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Yan Kuznetsov has given the Flames blueline a clearly-defined top four
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Photo credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Dec 7, 2025, 14:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 7, 2025, 12:40 EST
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When the Calgary Flames began their 2025-26 season, their defensive group was a work in progress.
The Flames had a well-defined shutdown pair, with Kevin Bahl paired with Rasmus Andersson in a continuation of their existing unit from 2024-25. And beyond that duo, they had a pretty steady churn over the first 14 games of the season.
In particular, MacKenzie Weegar, arguably the Flames’ top blueliner in 2024-25, bounced from pairing to pairing, spending games with Joel Hanley, Daniil Miromanov and Jake Bean over the first 14 games. The constant mixing and matching of Weegar with other defenders meant that the third pairing had similar churn. (And we don’t need to get into what that churn may have meant when it came to giving Zayne Parekh a consistent role as he moved into the NHL from junior hockey.)
On Nov. 4, the Flames brought up Yan Kuznetsov from the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers. After spending his first three games with Brayden Pachal and Andersson, he was paired with Weegar on Nov. 11. Since then, the Flames have had their first two defensive pairings basically set in stone, with Hanley, Bean and Pachal rotating on the third pairing.
Since Kuznetsov joined Weegar, the Flames are 7-4-2.
Kuznetsov’s steady play has had two big impacts on the Flames.
One is pretty simple: the penalty kill has been a lot more effective with him as part of that rotation. During his tenure with the Wranglers, Kuznetsov was leaned on heavily in defensive situations and on the penalty kill. Prior to his promotion to the NHL, the Flames killed off 77.4% of opposition power plays. Since then, they’re operating at 91.1%. Moreover, every major defensive metric on the penalty kill – expected goals against, scoring chances against and high-danger chances against – has improved.
Now, it’s not just Kuznetsov’s presence on the PK that has turned it around. He was joining a group that had 14 games to wrap their heads around Trent Cull’s systems tweaks. Similarly, Cull had spent ample time with Kuznetsov with the Wranglers, so he knew a lot about his tendencies and habits. All of those factors have likely contributed to the Flames being a very stingy bunch on the PK with Kuznetsov on special teams.
The other one comes from how Kuznetsov has been used impacts everyone else’s ice time. Simply put: the Flames have a top four now. It’s well-defined, with all four defenders having clear roles and averaging north of 20 minutes per night:
  • Andersson and Weegar anchor the two power play units.
  • Bahl, Kuznetsov, Andersson and Weegar all work the penalty kill.
This leaves the third pairing as the “bump-up” pairing after special teams shifts, which allows the Flames to transition back to rotating their regular even strength units when special teams time is over and maintaining their in-game rhythm.
(Since Kuznetsov’s arrival, Weegar is playing about 1:30 less per game and Andersson is playing 0:33 more, with about 1:10 per game shifting from penalty kill work to even strength shifts for Andersson, with Andersson’s increase in ice time being entirely more power play time.)
Following the Flames’ 2-0 win over Utah on Saturday, Flames head coach Ryan Huska discussed Kuznetsov’s performance since joining the Flames from the AHL:
“He’s not trying to be something that he isn’t. That’s maybe the one thing that I would say about him. He understands his game and he understands what we need out of him. It’s not to be generating offence or up in the rush. He needs to be a guy that’s hard to play against on the defending side. And in doing that, he’s allowing MacKenzie to be freed up a little bit more. So I think he’s been one of the best stories for us over the last month and a bit. He’s been excellent and has been pretty consistent with it. So I go back to giving a lot of credit to the guys with the Wranglers over the last couple of years for making sure he was ready to play when the opportunity came for him.”
The Flames are back in action on Monday when they host the Buffalo Sabres.

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