Over the past half-decade, the Calgary Flames have seemingly become enamoured with Russian hockey players. When, in the past, they may had opted to stockpile players from Moose Jaw or Morinville, instead they’re keeping their eyes on players from Moscow or Murmansk.

One of the seeming forebears of the Flames’ Russification in recent years has been blueliner Yan Kuznetsov. Now heading into his fourth year of pro hockey, and fifth as part of the Flames organization, Kuznetsov has gotten a taste of the National Hockey League but likely needs to keep improving to get another.

Kuznetsov lands at 20th in the 2024 edition of FlamesNation’s annual Flames prospect rankings.

Born in Murmansk, Russia – a port city on the Arctic Ocean in northwest Russia – Kuznetsov played his minor hockey growing up in the Moskva and St. Petersburg areas. He played briefly with CKSA Moskva’s under-16 and under-18 teams in 2017-18.

However, he made a unique move as a 16-year-old, moving to North America and landing with the United States Hockey League’s Sioux Falls Stampede. He won the Clark Cup with Sioux Falls as USHL champions in 2018-19, and committed to play college hockey at the University of Connecticut at the end of that season. He played his freshman year at UConn in 2019-20, playing as a “true” freshman and posting 11 points over 34 games. His performance developed some draft buzz – he was ranked 36th among North American skaters by Central Scouting – and he was selected by the Flames in the second round, 50th overall, of the 2020 NHL Draft.

Kuznetsov returned to UConn for his sophomore season, albeit one derailed by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. He played just 16 games and posted six points with the Huskies, and he represented Russia at the World Juniors, though he didn’t post any points and Russia failed to medal. He ended up signing an entry-level deal with the Flames at the end of the 2020-21 season and played six games with the Stockton Heat (who were playing in Calgary due to border restrictions).

Kuznetsov’s three ELC years were kind of odd. He began the 2021-22 season with the Heat, but early in the season the organization opted to return him to junior. The Saint John Sea Dogs were slated to host the Memorial Cup and had selected Kuznetsov in the CHL’s Import Draft, so he had the unique situation of spending the first year of his NHL contract playing as (a) an overager, (b) an import and (c) a rookie in major junior hockey. He had a pretty good season on a stacked Saint John team, and ended up winning a Memorial Cup.

He spent the 2022-23 season, effectively his rookie pro campaign, entirely in the AHL with the relocated Calgary Wranglers. He had 19 points in 63 games and his performance veered between playing it safe and perhaps being a bit too tentative with the puck. Either way, though, he acquitted himself well and his confidence seemed to grow throughout the year.

The 2023-24 season with the final year on his ELC. He had 13 points over 63 games with the Wranglers. He also earned his first NHL call-up and first NHL game. He was summoned from the Wranglers on Jan. 5 to fill in for an injured Dennis Gilbert and made his NHL debut on Jan. 9 against Ottawa. (He also sat as a healthy spectator for four NHL games during that call-up.)

FlamesNation’s Wranglers correspondent, Paige Siewert, shared these thoughts on Kuznetsov’s 2023-24 campaign:

Kuznetsov’s ELC years saw him establish himself as a reliable AHL blueliner and even saw him make his first NHL appearance. But he’s in a unique, somewhat challenging, spot right now because of what’s been happening around him within the organization.

Kuznetsov is a pretty good AHL blueliner. He’s quite low-risk in his own zone, and while generating points is far from his bread and butter he’s capable of putting together multi-point games from time to time. But he’s a tough player to generate a lot of enthusiasm about because he doesn’t have a true calling card to his game, something excellent about him that he can hang his hat on. And in a shallower system than the Flames’, maybe just being decent at everything would be enough.

But look at what the Flames have around Kuznetsov within their system, just in terms of left shot defenders:

The Flames have added a lot of depth and versatility to their system on the blueline since Kuznetsov was drafted. (Heck, even just since Kuznetsov won the Memorial Cup.) And that makes it incumbent on Kuznetsov to find something to hang his hat on this coming season, lest he get a bit lost in the shuffle.

The Wranglers will have a pretty crowded blueline in 2024-25, and ice time will be competitive. We’ll see if Kuznetsov can rise to the occasion.