With the National Hockey League’s calendar flipping over to 2025-26, the waiver statuses of many players throughout the league has changed and several players that weren’t previously subject to waivers have become eligible for them.

In the case of the Calgary Flames, seven players have become eligible for waivers for the first time. The good news is that a couple of them are established NHL players who, y’know, wouldn’t ever be sent to the minors.

Now eligible for waivers in 2025-26 are goaltender Dustin Wolf, defencemen Yan Kuznetsov and Jeremie Poirier, and forwards Matt Coronato, Rory Kerins, Adam Klapka and Sam Morton.

Wolf was the runner-up for the NHL’s Calder Trophy in 2024-25, was voted to the All-Rookie Team, and is the Flames starting goaltender. Coronato scored 24 goals last season and signed a seven year contract extension. It’s safe to say that both of them are NHL roster locks. Kuznetsov, Kerins, Klapka and Morton all spent time on the NHL roster in 2024-25. Of the course, Klapka is the closest to being an NHL regular, as he played 28 games with the Flames last season and then signed a one-way contract for 2025-26. Poirier is likely destined for the AHL.

For those unfamiliar, the waiver wire is the a roster mechanism that makes players available to the other NHL teams before they’re allowed to be sent to the minors. Generally-speaking, skaters are exempt from the waiver process and can be freely sent to and from the AHL during their entry-level contracts, while goaltenders are given an additional year of exemption beyond their entry-level deals.

The Flames have 15 waiver exempt players currently under NHL contracts for the coming season.

The waiver exempt group for 2025-26 includes:

Blueliner Zayne Parekh and forward Jacob Battaglia are both waiver exempt, but due to being teenagers drafted out of Canadian major junior hockey, they’re not eligible to be sent to the AHL in 2025-26.

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