Joining the National Hockey League in 2021-22, the Kraken don’t have a whole lot of history. While they aren’t eliminated just yet, it would take an improbable series of events for the Kraken to make the playoffs. So far in their five season history, they’ve managed to do so just once.

The Flames and Kraken have made a handful of trades in their shared history, the most notable of which was the Calle Järnkrok trade back during the 2021-22 season. They’ve also shared a captain, Mark Giordano. However, they’ve never met in the playoffs and not a whole lot has happened in their regular season games.

Being in different conferences, the Calgary Hitmen and Seattle Thunderbirds have never met in the post-season in Western Hockey League history, dating back to the Seattle Breaker and Calgary Wrangler days. However, there are quite a few former Breakers/Thunderbirds with connections to the Flames. That’s what we’ll look at in this edition of Flashback Friday.

Seattle Thunderbird players with a connection to the Flames

Since the Flames moved to Calgary, they’ve participated in 46 drafts. Funnily enough, they’ve only ever drafted two players from Seattle’s WHL team. The first, Oleg Saprykin, played parts of two seasons in Washington, scoring 77 goals and 159 points in 114 games. In the 1999 draft, the Flames selected the Russian 11th overall.

His best season with the Flames came in his final season with the team, scoring 12 goals and 29 points, though he did reach the 20-point plateau on three separate occasions. Overall, he played parts of five seasons with the Flames, scoring 29 goals and 76 games. Saprykin played two more seasons in the NHL, scoring a career-best 15 goals and 36 points between the Phoenix Coyotes and Ottawa Senators in 2006-07.

The other player, Lucas Ciona, currently plays in the organization. He won the Ed Chynoweth Cup with the Thunderbirds in 2023, his final season with the team. Overall, he scored 50 goals and 136 points in 195 games. In the post-season, he added 14 goals and 23 points in 43 games.

Since turning professional, Ciona has played three seasons with the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers, scoring 17 goals and 37 points in 169 games. That said, he’s not the only former Thunderbird that played for the Wranglers this season.

Defenceman Turner Ottenbreit won the Ed Chynoweth Cup with the Thunderbirds in 2016-17, his second to last season. In his 272 games, 21st most in team history, the defenceman scored 23 goals and 107 points.

He went undrafted, bounced around the ECHL and AHL, while also playing a season in China with Kunlun Red Star in 2023-24.. The Yorkton, Saskatchewan native has played 55 games with the Wranglers in 2025-26, scoring three goals and 12 points.

Going back to the Atlanta Flames days, they drafted Tim Hunter 54th overall in the 1979 draft, but he made his NHL debut after the Flames moved to Alberta. In his 145 games with the Breakers, Hunter scored 23 goals and 119 points. He had a lengthy NHL career, playing 11 seasons with the Flames where he had 49 goals and 108 points in 545 games.

The Flames also drafted three players who went on to join the Thunderbirds afterwards. Dan Tompkins, their third-round pick in 1993, played some hockey at the University of Wisconsin before joining the Thunderbirds in 1995-96. That season saw him score 14 goals and 50 points in 51 games, with three goals and seven points in five games.

Seven years later, the Flames drafted netminder Brent Krahn from the Calgary Hitmen. In his final junior year, he was traded to the Thunderbirds, where he played just five regular season games and had a .928 save percentage and 1.78 goals against average. In the playoffs, he played 15 games with a .919 save percentage and 2.38 goals against average. Although he never played for the Flames, he made his NHL debut with the Dallas Stars in 2008-09, playing just one game.

Finally, Breton, Alberta product Tyler Johnson was drafted 173rd overall by the Flames in the 2003 draft from the Moose Jaw Warriors. He played three junior seasons following the draft, joining the Thunderbirds in 2005-06 where he scored 10 goals and 26 points in 66 games. That post-season, he added three goals and seven points in seven games.

Brennan Evans’ NHL career was a short one, playing just two playoff games for the Flames during their 2004 run. Before then, he played 63 games with the Thunderbirds, scoring two goals and four points, finishing his junior career with the Kootenay Ice in 2002-03. Evans never played a regular season game in the NHL, but had a lengthy AHL career, retiring following the 2015-16 season.

Of course, there were also a handful of former Thunderbirds who eventually found their way to the Flames later in their career. The most notable of which was Cory Sarich, who joined the team in 2007-08. Sarich played far more games with the Flames than the Thunderbirds, totalling just 13 games with three goals and 19 points with the junior team in 1997-98. In his six seasons with the Flames, the defenceman scored 10 goals and 59 points in 379 games.

Jamie Lundmark is another name you may recognize. Drafted ninth overall in 1999, the Edmonton product had two separate stints with the Flames. In 2005-06 and 2006-07, he scored four goals and 14 points in 51 games. Lundmark joined the Flames for the 2008-09 and 2009-10 season, scoring eight goals and 16 points in 27 games in 2008-09. The next season, he scored four goals and nine points in 21 games before being waived.

Lundmark isn’t the only player named Jamie who fit the criteria. Defenceman Jamie Huscroft played 87 games with the Thunderbirds, scoring seven goals and 45 points. He joined the Flames in 1995-96, scoring three goals and 12 points in 70 games, a career-best. In 1996-97, he picked up four assists in 39 games before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The other former Thunderbird who wasn’t drafted by the Flames, but found their way to the team is Stewart Malgunas. Drafted 66th in the 1990 draft by the Detroit Red Wings, he played 67 games in his rookie season with the Philadelphia Flyers, but never reached 30 games again. His final four games in the NHL were with the Flames in 1999-2000, where he picked up an assist.

Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for FlamesNation, Oilersnation, and Blue Jays Nation. She can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.

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