The Calgary Flames have made a pair of lineup changes ahead of their 2026-27 road opener against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.

After falling 6-1 to the Seattle Kraken at the Saddledome on Thursday, the Flames clearly needed to make some adjustments — and now they have, with Brennan Othmann and Joel Hanley set to make their season debuts in Vancouver in favour of Connor Zary and Yan Kuznetsov, respectively.

Via QR Calgary’s Pat Steinberg, Othmann will slide into Zary’s spot on the Flames’ third line with Ryan Strome and Yegor Sharangovich. Meanwhile, Hanley will skate on the left side of a pairing with Simon Nemec at 5-on-5, with Kevin Bahl now slotted next to Zach Whitecloud.

Asked about his reasoning for taking Zary out of the lineup after one game, Flames head coach Ryan Huska cited “the importance of taking care of the puck.” Zary led the Flames with three giveaways in Thursday’s game; over 13:19 of ice time, he also recorded one shot, a minus-one rating, and a secondary assist on Strome’s goal in the third period.

As Huska noted, the Flames “had a lot of guys” who were candidates to come out of the lineup after their lopsided loss to the Kraken on home ice. Seattle outshot Calgary 32 to 25 at the Saddledome and ultimately put a half-dozen goals past Dustin Wolf, who will back up Devin Cooley on Saturday as the Flames kick off a back-to-back.

Only four Flames skaters came out of Thursday’s game with an even rating: Bahl, Martin Pospisil, Maxim Tysplakov, and Adam Klapka. The Flames spent a substantial chunk of the game on the penalty kill, going 4-for-5 down a man; conversely, they only had one power play, going 0-for-1.

The Flames selected Zary and Kuznetsov with their first two picks in the 2020 NHL Draft. Zary, who turned 25 in September, has amassed 39 goals and 86 points in 192 career NHL games over parts of four seasons in Calgary; Kuznetsov, 24, only emerged as a full-time NHLer in 2025-26, recording four goals and 12 points in 57 games with the Flames that season while surpassing both Hanley and Brayden Pachal on the organization’s depth chart.