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Series preview: Wranglers host Oilers affiliate with a couple of new faces from the Flames

Paige Siewert — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 16:00:17 GMT

It’s been a quiet midweek in the AHL as no games took place league-wide for the second week of the season. All the action kicks back in this weekend. The Calgary Wranglers continue their four game homestand with a two game set against the Edmonton Oilers’ affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors. The Wranglers have a perfect 2-0 record and the Condors come into this series 1-1 after a split against the Henderson Silver Knights last week.

Last game’s lines

Calgary

Dryden Hunt – Ben Jones – Aydar Suniev (inactive)

William Stromgren – Rory Kerins – Alex Nylander

Sam Morton – Tyson Gross – Andrew Basha

Will Dineen – Jonathan Castagna (inactive) – Luke Philp

Jake Livingstone – Hunter Brzustewicz

Abram Wiebe – Mike Benning

Axel Hurtig – Kent Anderson

Kirill Zarubin

Bakersfield

Aku Raty – Viljsmi Marjala – Quinn Hutson

Eduards Tralmaks – Robertson – Griffith

Jack Kopacka – Simon Tassy – Daniel D’Amato

Connor Clattenburg – William Nicholl – Ethan Keppen

Damien Carfagna – Tomas Cibulka

Samuel Sjolund – Josh Brown

Riley Stillman – Beau Akey

Matt Tomkins

Connor Ungar

Leaders

Calgary

Alex Nylander – 2GP, 3A

Jonathan Castagna – 2GP, 2G (inactive on NHL call-up)

Axel Hurtig – 2GP, 2G

Bakersfield

Quinn Hutson – 2GP, 2G, 1A

Josh Brown – 2GP, 3A

Daniel D’Amato – 2GP, 1G, 1A

Notes and expectations

For a quieter week in game action, it was a louder week on the side of roster changes. On Monday, the Flames announced that Connor Zary and Brayden Pachal were placed on waivers. By midday Tuesday, it was confirmed that they cleared and they were both assigned to the Wranglers. On the flip side of that, the Flames called up Aydar Suniev and Jonathan Castagna to fill the open spots. Both made their season debuts in Thursday’s game against the Avalanche, with Castagna making his NHL debut. For Zary and Pachal, no NHL player ever wants to take a step down so their response to that in this series will be quite noticeable.

These two players come into a strong Wranglers lineup, but need their playing time. They’ll likely slot in on the top lines or pairings depending on how the line chemistry looked throughout the week at practice. Pachal will pretty much be playing with new blueliners but Connor Zary has at least seen a few forwards up with the Flames and was teammates with William Stromgren, Rory Kerins, Dryden Hunt, Alex Gallant and Ben Jones in his last full season in the AHL and Luke Philp previously with the Stockton Heat. He was lined up with Dryden Hunt and William Stromgren at practice.

In media availabilities this week at practice, both Pachal and Zary shared their disappointment in the roster moves but realize they have a job to do to earn their way back up. The coaching staff also backs them and feel as if they are approaching these moves in a mature way. Zary and Pachal are expected to make their Wranglers season debuts on Friday pending any other roster changes.

This series starts on Friday at 7:00 p.m. MT and continues into Sunday for a 1:00 p.m. MT start. These games are streamed for a fee on AHLtv on Flo Hockey or the radio broadcasts will be streamed on the Wranglers’ Mixlr channel. Daily Faceoff Calgary contributors Ryan Pike and I will have live updates on X (formerly Twitter).

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Beyond the Boxscore: Flames suffer fourth straight blowout as Avalanche breeze to a 7-3 victory

Flash Stevens — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 14:00:21 GMT

Just another day in Calgary, where the rebuild continues and the Flames struggle to score and defend, losing 7-3 to the Colorado Avalanche Thursday night.

CF% – 43.19% || SCF% – 43.31% || HDCF% – 44.4% || xGF% – 54.78%

It’s a Team Game – Lets hammer home some positives first, because it’s really easy to nitpick some negatives this early. The Calgary Flames played their best first period of the season. They left the frame tied, with more high danger chances and in a good spot for things to possibly go right. Jonathan Castagna got his first NHL point in his first ever period played, rounding out a good solid 20 minutes.

Then the wheels fell off, again.

As expected, things were going to be rough this year. However, this is as catastrophic a start as it could possibly be. The second period saw the Avalanche take over and they only continued the beatdown into the third. The goaltending has not done anyone any favours, but the constant breakdowns in defensive reads and breakdowns is not helping either. The young guys have had individual flashes, but outside of Zayne Parekh they are sporadic and have led to very little in terms of tangible offence. I do think better days this season are ahead, more experience will only help, but that does not mean it’s going to look good in the short term.

Corsi King – Yegor Sharangovich (70.32 CF%) was top of the list today with a 20-8 advantage in shot attempts. He’s been having a solid start to the year in every aspect except where Calgary needs him most – scoring goals. I’d rather have a more than double shot advantage than not, but some scoring to pair with it would go a long way for a team starved for goals constantly. A trend from the back-end that’s also encouraging – Simon Nemec (49.71%) is consistently being involved in the creation of shot attempts. He’s giving up a bunch as well, but this team’s been starved for goals for years to the point that even this early trend of shots is exciting.

