To kick off what could be a pretty significant day in terms of final roster moves for the Calgary Flames – and everybody else in the league – the Flames have made a pair of roster moves.

Headed to the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers are a pair of waiver-exempt first-year pros: goaltender Kirill Zarubin and defenceman Abram Wiebe.

Both Zarubin and Wiebe were still on the Flames’ camp roster in part because of the new CBA’s rules that players with 100 or more career NHL games cannot dress for more than pre-season games. Zarubin dressed as Dustin Wolf’s backup on Saturday night in Edmonton because Devin Cooley, his usual backup, had already played in two pre-season games. And while the Flames were carrying eight defencemen, their opening night group of eight, Joel Hanley and Brayden Pachal had already played twice, so if somebody got hurt in warm-up or got sick before the game, they wouldn’t have anybody who was eligible to step in on the blueline. So Wiebe, already sent to the AHL a few days back, was brought back up as insurance.

Zarubin, 21, was a third-round pick by the Flames in 2024 and came up through the Russian academy system, playing with the Mikhailov Academy in Tula, Russia and really impressing. With no obvious place to play in Russia this season after aging out of junior – Mikhailov Academy has a minor-pro team, but they’re not affiliated with a KHL program – Zarubin took up the Flames’ offer to sign his entry-level deal and head to North America.

Wiebe, 23, was a seventh-round pick by Vegas in 2022 and was traded to the Flames in the Rasmus Andersson trade back in January. He played three seasons with the University of North Dakota and became a really important piece of their puzzle, wearing an A for the club as alternate captain last season. He signed with the Flames in the spring and played in four NHL games down the stretch.

The Flames’ camp roster, as of this writing, is essentially down to 25 players – the NHL’s roster list includes Alex Nylander, who’s on waivers to head to the AHL, but obviously a decision has been made there. The two remaining moves to get down to 23 players by p.m. MT on Monday are placing Jonathan Huberdeau on the injury reserve list and assigning one of Brennan Othmann or Aydar Suniev to the AHL. If Othmann isn’t placed on waivers at noon MT on Sunday, it certainly feels like he’ll start the season with the big club.

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