When the Calgary Flames traded Noah Hanifin to the Vegas Golden Knights back in March, most fans in Calgary expected to see a blue-chip prospect or two heading their way in the deal.

Instead, the Flames only received one player in the trade: Daniil Miromanov, a 26-year-old defenceman coming off a severe knee injury who had appeared in just 29 NHL games. To most onlookers, the real prize for Calgary was the Golden Knights’ unprotected 2026 first-round pick; Miromanov seemed like little more than a throw-in.

Well, over the final few weeks of the 2023-24 regular season, Miromanov turned that narrative on its head. The 6’4″, 207-pound Russian collected three goals and seven points while averaging 21:15 of ice time over his 20 games with the Flames in March and April, spending the vast majority of those minutes next to MacKenzie Weegar on the team’s top defensive pairing.

Weegar and Miromanov spent nearly 300 minutes together at 5-on-5 during the latter stages of the 2023-24 season. The Flames outscored their opponents 12 to 8 during that time, and that result wasn’t an anomaly — their results were simply that good across the board with Weegar and Miromanov on the ice.

The Flames outshot their opponents 161 to 126 with Weegar and Miromanov out there together. They controlled 58.71 percent of the shot attempts, 54.55 percent of the scoring chances, and 56.14 percent of the expected goals with that pairing on the ice at 5-on-5, and they started a paltry 36.36 percent of their shifts in the offensive zone.

Originally a winger during his junior career in the QMJHL, Miromanov brought his offensive mindset with him as he made the switch to defence with the Moncton Wildcats in the 2017-18 season. He quickly became one of the top offensive defenders in the AHL upon joining the Henderson Silver Knights on a full-time basis in 2021.

But unlike many offence-first rearguards, Miromanov also has the size and pure physicality to hold his own along the boards and in front of his own net. Standing 6’4″ and weighing in at 207 pounds, Miromanov has all the tools to develop into a legit top-four option with time, even if the defensive side of the game doesn’t come quite as naturally to him.

Miromanov looked completely at home next to Weegar after joining the Flames late last season. Then again, 20 games is a small sample size for anybody, especially after the trade deadline in a non-playoff season. It’ll take a lot more time for Miromanov to fully cement himself as a regular on this Flames team, let alone as a full-fledged top-four guy.

It’s pretty safe to say Miromanov will start the coming season on Weegar’s right side, given that they’ve spent nearly all of training camp together. For Miromanov to exceed expectations this year, he’ll won’t just have to stay in that spot — he’ll have to make it his own. If Miromanov can rack up at least 10 goals and 35 points this season while averaging at least 21 minutes per game, he’ll have done very well for himself.

Despite his strong run with the Flames to finish last season, most fans still see Miromanov as a bit of a tweener who can quarterback a power-play unit as needed. For him to merely meet expectations, he’ll have to stay in the lineup for most of the season — although not necessarily next to Weegar all the time — while running the point on PP2.

Miromanov has skated in just 49 games in his entire NHL career. If he fails to stick with the Flames and ends up back in the AHL at some point this season, it’d definitely qualify as him failing to meet expectations.