The Calgary Flames got off to an ugly start to the 2026-27 season.

Since one of the tools at a team’s disposal to shake the lineup up a bit is bringing up some players from the farm team, that’s what the Flames did. On Oct. 7, the Flames recalled rookie forwards Jonathan Castagna and Aydar Suniev from the American League’s Calgary Wranglers.

Monday night’s win over the San Jose Sharks was the 12th game in the lineup for both Castagna and Suniev. Since their call-up, the Flames have gone 7-5-0.

How has each player fared since getting an extended NHL opportunity?

A first-year pro after three years at Cornell University, Castagna is a left shot forward who can play centre and the wing, but has almost exclusively played centre in his 14 games of pro hockey – two in the AHL and 12 in the NHL.

In 12 NHL games, he has three assists, an even plus/minus rating, and has 54 face-off wins and 59 face-off losses. Among regular Flames forwards, he’s 12th in expected goals for per 60 and second in expected goals against per 60. In other words, he’s nothing to write home about in terms of generating scoring (at least not yet), but the second-best regular in terms of suppressing it from the other team.

He’s been working as the fourth line centre and has worked into the penalty-killing rotation, supporting the primary forwards by spelling them off – if it’s a heavy night for Joel Farabee or Yegor Sharangovich, Castagna rotates in to help out. He’s averaging 12:27 per game overall, including 11:33 at even strength.

A second-year pro who’s had NHL cups of coffee in each of the past two seasons, Suniev is a left shot forward that can play either wing.

In 12 NHL games, he has four goals, one assist, and a minus-5 plus/minus rating. Among regular Flames forwards, he’s sixth in expected goals for per 60 and 10th in expected goals against per 60. That sort of follows the logic of Suniev’s game: he’s offensively talented, but isn’t anything to write home about defensively – at least not yet.

He’s been working as a third line winger and has worked onto the second power play unit, too. He’s averaging 13:43 per game overall, including 12:38 at even strength.

Eventually, the Flames will get fully healthy and players like Jonathan Huberdeau and Sam Honzek will need roles. Both Suniev and Castagna are waiver exempt and can be freely sent down to the Wranglers without risk of losing them to other teams.

Right now, it’s hard to make a case to send Castagna down to the Wranglers, isn’t it? He’s been superb on the fourth line and head coach Ryan Huska has been openly positive about his contributions to the team. He’s also been positive about Suniev, for sure, but you can more easily see a scenario where Huberdeau returns and bumps Suniev off the power play (and back to the AHL) rather than anyone bumping Castagna out of his fourth line centre perch.

We’ll see how things unfold, but it certainly feels like Castagna is here to stay. Suniev has been quite good, too, but he might have work to do to cement himself in this year’s lineup.