Under Pressure –

Taken By Chance – It was nice to see Kevin Bahl (73.84 SCF% // 61.64 HDCF%) get a goal here. Kind of wild, when that trade happened I never once thought there would be a period of play where we could definitively say Bahl is the Flames current best all-around defenceman, yet here we are. He’s as reliable an option as they have. He can take on all the prime matchups and harder responsibilities while giving the offensive minutes to the other youngsters.

The fourth line thrived in their limited minutes. Adam Klapka (47.69% // 100%) had a beautiful toe drag snipe in the first to really ignite the ‘Dome for the first time in its farewell voyage. He and the call-ups Aydar Suniev (39.65% // 75.48%) with Jonathan Castagna (31.57% // 100%) were the Flames most consistent line when deployed. By all means a great first impression by both that deserves more time and more looks as things move forward.

xG Breakdown –

xGF% – Martin Pospisil (11.46%) was back playing centre and it did not go well at all. He and his line got buried in their own end consistently and failed to generate much. It’s one game back and we know Calgary has time, so hopefully in the next two games against the Ducks we can see some growth here. Why not try something new when nothing else is working? Jacob Middleton (20.77%) is still adjusting to Calgary here, so for me that comes with leeway. It’s hard when things start like this to really gauge where he’s at with this team, if his partner is currently correct, and just some more comfortability with Calgary in general.

Game Flow –

Shot Heatmap –

In The Crease – I mentioned it up top, but the goaltending being off is a big reason for this bad start. Certainly not all of the blame is pointed there, and it’s rare cases where it ever should be, but they are complicit in the amount of goals going in. Tonight it was Devin Cooley (2.40 expected goals against) having 7 goals get by him, all at 5v5. Solid first, not a good second, even worse third. Some of those pucks have to be stopped. Look at the shot heatmap above this for a second, look at all the different areas the Avs were able to score goals from. It did not matter where the shot came from there was a hole in the goaltenders’ coverage. Both Wolf and Cooley need to re-find their NHL game here to keep things at least marginally competitive.

The Goals –

Silky mits from Klapka 🔥 pic.twitter.com/XGZCjIu1ly

— Daily Faceoff Calgary (@dfocalgary) October 9, 2026

Calgary goal!

Scored by Mikael Backlund with 12:43 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Ryan Strome.

CGY: 2 | COL: 6#COLvsCGY #Flames #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/DvogRkwZIl

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 9, 2026

Calgary goal!

Scored by Kevin Bahl with 11:32 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Joel Farabee and Yegor Sharangovich.

CGY: 3 | COL: 6#COLvsCGY #Flames #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/Gc9zdSZc7R

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 9, 2026

Flash’s 3 Stars –

1) Kevin Bahl

2) Adam Klapka

3) Jonathan Castagna

(Stats compiled from Naturalstattrick.com // Game Score from Hockeystatcards.com // xG and Under Pressure charts from HockeyViz.com // Game Flow and Shot Heatmap from NaturalStatTrick.com)

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Flames prospects Jonathan Castagna and Aydar Suniev had their moments against Colorado

Ryan Pike — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 12:00:11 GMT

The Colorado Avalanche are a very good hockey team. But in the life of any young professional, they’re going to be pit against some very good hockey teams from time to time, and the aim is to learn from the experience.

On Thursday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome, the Calgary Flames dressed a pair of 21-year-old rookies in forwards Jonathan Castagna and Aydar Suniev against the Avalanche. It was Castagna’s first NHL appearance, and Suniev’s eighth.

And while the duo didn’t play perfect games of hockey – disclosure: you could argue nobody on the home side did – they did a lot of good things in a 7-3 Flames loss to the Avalanche.

Here’s our observations of the rookie duo’s first game of the 2026-27 season.

Jonathan Castagna

Castagna played the entire game on the fourth line, skating between Suniev and Adam Klapka. He was a bit over-excited jumping onto the ice after the Flames cleared the zone after an icing, leading to a first period too-many-men bench minor. (The Flames killed that penalty off.)

Later on, Castagna earned his first NHL assist after sending Klapka in on a rush sequence on Avalanche netminder Scott Wedgewood. Klapka made a very nice approach and shot that resulted in the goal, but Castagna getting the puck past Avalanche forward Zachary L’Heureux in the neutral zone was instrumental to the tally.

“He did a really nice job on Adam Klapka’s goal, winning a wall battle,” said head coach Ryan Huska post-game. “I thought he worked really hard when he was on the ice. I thought he handled himself well.”

Castagna played 9:09 in his NHL debut. He won three of the six face-offs he took, he registered an assist, and he was minus-1 on the night.

Aydar Suniev

Suniev played most of the game on the wing with Castagna and Klapka.

