A popular member of the Calgary Flames whose 2024-25 season was cut frustratingly short is coming back for another season. On Monday, the Flames announced that they’ve re-signed forward Justin Kirkland to a one year, one-way deal worth $900,000.

A 28-year-old left-shot forward who can play centre or the wing, Kirkland has had a really interesting journey in pro hockey.

Kirkland played his junior hockey in the Western League with the Kelowna Rockets, with his tenure overlapping with current Flames head coach Ryan Huska. Kirkland was selected by Nashville in the third round of the 2014 NHL Draft. He spent three seasons in Nashville’s minor league system, primarily with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, but didn’t receive a qualifying offer and became a free agent in the 2019 off-season.

From there, Kirkland landed in the Flames organization, being signed to add somebody with pro experience to the Stockton Heat. He became one of the more consistent and reliable producers on the Heat, spending three seasons with the club and helping several of the team’s young players progress to the NHL. Despite his impressive play, though, Kirkland wasn’t one of the players given an NHL shot, so he moved on after the 2021-22 season to find a new opportunity.

Kirkland landed in Anaheim and made his NHL debut in the 2022-23 season, but his stint was cut short after seven games by a really scary car accident that could’ve ended his playing career or had long-term health impacts on him. Luckily for Kirkland, he managed to escape career or life-altering injuries and worked his way back to hockey. He spent 2023-24 with the Arizona Coyotes organization, primarily with the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners, before rejoining the Flames organization prior to the 2024-25 season.

A waiver claim to Cole Schwindt and an injury to Kevin Rooney propelled Kirkland back to the NHL before he had even played an AHL game with the Wranglers, and he played well enough that he had cemented himself as a regular on the Flames’ fourth line. He suffered an knee injury that required season-ending surgery, ending his breakthrough campaign after eight points in 21 games (and a trio of really snazzy shootout goals). For his perseverance and dedication to hockey, Kirkland was Calgary’s nominee for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy for the 2024-25 season.

Kirkland has a relatively small NHL sample size and a $900,000, one year deal is far from a guarantee that he’ll be on the NHL roster. But for somebody that worked incredibly hard to get an NHL opportunity, then got hurt, then worked his way back again, then got hurt (again), it’s a vote of confidence and another chance to prove that he belongs at hockey’s highest level.