There are few gigs in professional sports less heralded than the frequent healthy scratch in the National Hockey League. Through the first 16 games of the Calgary Flames’ 2026-27 season, Joel Hanley was a paid spectator for 15 of them – his lone appearance of the season coming on Oct. 3 in Vancouver.

Friday was shaping up to be another quiet outing for Hanley. He arrived at the rink for the game, per usual. He sat in on the team’s pre-game meetings, per usual. He began to go through his warm-up routine and was limbering up to hit the ice as the extra warm-up skater, per usual.

But 15 minutes before the team was slated to hit the ice for warm-up, Hanley received a bit of news. Kevin Bahl was going to miss the game with a lower-body injury. Hanley would be playing for the first time in over a month, on the top pairing with Simon Nemec, against a potent Anaheim Ducks team.

Hanley scored in the first period – his first goal since Apr. 5, 2025 – but the Flames skated to a 5-3 loss to the Ducks. (The Flames also got goals from William Strömgren and Joel Farabee.)

“Yeah, it was crazy,” said Hanley post-game. “I didn’t think I was going to be playing, and then all of a sudden, they told me I was in, so I just tried to dial it in as quick as I could. Obviously, nice to chip in offensively. It’s been a while. It would have been nice to get a win there to make it feel a little bit better.”

Hanley recalled he was told by the trainers that he would be playing just prior to hitting the ice for warm-up.

“So we were playing soccer,” said Hanley. “And then all of a sudden I had to go warm up a little bit harder and activate the glutes a bit.”

Hanley ended up playing 16:42 on the top pairing with Nemec. He scored a goal, but he was also on the ice for two Ducks goals.

Flames head coach Ryan Huska praised Hanley’s ability to dial in for a game on short notice.

“You know, it’s a hard position for a player to be in, but it’s the NHL and that’s the job at times,” said Huska. “And the one thing with Joel, we kept him around the room when he took most warm-ups, which is harder for an older player to do that all the time, because we wanted him around our meetings. We wanted to make sure he was up on things because it was a matter of time before he got himself back in the lineup. So to get thrown in like he did and played well, I think he deserves a lot of credit for that, for sure.”

The Flames return to action on Sunday when they host the Philadelphia Flyers.