Every off-season, even if a season goes incredibly well, there’s roster turnover within the Calgary Flames organization. On Friday, the first organizational departure was confirmed, as Calgary Wranglers blueliner Brady Lyle signed with the Kontinental Hockey League’s Dynamo Minsk.

Lyle is 24 years old, but he turns 25 in June and between his age and contractual status, he was slated to become a Group VI unrestricted free agent on July 1.

An Ontario Hockey League product that was passed over in the NHL Draft, Lyle spent 2020-21 with the AHL’s Providence Bruins on a minor-league deal and he performed well enough to earn an entry-level deal from the Bruins. He was traded from the Bruins to the St. Louis Blues midway through the 2021-22 season, and he wasn’t tendered a qualifying offer by the Blues following the 2022-23 season and became an unrestricted free agent.

Lyle signed with the Flames during the 2023 off-season. Projected as a power play specialist, Lyle just didn’t find a groove during his year with the Wranglers. He played in 47 of the Wranglers’ 72 regular season games, missing a chunk of games due to injury, and posting six goals and 15 points. Lyle had eight points on the power play, but Jonathan Aspirot had far more success on the man advantage (with 15 PP points), which relegated Lyle to a secondary role – and that was before Jeremie Poirier returned from injury. Lyle didn’t dress at all in the post-season, with Aspirot, Poirier and Jordan Oesterle serving as the point men on the Wranglers’ PP units.

If we’re being honest, Lyle’s departure isn’t all that shocking given his lack of a role. Lyle was the victim of the numbers game, and he was probably going to continue be without a role going forward. If you look at the organizational depth chart, departures from the blueline were almost a foregone conclusion given the additions of Artem Grushnikov, Joni Jurmo and Hunter Brzustewicz to the organization as full-timers in 2024-25. Lyle’s still quite young, so we’ll see if he can regain his swagger in the KHL next season.