical from a timing standpoint, but we’re quite excited about where we are. Another milestone, besides the steel going in this week, is we’re hoping to have the roof fully enclosed within two weeks. We’ve got to spend the next couple of months really enclosing the exterior so that we can start to do a lot of the finished detail work inside under climate controlled conditions. Tremendous amount of work happening outside. You know, we’re putting in the steel beams for the community rink and hope to get that enclosed fairly quickly as we start to try and finish that. So, landscaping, exterior work, getting the final skin in place, a lot of effort’s going to try and obviously get a lot done before the winter arrives.”

As the building’s framework and structural elements emerged from the ground over the past year, around 900 workers have been on-site. As things transition from building the structure to filling out the interior, the types of workers will change slightly… and multiply.

“Yes, and again, it’s really the transfer of one trade to another,” said Hunter. “So as you would assume, we won’t need steel workers much longer, but we’ll need a lot of people, carpenters, plumbers, electricians, finishing trades that do all the detail work. That’s going to happen. I think, and I’m not exactly absolutely sure, but I think the peak will be around 1,200 or 1,300 working in the building at one time when we get into that fine detail trade work. And, as I say, there’s a lot to do and there’s a lot of coordination and logistics in trying to pull that off.”

City officials say these are estimates, and doesn't mean the City of Calgary will be forced to pay these tariff costs. pic.twitter.com/Rei4XdBNQM

— Adam MacVicar (@AdamMacVicar) September 8, 2026

The two big questions in the minds of most Flames fans are probably about schedule and budget for the project. Even with the spectre of tariffs impacting the project – Calgary city council received an update on potential United States tariffs earlier in September, with a $30 million potential impact cited – right now Scotia Place is trending on time and on budget.

“That’s what we’re working to 100%,” said Hunter. “And those two items are discussed on a weekly or even a daily basis. We’ve always had a target date, and we’re feeling comfortable with that target date right now. I mean, as I say, we’ve still got another year to go. But budget is in good shape. We’ve got a lot of challenges. We’re not quite sure what’s going to happen with tariffs, but we’ve anticipated what we think we know, and we’ve got that in advance, and we’re waiting to see what those final numbers are. But budget is in good shape, and we’re quite confident on the schedule as well.”

If you’ve followed the construction progress from your visits to Stampede Park – or our construction updates on the site – you’ve probably been able to see a ton of changes throughout 2026. But once the last few exterior milestones are hit, such as the pouring of parkade concrete finishing up or the steel beams for the ESSO Community Arena’s roof being installed – most of the progress from here on out will be internal, and harder to gauge from street level.

We would conceptualize much of what happens from here like a duck floating on the water: a lot of work will be happening just below the surface, or behind the walls of Scotia Place, in this case.

“It’s going to be exactly that,” said Hunter. “We’ve still got a tremendous amount of exterior work to do. Hopefully Mother Nature will be good to us this fall and we’ll be able to get a lot of that done and completed before the snow flies. But once that is completed on the exterior, once you see the final skin is in, that sort of thing, then the focus and the effort obviously moves to the interior of the building. And, you know, be it 18,000 seats going in or whether it being all the video and technology that we’ve got to install, I mean, there’s just a tremendous amount to do.”

Scotia Place is scheduled for completion in summer 2027, and is slated to open in time for the 2027-28 NHL season.

The Future is Daily Faceoff Calgary

Welcome to Daily Faceoff Calgary – Driven by hockey.

22 Flames players can only play two pre-season games due to new CBA rule

Ryan Pike — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 14:00:25 GMT

Friends, the 2026-27 season is the first year of the new National Hockey League collective bargaining agreement, and there are two big changes that impact how teams juggle their rosters throughout the pre-season calendar.

First, due to the regular season being extended to 84 games (from 82), exhibition games are now limited to four per team, down from eight in the prior CBA.

The other change involves how many games veteran players can be involved in.

