Jonathan Huberdeau’s injury has created a real opening in Calgary’s camp race, and it may give one young forward a chance to stick around longer than expected.
The Flames arrived at training camp with 52 players, but the math gets tight fast. By 3 p.m.
MT on Mon., Sept. 28, they need to be down to a cap-compliant roster of between 20 and 23 players. On paper, the salary-cap side of the equation looks comfortable enough.
If Calgary carries 22 active players and places Huberdeau on injured reserve, PuckPedia projects the club would still have $14.9 million in cap space.
The harder part is sorting out actual roster spots.
Calgary already has 20 players on one-way NHL contracts for the season ahead. That group includes goalies Dustin Wolf and Devin Cooley; defencemen Kevin Bahl, Zach Whitecloud, Jacob Middleton, Simon Nemec, Yan Kuznetsov, Brayden Pachal and Joel Hanley; and forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Morgan Frost, Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, Ryan Strome, Yegor Sharangovich, Maxim Tsyplakov, Mikael Backlund, Joel Farabee, Adam Klapka and Martin Pospisil.
Then there are three entry-level players who have made strong cases to be on the NHL roster: Zayne Parekh, Matvei Gridin and Sam Honzek. That creates the obvious squeeze. Even with those young players pushing for jobs, there does not seem to be much room for anyone else.
Huberdeau’s injury changes that picture.
He is expected to start the 2026-27 regular season on injured reserve after hip resurfacing surgery, and general manager Craig Conroy has described the recovery window as seven to nine months. Huberdeau is already seven months into that recovery, and while the timeline should become clearer by the end of training camp, an absence of roughly a month or so would create a chance for someone else to claim a roster spot early.
The opening looks more likely to come up front than on defence. Calgary appears to have eight blueliners in the mix for regular work, with young Hunter Brzustewicz likely starting the year with the Wranglers. That points the focus toward the forwards, where the Flames could give one of their young centres a shot.
Sam Morton, Jonathan Castagna and Tyson Gross are the names to watch there. Any of them could begin the season on the NHL roster and try to make a case that they can be part of the long-term answer at fourth-line centre.
So while Huberdeau’s injury is obviously not ideal, it has given Calgary something else in camp: a genuine opening. Over the next 10 days or so, the Flames will find out who can make the most of it.
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Simon Nemec does not really fit that conversation in the same way as the others, since the organization views him as a core defensive prospect it would not be looking to waive. For the rest of the group, the issue is less about talent than timing, NHL experience and how much room the Flames have when the roster starts to tighten, with Benning among the players most likely to get caught in that squeeze. [Read more 🡒]