“I thought Suny played well, too,” said Huska. “In the third period, we started moving around a little bit on the lines. He was moving his feet and he was around the puck and he was generating.”

Suniev ended up getting third period shifts with Matt Coronato & Morgan Frost and Ryan Strome & Martin Pospisil. Overall, he played 11:41, with a shot on goal and a minus-2 plus/minus rating.

Neither Castagna or Suniev were brought up to be saviours for the Flames. They’re good young players who are still developing as pros. Thursday night’s game wasn’t the ideal result for the Flames, but it definitely gave Castagna and Suniev things to build on moving forward.

The Flames are back in action on Saturday night when they face the Anaheim Ducks.

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Instant Reaction: Flames fade after good start, lose at home against Avalanche

Ryan Pike — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 03:44:47 GMT

Welcome to Instant Reaction, where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Calgary Flames game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

The Calgary Flames returned to home ice for the first time in a week, hoping to put together a good effort and, ideally, also a good result. The effort was mostly there, but the details weren’t quite up to snuff for big chunks of the game. As a result, they didn’t get a favourable result.

The Flames skated to a 7-3 home loss at the hands of the Colorado Avalanche to run their season-opening losing streak to four games.

The rundown

The opening period was pretty balanced, all things considered. The Avalanche had their looks, but the Flames defended pretty well.

The Avalanche opened the scoring late in the frame. The Flames got hemmed into their zone a bit, the Avalanche got their cycle going, and Cale Makar made a superb slap-pass to the net-front area for a deflection goal from a pinching Devon Toews to make it 1-0 Avalanche.

Nice little 7-8 combo 🤜🤛 pic.twitter.com/muCLUXz53L

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 9, 2026

Before the end of the period, the Flames responded back, though. On a bit of a broken play in the neutral zone, Zachary L’Heureux fell down at the Calgary blueline. Jonathan Castagna made a nice little chip pass, getting the puck past L’Heureux and sending Adam Klapka in on a rush chance along the way. Klapka opted to cut towards the middle of the ice and shoot, beating Scott Wedgewood top corner to tie the game at 1-1.

ADAM KLAPKA. TOE. DRAG. RELEASE.

WHAT A GOAL!!!! 🔥🚨 pic.twitter.com/27a9E863cf

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 9, 2026

First period shots were 8-6 Flames.

The game got away from the Flames in the second period.

A few minutes into the frame, after a good Flames penalty kill, the Avalanche found their legs and hemmed the fourth line into the Flames end. Once again, the Avalanche threw the puck to the puck and a Toews point shot – with a couple bodies in front of Devon Cooley – hit the net to give the Avalanche a 2-1 lead.

An ELECTRIC show from Toews ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/oYKGzkVyeo

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 9, 2026

A couple minutes later, the Avalanche scored again. This time, Cale Makar skated into the Flames’ zone off the rush and fired a puck on Cooley that seemed to handcuff him a bit in-close, and the puck blooped over his pads and into the net to make it 3-1 Avalanche.

Cale's too quick 🏒 pic.twitter.com/qP5GUchcNY

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 9, 2026

The Flames ended up hemmed into their own end for the better part of two minutes after a Martin Pospisil errant pass in the Avalanche zone. After about a dozen shot attempts over two minutes, Nathan MacKinnon cranked a one-timer from the point to extend the Avalanche lead to 4-1.

Nate strikes RIGHT OFF THE BENCH pic.twitter.com/tY6ZCNIGN3

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 9, 2026

Matt Coronato fought L’Heureux late in the second period. All things considered, it was a decent scrap.

Second period shots were 13-11 Avalanche.

The Avalanche pulled away a little bit in the early third period.

A MacKinnon rush chance at full speed narrowly missed the Flames net, but the Avalanche chased down the puck, threw it back to the point and Makar blasted the puck past Cooley to make it 5-1.

What a rip from Cale! pic.twitter.com/j5aFEeVIT5

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 9, 2026

A little later, Jaden Schwartz beat Cooley to make it 6-1.

And the first NHL point for T.J.! 😊 pic.twitter.com/l6nCXINFxs

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 9, 2026

Mikael Backlund and Kevin Bahl scored as the third period wound down to cut the Colorado lead to 6-3.

Calgary goal!

Scored by Mikael Backlund with 12:43 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Ryan Strome.

CGY: 2 | COL: 6#COLvsCGY #Flames #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/DvogRkwZIl

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 9, 2026

Calgary goal!

Scored by Kevin Bahl with 11:32 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Joel Farabee and Yegor Sharangovich.

CGY: 3 | COL: 6#COLvsCGY #Flames #GoAvsGo pic.twitter.com/Gc9zdSZc7R

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 9, 2026

But Schwartz scored his second goal of the period, with a puck on net bonking in off Jake Middleton to make it a 7-3 Avalanche lead. (It was hard to tell off the replay if Schwartz was trying to shoot on Cooley, trying to throw a puck at the net for a rebound for a teammate, or throwing it to the net-front area for a deflection… but it went in anyway.)

