Pals, it’s safe to say that the Calgary Flames have been moving towards getting younger since Craig Conroy became general manager in May 2023.

Want some evidence that’s happening? Well, look at the list of established players that have been sent elsewhere: Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom, Andrew Mangiapane, Rasmus Andersson, MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri. And the majority of the assets coming back to the Flames in these swaps have been picks and prospects.

As the Flames have moved out veterans, spots have opened up for youngsters. During the 2025-26 season, 12 different rookies played for the Flames – and that’s not including Owen Say, who dressed for a game as backup in January but didn’t see any game action.

Here are the 12 Flames rookies, listed based on their first game appearance.

Drafted 28th overall in the first round of the 2024 NHL Draft, Gridin made the Flames’ roster out of training camp after Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil were injured during the pre-season. He debuted on opening night (Oct. 8) against Edmonton and scored a goal, sparking a comeback. (Disclosure: his goal went in off of Noah Philp’s skate, but a goal’s a goal.)

Gridin had four stints on the NHL roster. He was called up in mid-January and remained with the big club pretty continuously until the end of the season, aside from brief re-assignments during the Olympics and the trade deadline. He had six goals and 14 assists for 20 points through 37 games, and he was arguably the team’s most dangerous offensively forward after the trade deadline.

The Flames’ first first-rounder in 2024, ninth overall, Parekh made the NHL roster out of training camp and played his first game on Oct. 11. He played 37 games and had four goals and five assists for nine points.

We’ll get into the ins and outs of Parekh’s season later, but he struggled early, got hurt, played at the World Juniors, got loaned to the Wranglers, then rejoined the team and seemed to find his stride. He was really good after the trade deadline, but he was pretty effective for the last six-to-eight weeks of the regular season.

The Flames first-rounder in 2023, Honzek made the Flames’ roster out of training camp for the second consecutive year – he was initially one of the final cuts, then was added back to the roster after Huberdeau and Pospisil were hurt. He played his first game on Oct. 11.

He played 18 games and had two goals and two assists for four points. He found a niche as a penalty-killer and on the tough-minutes line with Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, but his season ended early after a flukey collision with Backlund caused n injury that required surgery.

A second-round pick in 2020, Kuznetsov was called up in early November as the Flames made some shuffles to their lineup – fundamentally-speaking, he replaced Daniil Miromanov on the roster. He played his first game on Nov. 5 and was put with MacKenzie Weegar a few games into his call-up.

Kuznetsov played 57 games and posted four goals and eight assists for 12 points. He was a fixture on the penalty kill for the majority of the season and was one of two rookie defencemen to average more than 20 minutes a night: the other was Matthew Schaefer.

A sixth-rounder in 2020, Kerins was called up twice for two game stints. His first pair of games began on Nov. 13, his second on Apr. 14. He played in the bottom six and had zero points across four games.

Acquired from Vancouver in the Elias Lindholm trade, Brzustewicz was called up from the Wranglers in December and made his season debut on Dec. 10. He played primarily on the third pairing for much of the rest of the season, aside from a few weeks in February when he went down for the Olympic break.

He played 31 NHL games and posted two goals and five assists for seven points. He really found chemistry with Olli Maatta down the stretch.

A second-round pick in 2021, Stromgren was called up in early January and made his NHL debut on Jan. 7. He played three games, primarily on the fourth line, and had no points.

A hometown kid, Gross signed as a college free agent in March. He debuted with the Flames on Mar. 22 and ended up playing six games, scoring a goal against Colorado for his only point of the season.

Acquired from the New York Rangers at the trade deadline, Othmann was called up on Mar. 28 and debuted that evening. He played two games, posting a goal and an assist for a pair of points, then was sent down in early April so the Flames could call up Aydar Suniev.

A third-round draft pick in 2023, Suniev was called up in early April and debuted on Apr. 7. He played six games and registered one assist.

Acquired from Vegas in the Rasmus Andersson trade, Wiebe signed with the Flames after North Dakota’s season ended. He played four games, debuting on Apr. 11, and had zero points.

Last but not last, Sergeev was a seventh-round pick by the Flames in 2021. He was called up and made his NHL debut on Apr. 16 and made 27 saves in a win over the Los Angeles Kings.