Owen Say came to Calgary after the completion of his season at the University of Notre Dame in 2024-25. His deal kicked in this season and he spent the year with the Wranglers before he was shut down due to injury. Say took a little time to adjust at this new level of play but still made himself a talking point among the goaltending depth in the Flames organization.

Expectations

Say was expected to come in and make a case for himself as an AHL starter or a reliable back up. There was some competition this year between Ivan Prosvetov, Arsenii Sergeev and himself, and one of the three would have to start the year in the ECHL. Say didn’t have a season below a .900 save percentage in the NCAA and finished up his last season at Notre Dame with 27 games played, a 2.82 GAA, a .920 save percentage and a 10-15-0 record.

Performance

Owen Say started the season splitting starts with Ivan Prosvetov. They were pretty back and forth from game to game and neither really established themselves as the go-to starter. Prosvetov went down with an injury in early December and this gave Say the chance to get more minutes and a few back-to-back starts. Arsenii Sergeev was called up and backed him up to take some of the workload off through December and early January. Owen Say earned his first professional shutout on Dec. 9 at home versus the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

On Jan. 5, the Flames made an emergency recall for Owen Say as Devin Cooley was out with an illness. Say didn’t end up getting ice time but still enjoyed the experience from the Flames bench for their home game against the Seattle Kraken. He talked about this game at Wranglers exit meetings and said:

“It was unbelievable. I was wishing that I would get into that game but no, it was such a cool experience. Obviously to be at the Saddledome as well, it was really cool. I had a little bit of deja vu because our preseason game that I backed up, it was against Seattle, too.”

Say returned to the Wranglers after this game and was only able to play in one more game. They played the Abbotsford Canucks and about halfway through the game, he made an awkward save and took himself out of the game at the next media timeout. He was ruled out with a lower body injury and ended up needing season ending surgery. His surgery was successful and he’s felt good in recovery, but there was no shot for him to play again this season.

Paige Siewert

@thathockeygirly

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Owen Say denies a Canucks breakaway

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Outlook

Owen Say is now a restricted free agent. He showed potential but would benefit from a full AHL season. Especially with the nature of his injury, the odds of him coming back 100% right away would be quite a challenge. He’s expected to be able to hit the ice again around the six month mark of his recovery, which puts him at about mid-June. So that still gives him a couple of months to train this off-season.

The question is now, is there room for him? The Flames organization is likely moving on from Ivan Prosvetov, but Arsenii Sergeev and Kirill Zarubin are both signed next year on their entry level contracts. Connor Murphy has been a reliable ECHL goaltender and last resort netminder for the Wranglers if others go down or are called up. Which of Say, Sergeev, or Zarubin would be in the ECHL if Say is extended?

Based on his play last season, Owen Say is likely not wanting to risk being a starter for the Rapid City Rush, but where will his development be best served? Here or elsewhere? That will be something for him, his agent, and management to ponder in contract conversations.