Schwartz, shoots, score! 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/kCAoxJQUEF

— Colorado Avalanche (@Avalanche) October 9, 2026

The Avalanche held on for the road win.

Why the Flames lost

Credit where it’s due: the Flames played a pretty good first period. They rolled their lines, killed off the too many men minor they took, and generally played smart hockey. Heck, their fourth line scored a pretty nice goal. All-in-all, something to build upon.

But the wheels fell off in the second period for them. Their puck management wasn’t great. Their in-zone defence wasn’t great. Their breakouts weren’t great. It wasn’t like their were out-and-out awful, but there wasn’t anything in the second frame for them to hang their hat on in order to build momentum.

Give the Flames credit, though; they battled in the third period and did their best to try to climb back into this game.

Red Warrior

Y’know what? We’re giving it to the captain. Mikael Backlund had a goal, led the team in shots, and was pretty noticeable throughout the game.

Honourable mentions to Joel Farabee and Adam Klapka, who also had pretty good outings.

Turning point

The game was pretty tight in the first period, but the Avalanche scoring twice in the second period during a span of about two and a half minutes really allowed them to grab hold of the game, and visibly seemed to deflate the Flames’ mojo. The Avalanche carried play from that point on and the Flames were chasing. Again.

Flames lineup

The Flames looked like this against Colorado:

Matvei Gridin – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Mikael Backlund [C] – Joel Farabee
Sam Honzek – Martin Pospisil – Ryan Strome
Aydar Suniev – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka

Kevin Bahl – Zach Whitecloud [A]
Jake Middleton [A] – Zayne Parekh
Yan Kuznetsov – Simon Nemec

Devin Cooley started in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The healthy extras were Joel Hanley, Maxim Tsyplakov and Brennan Othmann. Jonathan Huberdeau missed the game due to injury.

This and that

Flames forward Jonathan Castagna played his first NHL game. Teammate Mikael Backlund played his 1,152nd NHL game.

After Burner

Join Mike Gould and Kent Wilson right after the game for After Burner!

Up next

The Flames (0-4-0) are back at it on Saturday night when they host old divisional foes, the Anaheim Ducks. It’s the late game on Sportsnet’s Saturday Night Hockey.

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WATCH: Klapka scores highlight-reel goal, Castagna records first NHL point

Mike Gould — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 02:11:34 GMT

Calgary Flames call-up Jonathan Castagna recorded his first NHL point with the primary assist on a highlight-reel goal by Adam Klapka against the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday evening at the Saddledome.

Playing in his first NHL game, Castagna chipped the puck past fallen Avalanche forward Zachary L’Heureux along the boards in the Flames’ defensive zone toward Klapka. The 6’8″ winger skated into the attacking zone and deked around defender Josh Manson before firing a heavy wrister past goaltender Scott Wedgewood.

Castagna picked up the lone assist on Klapka’s first goal of the 2026-27 season, which came at the 17:30 mark of the first period to tie the game at 1-1.

Adam Klapka shows off the soft mitts! 😍

What a move by the 6′8″ big man! pic.twitter.com/Qv2N8XKOWF

— NHL (@NHL) October 9, 2026

In an attempt to bolster their underwhelming offensive attack, the Flames recalled Castagna and Aydar Suniev from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers on Wednesday. The two rookies skated together on the Flames’ fourth line with Klapka in Thursday’s game.

A third-round pick (No. 70 overall) of the Arizona Coyotes in the 2023 NHL Draft, Castagna joined the Flames organization midway through the 2025-26 season as part of the MacKenzie Weegar trade with the Utah Mammoth. Upon the conclusion of his junior year at Cornell University, the Flames signed Castagna to a three-year, entry-level contract.

Klapka, who turned 26 in September, is now the “elder statesman” of the Flames’ new-look fourth line. The undrafted winger played his first full NHL season with the Flames in 2025-26, collecting six goals, 18 points, and 112 penalty minutes in 79 games; he has one goal and 27 penalty minutes through four games with the Flames to start the new season.

Off goals by Klapka and Devon Toews, the Flames and Avalanche battled to a 1-1 draw after 20 minutes of play at the Saddledome on Thursday. The Flames hit the ice in search of their first victory of the season, having lost by a combined score of 16-3 to the Vancouver Canucks and Seattle Kraken in their first three games of the season.

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Calgary Hitmen acquire Flames defence prospect Bode Laylin

Mike Gould — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 23:00:58 GMT

The Calgary Hitmen announced Thursday afternoon that they have acquired Calgary Flames defence prospect Bode Laylin from the Everett Silvertips in exchange for 2008-born forward Caine Wilke and a fourth-round pick in the 2028 WHL Prospects Draft.

Laylin, a 2007-born defender who turns 19 in November, recorded one assist in five games with the Silvertips to begin the 2026-27 WHL regular season. The Flames originally selected the St. Michael, Minn. product in the sixth round (No. 164 overall) of the 2026 NHL Draft.

