When the Calgary Flames parted ways with Noah Hanifin prior to the 2024 trade deadline, Hanifin went to Vegas in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick, a 2024 third-round pick and defender Daniil Miromanov. At the time, Miromanov was a bit of a mystery to many Flames fans and onlookers, but he was somebody that the club’s pro scouts flagged as someone with possible upside.

14 months after Miromanov joined the Flames organization, he’s still a bit of a mystery.

Miromanov is a unique player who’s had a weird journey through hockey thus far. A Russian product that lined up as a winger, he came over to play hockey in Ontario as a teenager and ended up playing in the QMJHL with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan for two seasons. (His junior rights were very weird, too: he was drafted by the London Knights in the 2014 CHL Import Draft, but played another season in Ontario, which made him not an import anymore, and that allowed him to be recruited by the QMJHL’s Titan.)

He went back to Russia and went pro, switching to defence, but ended up lured back to the QMJHL with the Moncton Wildcats for the remainder of his 20-year-old season. He never was drafted by an NHL team, so he spent the next few years bouncing around between the Czech Extraliga, the ECHL, the VHL and the KHL before being signed by Vegas.

He spent three seasons bouncing back and forth between Vegas and their AHL team in Henderson, never quite turning his call-ups into a long-term NHL role. He suffered a knee injury late in the 2022-23 season, and he had only played nine combined games between the NHL and AHL in 2023-24 prior to his trade to Calgary. He signed a two-year contract extension after the trade to Calgary.

During his 20 games with the Flames after his arrival in the Hanifin trade, Miromanov showed flashes of strong play, but couldn’t quite find consistency. Playing primarily with MacKenzie Weegar, he had seven points and showed a bit of chemistry with Weegar. Could he carve out a niche for himself in the top two defensive pairings in 2024-25?

Miromanov began the regular season with Weegar. Over the first half of the season, he gradually played his way out of that spot. In the first 41 games, he played 29 games, mostly with Weegar, though he bounced around a little bit – when the Flames occasionally struggled early in the season and the coaching staff looked to mix up defensive pairings, Miromanov was an easy player to move around or healthy scratch to mix things up.

Joel Hanley found a really nice bit of chemistry with Weegar mid-season, and that was bad news for Miromanov. The third pairing for the Flames was Brayden Pachal (on the right side) and a rotation of players on the left. Because Pachal is a very reliable defensive zone player, and a penalty killer, he was virtually an every-night player for the Flames. And once Hanley found his rhythm in the top two pairings, that meant there was no natural spot for Miromanov.

In the second 41 games of the season, Miromanov played just nine games. When he did play, it was often spot duty to provide a bit of a boost in busy stretches of many games in several nights. He was reportedly shopped in the trade market, but no deals were found. He scored a nice game-tying goal on the road in March against the New Jersey Devils.

Unfortunately, impacts like that were few and far between for Miromanov. He had nine points during the season. He was a pair spectator for 38 games.

It’s probably safe to say that Miromanov has work to do if he wishes to remain with the Flames for the 2025-26 season. Yes, he’s on a one-way NHL contract worth $1.25 million for next season. However, that entire cap hit can be buried in the AHL if Miromanov doesn’t earn a spot on the NHL roster.

Miromanov remains a pretty interesting player. He’s got good mobility and size. He’s got really good offensive instincts. He has shown flashes of brilliance offensively. The challenge is that he’s not amazing away from the puck and the consistency and attention to detail on the defensive side of things hasn’t been up to snuff. And with the current Flames group, there’s no obvious role for him, even if Rasmus Andersson ends up departing the organization this off-season.

We imagine Miromanov will be at Flames camp in September. But it’ll be up to him to really prove to management and the coaching staff that he has what it takes to remain with the NHL group when the regular season begins in October.