The Calgary Flames have locked up one of their most promising young players to a contract. On Friday afternoon, the club announced that they’ve signed goaltender Kirill Zarubin to a three year, entry-level contract. Per the club’s media release, the deal carries an average annual value of $1,007,500.

Zarubin was selected by the Flames in the third round of the 2024 NHL Draft, 84th overall, with a pick acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights in the Noah Hanifin trade. (The Flames also acquired Daniil Miromanov and Vegas’ first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft.) Since Zarubin is considered 20 years of age for signing purposes, there’s no possibility of a slide year, so Zarubin’s ELC will begin tolling in 2026-27.

A product of Penza, Russia – a city southeast of Moskva, about halfway between the capital and the Kazakhstan border – Zarubin moved to AKM Tula – the Mikhailov Academy, in Tula Oblast, south of Moskva – in 2022. He spent a year and a half with AKM Tula’s second-tier junior team, filled with the academy’s lesser players, and put up okay numbers. He moved onto the main academy team part-way through the 2023-24 season, and started crushing it.

Playing behind some better defenders with the main academy team, he posted a .944 save percentage in 29 games in 2023-24, a .935 save percentage in 21 games in 2024-25, and a .930 save percentage in 48 games in 2025-26. He also played in the MHL’s All-Star Game this season.

As a 2005 birthday, Zarubin had played out his junior eligibility and really impressed in Russian junior hockey. As such, it was probably about time that he make the move to North America – Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg reported on social media on Friday, following the signing, that getting Zarubin to this side of the Atlantic was a priority for the Flames this off-season.

With veteran Ivan Prosvetov not likely to re-up with the Flames organization, it leaves the minor-league system with three pretty fun, albeit inexperienced, netminders:

We suspect that the Flames goaltending department will do their best to keep all three goalies active; Sergeev and Zarubin can be sent to Rapid City since they’re on entry-level pacts, which gives them a good amount of flexibility to get everyone a bunch of games. We’re fascinated at how they’ll juggle things to keep all three busy.

The Flames now have 34 players signed to NHL deals for 2026-27, plus 11 more players who are eligible to become RFAs on July 1, assuming they all receive qualifying offers. Zarubin is the fifth player from Calgary’s 2024 draft class to sign an ELC with the club, and the 10th player drafted by general manager Craig Conroy to sign with the organization.