Before being drafted by the Flames, Laylin spent parts of three seasons with the USHL’s Tri-City Storm. The 5’11” rightie racked up 11 goals and 38 points in 55 games with Tri-City during the 2025-26 regular season; he added a goal and an assist in two playoff contests.

“We saw a need in our backend and a great opportunity to strengthen our defensive core with an NHL-drafted prospect,” Hitmen general manager Cass Bruni said Thursday in a media release. “Bode is a two-way, right-shot defenceman who impacts all areas of the game and was a top defenceman in the USHL last season.”

🚨TRADE 🚨

The Calgary Hitmen have acquired Calgary Flames prospect Bode Laylin from the Everett Silvertips in exchange for Caine Wilke and a 4th round pick in the 2028 WHL Prospects Draft.

Details 📝 https://t.co/IEn4EVQ7hq pic.twitter.com/XivvEPYhU6

— Calgary Hitmen (@WHLHitmen) October 8, 2026

The Silvertips signed Laylin to a WHL scholarship and development agreement in May, just over a month before he was drafted by the Flames. Now, he’ll get to continue his development in Calgary, in much closer proximity to the Flames’ own development staff.

The Hitmen have gotten off to a great start in the 2026-27 WHL regular season, tying the Medicine Hat Tigers for the best points percentage in the Eastern Conference after going 4-1-0 through five games. Laylin is now the second Flames prospect to patrol the blue line for the Hitmen this season, joining 2025 seventh-rounder Jakob Leander. Laylin is committed to attend the University of Minnesota in 2027-28.

The Flames and Hitmen are both part of the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation and thus have considerable organizational synergy, including a long track record of Flames draft picks developing with the Hitmen before turning pro. Laylin and Leander are both now following in the footsteps of 2023 seventh-round pick Axel Hurtig, who recently became the first player to score a goal with both the Hitmen and the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers.

With Laylin now in the fold, the Hitmen will return to action on Friday to take on the Red Deer Rebels at the Centrium at 7:00 p.m. Mountain.

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Flames prospect Jonathan Castagna set to make NHL debut on Thursday against Colorado

Ryan Pike — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 18:00:54 GMT

A week full of milestones for Calgary Flames prospect Jonathan Castagna will cap off with a pretty big one on Thursday night: his National Hockey League debut.

It sounds like Jonathan Castagna will make his NHL debut for #Flames vs. #GoAvsGo tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/kh0MpOmeMO

— Derek Wills (@dwillsnhl) October 7, 2026

Last Friday night, Castagna made his professional hockey debut, playing for the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers and centring the fourth line between wingers Will Dineen and Luke Philp. He also worked on the penalty kill for Brett Sutter’s Wranglers.

5:13 into the first period of Friday’s game, Castagna hit another milestone, scoring his first professional goal, chasing down his own rebound and depositing it into the Abbotsford net behind netminder Nikita Tolopilo.

The first goal of the Wranglers' season comes off the stick of Jonathan Castagna pic.twitter.com/0c6yqAgkQ2

— Paige Siewert (@thathockeygirly) October 3, 2026

Castagna added an empty-netter later on Friday night, and even tried for a second empty-netter to complete a potential debut hat trick… but his shot attempt hit another player and didn’t get close to Abbotsford’s net.

The Wranglers went on to win Friday’s game by a 4-2 score, which they repeated again on Saturday to sweep the set against the Baby Canucks. The penalty kill, featuring Castagna, went 5-for-5 on the weekend.

On Wednesday, after the Flames assigned Connor Zary and Brayden Pachal to the Wranglers the day before, the big club summoned Castagna and teammate Aydar Suniev to the NHL. At Wednesday’s practice, Castagna was between Suniev and Wranglers graduate Adam Klapka on the fourth line.

When he hits the ice on Thursday, Castagna will become the 688th different player to play for the franchise and the 13th Flame to wear #38 in a regular season game. Those that came before him wearing #38 include Patrick Lebeau (1992-93, one game), Peter Ahola (1993-94, two games), Todd Hlushko (1994-95, two games), Craig Ferguson (1995-96, eight games), Jarrod Skalde (1995-96, one game), Sasha Lakovic (1996-97, 19 games), Eric Charron (1998-99, 12 games), Jeff Cowan (1999-2002, 83 games), Robert Dome (2002-03, one game), Jason Jaffray (2009-10, three games), Ben Street (2012-14, 19 games) and Byron Froese (2020-21, six games).

He’ll be the third Cornell University alumnus to suit up for the Flames, following goaltender Doug Dadswell and Hockey Hall of Famer Joe Nieuwendyk.

While Castagna probably shouldn’t be viewed as a saviour – nor should Suniev, for that matter – it’s worth emphasizing: he’s a good hockey player. Last season, in his third year in college as a 20-year-old, he was named a ECAC First Team All-Star, alongside fellow Flames prospect Ethan Wyttenbach, and ECAC Defensive Forward of the Year. He was voted the Flames’ 14th-best prospect during DFO Calgary’s summer balloting, and that’s as much a commentary of the stacked nature of the Flames’ system as it as of how good Castagna is.

