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Notes from last game: Aydar Suniev shines in Flames’ first pre-season game

Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers

By Cynthia Ryley Delaney

Sep 22, 2026, 13:00 EDTUpdated: Sep 22, 2026, 12:27 EDT

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The 2026-27 season has finally kicked off, only if it’s pre-season.

While the Calgary Flames fell 4-2 to the Seattle Kraken, there were still a handful of strong performances from Flames’ players, mostly from their prospects. There weren’t a whole lot of veterans in the Flames’ lineup, and those that were had a rather tough game.

Let’s take a look at the standouts from this games, the disappointing performances, and other notes.

The standout performances

Without question, their best player in this game was Aydar Suniev, and not only because he scored both of their goals.

The 21-year-old forward easily could’ve had two more, robbed on two other high-danger scoring chances that he had. He didn’t really show it with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers last season (16 goals and 24 points in 57 games), but his shot is lethal. The way he was playing showed me that he wants to be an NHLer moving forward.

Credit to Samuel Honzek, for finding him on several occasions. My notes from his performance features a cuss word, but it boils down to “he was everywhere.” Honzek, drafted 16th overall in 2023, was starting to emerge as a NHL regular before suffering a season-ending injury early last season. The 21-year-old definitely should get a spot on the rebuilding Flames.

Another prospect who looked solid was Jonathan Castagna, finding his linemates for several high-danger scoring chances, one of them being Suniev in the first period. The 21-year-old is another 2023 draftee, but he’s further behind Suniev and Honzek in development after spending three seasons at Cornell. He was acquired by the Flames ahead of the 2026 trade deadline in return for Nazem Kadri.

Brennan Othmann was also acquired before the 2026 trade, as the Flames acquired him from the New York Rangers for Jacob Battalgia. Othmann looked in the early goings, but unfortunately, he only played 53 seconds as he was kicked out of the game due to a borderline elbowing call. He picked up 20 penalty minutes in less than a minute of ice time, which is a pretty funny stat line.

Othmann is a pest and he’ll always play on the edge. It, alongside his shot, is what he’ll do to forge out a career as a middle-six forward. He just has to avoid going over that edge sometimes, though it was a rather weak game misconduct.

Sticking with prospects’ performance, as a whole bunch of them played, I really liked Tyson Gross’ game. He didn’t get involved in the scoring, but he finished with two shots and three hits while consistently being in the right spot in the defensive zone. The hometown kid has “third-line centre” written all over him, especially after a strong collegiate season in 2025-26 and a good showing in six NHL games to end the 2025-26.

Abram Wiebe also got a look toward the end of last season. He was noticeable on the blue line and even picked up an assist and finished as a +1. He’ll join Gross in the AHL, but there’s bottom pair potential in the 23-year-old.

Zayne Parekh gets compared to Evan Bouchard quite a lot, which is good news once looking past Bouchard’s defensive lapses once every 20 games. From watching both players regularly, I think Parekh has the higher offensive upside (go look at his goal late last season). While he wasn’t involved in scoring, Parekh played a game-high 23:10. To keep with the Bouchard comparisons, the Edmonton Oilers defencemen played about 25 minutes in his pre-season debut on Saturday.

The disappointing performances

It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows in regards to the Flames’ prospects. Hunter Brzustewicz had a rough game and Matvei Gridin didn’t stand out. Neither did Rory Kerins, Andrew Basha, and William Strömgren. Kerins and Strömgren are both waiver eligible, so they just need to play better if they want a chance of making the opening-night roster.

Alex Nylander had a quiet game, bad news for a player on a professional tryout who played 18 and a half minutes. But that was the trend for veterans in this game, as Dryden Hunt, Joel Hanley, and Brayden Pachal each had pretty tough games. Yan Kuznetsov was solid defensively and Ben Jones picked up an assist.

Devin Cooley played all 60 minutes of this game (well, 58:57), stopping 19 of 22 shots for an .864 save percentage. Not a great game for the netminder, but two of the three Kraken goals came on the power play. He’s still a lock to backup Dustin Wolf in 2026-27.

Other random notes

My favourite non-hockey moment in this game was the Grant’s Game Show segment midway through the second period, which I called “elite” in my notes for this game. It was a signing contest featuring terrific Scott Stapp and Neil Diamond impersonations.

My attention wandered off while re-watching this game, as it tends to do quite often. Between plays, this game showcased top moments at the Saddledome, with this moment featuring Theo Fleury’s return to Calgary. That got me reading about the Punch-up in Piešťany during the 1987 World Juniors. I do miss being born a generation too late to see bench clearing brawls.

Who knows, maybe Tuesday’s game against the Vancouver Canucks will feature a couple of flights. That game has a 7:00 p.m. MT start time.

Cynthia Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for DFO Calgary, DFO Edmonton, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @CynthiaRDelaney.

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