When the Flames sent Rasmus Andersson to the Vegas Golden Knights in January, Abram Wiebe was hardly a name that registered with much of Calgary. More than six months later, the 22-year-old defender is still something of a mystery to the average fan - even after finishing his college career at North Dakota, signing his entry-level contract, and making his NHL debut.
What Wiebe did in that final run with the Fighting Hawks, though, is impossible to ignore. He caught fire after the trade, piling up 15 points in 16 games to close out his junior season and helping North Dakota surge through a brutal NCHC stretch.
He averaged 19:52 in those 16 games, picked up two goals and 13 assists, and did a lot of his damage while paired with shutdown defender E.J. Emery.
North Dakota won the conference championship and punched its ticket to the Frozen Four with Wiebe playing a central role.
Born Aug. 28, 2003, in Mission, B.C., Wiebe is listed at 6’3″ and 206 pounds and shoots left. The Flames took him in the seventh round of the 2022 NHL Draft, 209th overall, and he didn’t become Calgary property until the Andersson deal brought him over from Vegas alongside Zach Whitecloud and two future draft picks, one of which has already been flipped to acquire Simon Nemec.
At the time, he looked like a modest add-on. Since then, he’s given Flames fans a reason to pay attention.
His path has been a slow build. In Chilliwack, he didn’t really surface as a draft candidate until his second year of eligibility, and even after serving as the Chiefs’ captain in 2022-23, he needed time at North Dakota before becoming a real difference-maker. By his junior year, though, he had climbed into a leadership role as an associate captain and established himself as a steady presence on both special teams.
Dakota Student contributor Anthony Dillett described him this way:
Last season: Abram Wiebe continued to grow as a player in his junior season, leading the team as an associate captain and shining as one of the star members of North Dakota’s defensive corps.
Wiebe notched similar numbers to his 2024/25 campaign, save for a reduced number of blocked shots and a higher shooting percentage, owing in part to a more consistent defensive line chart. He continued to feature on the Hawks’ power play and penalty kill throughout the season. North Dakota Assistant Coach Matt Smaby described Wiebe as “rock solid,” praising his play on the man advantage and sound defense.
Wiebe ranked fourth among NCAA defensemen in assists and earned NCAA all-tournament honors at the Sioux Falls, S.D. Regional.
As part of the U.S. Collegiate Selects, he travelled to Davos, Switzerland, where he featured in all four games the team played.
The 6’3” associate captain remained a steady presence in the North Dakota locker room, establishing himself as a key upperclassman for the Hawks’ incoming freshmen to look up to throughout the season.
The Flames signed Wiebe to a two-year entry-level contract on Apr. 10, and just two days after Wisconsin knocked North Dakota out of the NCAA tournament, he made his NHL debut in Seattle. He appeared in Calgary’s final four games of the 2025-26 season and averaged 12:01 of ice time, which is about what you’d expect from a player who started the week in college and ended it in the NHL.
Looking ahead to 2026-27, the safest bet is that Wiebe starts with the Calgary Wranglers. He is exempt from waivers, and there isn’t an obvious opening on the Flames’ blue line anyway, especially with the organization’s young defense depth already crowded. Hunter Brzustewicz is in that mix too, and the Wranglers will have added insulation from Andreas Englund, Jake Livingstone, and Mike Benning.
That doesn’t mean Wiebe is being written off. Far from it.
He’s just a player who needs more runway to get used to pro pace, and the Flames can afford to let that happen. If he sticks, he profiles as a bigger version of Joel Hanley at the NHL level - not flashy, but useful.
And with the way injuries tend to open doors over a long season, expect to see the Flaming C on Wiebe a handful of times in 2026-27.
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The bigger question is where Honzek fits next if he keeps trending up. A larger role in the Flames top-six forward group in 2026/27 is at least on the table, but it will depend on continued development and whether he earns the opportunity when it opens. That is the kind of decision fans tend to split on, because the upside is obvious, but the club also has to decide how patient it wants to be with a young forward whose best hockey may still be ahead of him. [Read more 🡒]