Castagna impressed against Abbotsford last weekend, doing a lot of things quite well in a pair of wins. We’re fascinated to see how quickly he can adjust to the NHL.

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Flames Game Day 4: A visit from the Colorado Avalanche (7pm MT, SNW)

Ryan Pike — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 16:00:55 GMT

After three games in four nights – and three losses – to open the 2026-27 regular season, the Calgary Flames (0-3-0, 0 points) are back at home and hoping to turn things around when they host… one of the top teams in the National Hockey League, the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche (2-1-0, 4 points). Now, the Avalanche are playing their second game in as many nights, with travel, but the Flames will need to be way, way better than they were to open the season if they want to capture their first points of the season. Can they do it? Or will their season-opening slide continue?

Today’s broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and QR Calgary! Tune in for Warmies before the game and After Burner following the game on the Barn Burner YouTube channel!

The Flames

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Matvei Gridin – Morgan Frost – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Mikael Backlund – Joel Farabee
Sam Honzek – Martin Pospisil – Ryan Strome
Aydar Suniev – Jonathan Castagna – Adam Klapka

Kevin Bahl – Zach Whitecloud
Jake Middleton – Zayne Parekh
Yan Kuznetsov – Simon Nemec

Per reports from the rink – via QR Calgary’s Pat Steinberg – it sounds like Devin Cooley starts, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The anticipated extra healthy bodies are Joel Hanley, Brennan Othmann and Maxim Tsyplakov. We’re anticipating forward Jonathan Castagna will be making his NHL debut.

The Flames have gotten goals this season from Ryan Strome, Matt Coronato and Morgan Frost. On one hand, their special teams have out-scored their opponents by a 2-1 margin. That’s good! On the other hand, they’ve been out-scored 13-1 at five-on-five and 15-1 at even strength. That’s not good. Very not good.

As such, the Flames are poking and prodding to make adjustments. They’re under no illusions that they should be winning their remaining 81 games, but at the very least they want to put up a good fight in the games they lose. So far, they haven’t managed that. We’ll see if they can get more traction against Colorado.

The Avalanche

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Artturi Lehkonen – Nathan MacKinnon – Martin Necas
Gabriel Landeskog – Brock Nelson – Nazem Kadri
Jaden Schwartz – Fedor Svechkov – T.J. Hughes
Parker Kelly – Nicolas Roy – Zachary L’Heureux

Devon Toews – Cale Makar
Brett Kulak – Sam Malinski
Josh Manson – Brent Burns

The Avalanche played in Winnipeg on Wednesday, losing 3-2 to the Jets, and then travelled to Calgary. We’re expecting Scott Wedgewood to start in net, backed up by Mackenzie Blackwood (who started in Winnipeg). Their lone healthy extra in Winnipeg was Noah Juulsen, so we’ll see if he rotates in given it’s a back-to-back.

The Avalanche are one of a few teams that are seen as legitimate Stanley Cup contenders. Yeah, they’re in a really competitive Central Division and will be battling with Dallas and Minnesota for top spot much of the year, and there’s always Vegas in the Pacific to contend with, too. But when the Avalanche are good, they’re scary good.

Over their last three seasons, the Flames have gone 1-8-0 against Colorado. Their lone win was on Mar. 31, 2025, in a shootout. We’ll see if the Flames can get their first regulation win against Colorado since Oct. 13, 2022.

Unavailable players

The Flames are without Jonathan Huberdeau.

The Avalanche are without Logan O’Connor.

The numbers

Flames		Avalanche
0	Wins	2
0 (.000)	Points (%)	4 (.667)
51.8	xGF%	54.7
40.0	PP%	44.4
90.0	PK%	100

Head to head

This is the first of three games between these teams this season. They’ll meet again on Halloween in Denver, and then in Calgary on Apr. 8 in the second-last regular season game in Saddledome history.

PRESENTED BY THE DFO CALGARY NEWSLETTER

Report: Zary, Whitecloud and Frost generating trade interest across the league

Cynthia Ryley Delaney — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 14:00:51 GMT

It’s setting up to be a busy season for the Calgary Flames on the trade front.

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported that the Flames players Connor Zary, Zach Whitecloud, and Morgan Frost are of interest to other teams across the league.

Zary is the most obvious candidate to be moved, as the 25-year-old is in need of a fresh start elsewhere. Recently, he was placed on waivers, but went unclaimed due to carrying a cap hit of $3.775 million over the next two seasons.

Drafted 24th overall in 2020, Zary’s play has declined since a pair of knee injuries during the 2024-25 season. After a promising start to his career (20-goal, 46-point pace over 84 games), Zary scored a career-worst 12 goals and 25 points in 2025-26, playing a career-high 74 games. Since the first knee injury, Zary has played at a 14-goal, 28-point pace over 84 games.