We shall adjust our glasses like the nerds we are, and direct your attention to Section 15.4 (a) of the CBA:

15.4(a): No player shall participate in an Exhibition Game which is scheduled during the first three (3) days of training camp. (Exhibition games may be scheduled beginning on Day 4 of Training Camp.) In addition, no Player who has played in one-hundred (100) or more career NHL Games (including games dressed for goaltenders) will play in more than two (2) Exhibition Games during Training Camp.

22 players on the Flames’ current training camp roster have played in 100 or more career NHL games and are impacted by the new rule:

Goaltender Dustin Wolf and Devin Cooley
Defencemen Kevin Bahl, Andreas Englund, Joel Hanley, Jacob Middleton, Simon Nemec, Brayden Pachal and Zach Whitecloud
Forwards Mikael Backlund, Matt Coronato, Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Jonathan Huberdeau*, Dryden Hunt, Adam Klapka, Alex Nylander, Martin Pospisil, Yegor Sharangovich, Ryan Strome, Maxim Tsyplakov and Connor Zary

(Jonathan Huberdeau is still working his way back from hip resurfacing surgery, and isn’t expected to play in any pre-season games. A prior version of this piece missed Devin Cooley and Adam Klapka. Cooley dressed for enough games between 2023-24 with San Jose and 2025-26 with the Flames that he has hit the 100 games dressed threshold.)

Conversely, players who haven’t played in 100 career games can potentially play in all of the games. That means that some of the Flames most exciting up-and-comers – such as Matvei Gridin, Samuel Honzek, Aydar Suniev, Yan Kuznetsov, Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz – could potentially play quite a bit during the four game exhibition calendar.

You’ll probably see a very veteran-laden lineup in the final pre-season game next Saturday in Edmonton. But with much of the veteran group limited to team pre-season appearances, we could see some pretty varied lineups in the other three games, starting on Sunday night at home against Seattle.

The Future is Daily Faceoff Calgary

Welcome to Daily Faceoff Calgary – Driven by hockey.

Flames re-sign restricted free agent Brennan Othmann to one year deal

Ryley Delaney — Sat, 19 Sep 2026 00:50:43 GMT

The Calgary Flames have re-signed their final restricted free agent.

On Friday morning, the team announced that they’ve signed 23-year-old winger Brennan Othmann to a one year, two-way deal with a cap hit of $975,000 at the NHL level.

Signed, sealed, and delivered!

We have signed forward Brennan Othmann to a one-year, two-way contract with an AAV of $975,000!

📄: https://t.co/gBEer791Jo pic.twitter.com/1sGGAjBE1M

— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 18, 2026

The Flames acquired the Pickering, Ontario native ahead of the 2026 trade deadline from the New York Rangers for Jacob Battalgia. Following the trade, the 23-year-old appeared in just two National Hockey League games, scoring a goal and two points. Most of his season was spent with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers, scoring a goal and seven points in 14 games.

Othmann was selected 16th overall by the Rangers in the 2021 draft. Playing for the Ontario Hockey League’s Flint Firebirds for parts of his first three junior seasons, the winger was traded to the Peterborough Petes midway through the 2022-23 season. Over 23 post-season games, Othmann scored eight goals and 25 points, helping the Petes win the J. Ross Robertson Cup.

Though he was ranked as a top prospect in many rankings, the feisty winger has yet to carve out a role in the NHL. His career-high in games came in 2024-25, picking up two assists in 22 games. Last season, he played 19 games, 17 of which were with the Rangers where he scored his first career goal.

Even his last few seasons in the AHL haven’t been particularly encouraging. After scoring 21 goals and 49 points in 67 games during his rookie campaign in the AHL, he scored 12 goals and 20 points in 2024-25, then eight goals and 16 points in 26 AHL games before the trade.

Still, Othmann is a project who has potential to be a middle six forward. With the Flames entering another rebuilding season, Othmann should get a long look to see if he can hack it at the NHL level. At his best, he has an above average shot and the ability to get under the opponents skin.

With the signing, the Flames have a little under $14 million in current cap space, with their deadline cap space sitting at $64 million if the roster remains the same (it won’t), according to PuckPedia.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for DFO Calgary, DFO Edmonton, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.