Thanks to clearing waivers, Zary can be traded to a new team without needing waivers for a while. While no team may have had interest in taking on his cap hit, if the Flames retain or take money back, a trade becomes much more feasible.

Whitecloud also has an additional year on his contract, but is seen as a valuable member of their leadership group. Acquired in a package for Rasmus Andersson before last season’s trade deadline, Whitecloud picked up 10 assists in 31 games following the trade, but has been held pointless in the Flames’ first three games while sitting at -5.

The right-shot defenceman carries a cap hit of $2.75 million and has an additional season on his contract. A Stanley Cup champion, Whitecloud is a valuable third pairing defenceman to any contender.

Lastly, Frost scored a team-high 22 goals last season, while his 43 points tied for second most on the team. Through the Flames’ three games this season, Frost has one of the three Flames’ goals as they’ve been out-scored 16-3.

It’s pretty clear that the Flames will be hard sellers ahead of the 2027 trade deadline, and set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, Frost is a good candidate to be moved before Mar. 1. The centre carries a cap hit of $4.375 million.

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

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Flames Prospect Round-Up: Chase Harrington’s Spokane Chiefs remain undefeated

Cynthia Ryley Delaney — Thu, 08 Oct 2026 00:00:10 GMT

Almost every Calgary Flames prospect playing in junior, overseas, and college, have begun their season.

This past week, 10 prospects in the college rank began their season, adding to the six prospects already playing in the Canadian Hockey League and three overseas. Hockey really is back at this point.

Let’s take a look at how the Flames’ prospects did over the week of Sept. 30 to Oct. 7!

College

There were 10 prospects in college who began their season this past week, with a handful of more beginning their season later this week. Let’s take a look at how each player did.

NCHC

Starting with the NCHC, Eric Jamieson’s Denver won the National Championship last season, and their campaign to repeat kicked off this week. They played two games, defeating Alaska Anchorage 6-2 and 4-1 to move to 2-0-0, though Jamieson was held off the scoresheet.

Cade Littler’s Arizona State were also in action, defeating Lindenwood 5-0 in their opener but falling 9-6 in the second game. Littler picked up an assist in the win, the lone point he got on their 11 goals.

Yegor Yegorov’s Miami (Ohio) split their two games against Northern Michigan, falling 3-0 in the opener but returning fire with a 4-1 win the following day. Yegorov didn’t play in either game.

Next up for Denver is a game against the United State Hockey League’s USA Hockey Under-18 Team this Saturday. They’ll face Michigan on Oct. 16 and 17. This weekend, Littler’s Arizona State plays two games against Holy State. Yegorov’s Miami (Ohio) is off this weekend, but play a home and home against Robert Morris on Oct. 15 and Oct. 17. Carson Carels and Cole Reschny begin their season with North Dakota this weekend, playing a home and home against Bemidji State.

ECAC Hockey

Moving to ECAC Hockey, Ethan Wyttenbach picked up where he left off with Quinnipiac. They defeated New Hampshire 10-2 in their opener, then beat Trevor Hoskin’s Merrimack 6-3 in their second game. Wyttenbach scored twice and picked up an assist in their 10-2 win, then picked up an assist in their 6-3 victory.

WHO ELSE?!#BobcatNation x #NCAAHockey pic.twitter.com/7qcE4Hmnxg

— Quinnipiac Men's Ice Hockey (@QU_MIH) October 2, 2026

This coming weekend, Wyttenbach plays against another Flames’ prospect, as they face Jaden Lipinski’s Maine for two games on the road. The other Flames’ prospect in ECAC Hockey, Aidan Lane, doesn’t begin his season until Oct. 29.

Hockey East

In Hockey East, the three Flames’ prospects playing for UMass lost both their games to kick off their season, falling 2-0 and 6-1 to Colorado College. Egor Barabanov picked up their lone goal while Max Curran was held off the scoresheet. Tobias Trejbal started the 6-1 loss, allowing three goals on 17 shots.

Jaden Lipinski’s Maine split their pair of games against Holy Cross, winning their opener 4-1, but falling 3-2 in overtime in the second game. Lipinski was held off the scoresheet in both games. Trevor Hoskin’s Merrimack fell 6-3 to Wyttenbach’s Quinnipiac to begin their season. Hoskin was held off the scoresheet, mustering just one shot and finishing as a -2.

This week, UMass will play a pair of games against RIT at home. Both games, one played on Friday and the other Saturday, have a 5:30 p.m. MT start time. Lipinski’s Maine will play a pair of games at home against Wyttenbach’s Quinnipiac this coming weekend. As for Hoskin, Merrimack will take on New Hampshire on Thursday.

Big Ten

Henry Mews was the lone Flames’ prospect involved in Big Ten action this week. His Michigan began their season with a pair of victories over Bowling Green, a 7-2 victory in the opener and a 4-3 victory the next day. Mews picked up a pair of assists in Michigan’s blowout victory.

JP Hurlbert (Detroit) opens the scoring for Michigan on the breakaway. Henry Mews (Caglary) with the lone helper. pic.twitter.com/0b7YIHzmR3

— J.D. Burke (@JDylanBurke) October 2, 2026

This week, Michigan will play a pair of games against Alaska Anchorage. Jack Hextall and Cullen Potter begin their season with Michigan State this weekend, taking on Northern Michigan on Friday and Sunday. Also in Big Ten action is Luke Misa’s Penn State, who’ll play UConn on Friday and Sacred Heart on Saturday.

Canadian Hockey League

All six Flames’ prospects playing in the Canadian Hockey League were in action this past week, five in the Western Hockey League and one in the Ontario Hockey League.

Western Hockey League

Chase Harrington’s Spokane Chiefs remain undefeated to begin their season, as they defeated the Portland Winterhawks 6-1 and 3-1 on Friday and Saturday, before beating Bode Laylin’s Everett Silvertips 3-1 on Sunday. Harrington picked up his second Gordie Howe Hat Trick in as many games in their 6-1 victory, scoring, picking up a helper, and dropping the gloves.

Coast to coast like butter on toast! 🏃🚨

Chase Harrington goes coast-to-coast for another @spokanechiefs tally!@NHLFlames | #Flames pic.twitter.com/OH8cwukgAk

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) October 4, 2026

He also scored in their 3-1 victory over the Winterhawks and picked up an assist in the Chiefs’ 3-1 victory over the Silvertips, giving him three goals and seven points in four games.

Laylin’s Silvertips fell 3-2 to the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday, their third consecutive game against the Washington State-based team. They also fell 3-1 to Harrington and the Chiefs on Sunday. Laylin was held off the scoresheet in both games, giving him just an assist in five games this season.

Sticking in the WHL’s Western Conference, Joe Iginla and the Vancouver Giants fell 3-2 in overtime to the Penticton Vees, 5-2 to the Swift Current Broncos, and 2-1 in a shootout to the Brandon Wheat Kings. Iginla’s lone point was an assist in their 3-2 overtime loss, giving him a goal and three points in six games.

Over in the WHL’s Eastern Conference, Jakob Leander’s Calgary Hitmen defeated the Lethbridge Hurricanes 7-4 on Saturday, but fell 7-2 to the Regina Pats on Sunday. Leander picked up an assist on the final goal in the victory, and fought late in their 7-2 loss. He has a pair of assists in five games this season.

Mace’o Phillips and the Medicine Hat Tigers played just one game this week, defeating the Prince Albert Raiders 4-2 in a 2026 WHL Finals rematch. Phillips was held off the scoresheet, but managed to pick up four penalty minutes. He has a goal and three points in five games, with 10 penalty minutes.

This week, the Chiefs host the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Friday, as well as the Silvertips on both Saturday and Tuesday. As for the Silvertips, they’ll play the Tri-City Americans on Friday before their two games against the Chiefs. The Giants next three games are against the Seattle Thunderbirds, playing a home and home over the weekend, before a mid-week game in Seattle (actually Kent, WA) on Tuesday.

In the WHL’s Eastern Conference, the Hitmen play the Red Deer Rebels on the road this Friday, before returning home to host the Victoria Royals on Monday. Phillips’ Tigers will host the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday and the Royals on Saturday.

Ontario Hockey League

It was a busy week for Flames’ prospect Šimon Katolický. His Sarnia Sting fell 4-3 in overtime to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, then lost 5-3 to the Barrie Colts on Saturday. They finished off their week with a win at least, defeating the Oshawa Generals 3-0. Katolický’s lone point was an assist in the 5-3 defeat.

This week, the Sting host the Generals on Friday, then hit the road to play a game against the Flint Firebirds on Saturday.

Europe

Lastly, three Flames prospects are playing in Europe, two in Russia and one in Sweden.

Russia

Flames’ seventh-rounder in 2025, Yan Matveiko, played in just one game with the Red Army this week, as they fell 3-2 in a shootout to Sakhalinskie Akuly. Mateviko was held pointless and was a -1 in about 22 minutes of ice time. He’s still seeking his first point. Red Army also fell 3-2 in a shootout to Amurskie Tigry and 4-3 in overtime to Sakhalinskie Akuly.

Alan Shaikhlislamov’s Tolpar played two games this past week, defeating Irbis 2-1, but falling 3-2 to Krasnoyarskie Rysi. Shaikhlislamov didn’t play in the win, but picked up a goal and an assist in the loss to give him eight goals and 14 points in 10 games this season.

This week, Red Army plays a pair of games against Taifun, one on Friday and the other on Sunday. Tolpar plays a pair of games this week, taking on JHC Molot on Thursday and AKM-Yunior on Monday.

Sweden

It’s been a tough start for Theo Stockselius and his Djurgårdens IF. This past week, they fell 4-0 to Färjestad BK and 4-2 to Frölunda HC. The Flames’ 2025 second-rounder was held off the scoresheet again as he now has just one assist in six games. This week, they play Örebro Hockey on Wednesday and Linköping HC on Friday.

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

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