A handful of familiar names hit the waiver wire Sunday as NHL teams trimmed their training camp rosters ahead of Monday’s season-opening deadline, and several former Flames were right in the middle of it.
David Rittich and Jakob Pelletier look like the two ex-Flames with the clearest path to being claimed out of the 71 players placed on waivers, but they were hardly alone. John Beecher, Cole Schwindt and Juuso Valimaki also ended up on the list, along with Flames draft pick Laurent Brossoit and former Stockton Heat captain Alex Petrovic.
Rittich, 34, had just signed a one-year, $1 million deal with the New Jersey Devils on July 2, but his stay on the roster was short-lived. New Jersey waived him Sunday after claiming fellow goalie Remi Poirier from the Dallas Stars. Rittich, a Czech netminder, started his NHL career with Calgary in 2017 and remained with the club until late in the 2020-21 season, when he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Pelletier’s situation is a little different, but his name on waivers still stands out. The 25-year-old is in the second season of the three-year contract he signed with the Tampa Bay Lightning as an unrestricted free agent in 2025. A 2019 first-round pick, he played five NHL games for Tampa Bay in 2025-26, but spent most of the season with the AHL’s Syracuse Crunch, where he led the league in scoring and earned a spot on the end-of-season First All-Star Team.
Beecher and Schwindt were waived by the Florida Panthers after being edged out for opening-night jobs by Boko Imama and Sandis Vilmanis. Valimaki, meanwhile, got close with the Carolina Hurricanes before being passed over in favor of Mike Reilly and Charles-Alexis Legault.
Sunday’s waiver list also included one more name with a little extra intrigue for Flames followers: Alexander Holtz. The Vegas Golden Knights put him on waivers, and he was once viewed by some as a possible piece in a Jacob Markstrom deal.
That never happened. Calgary eventually sent Markstrom to New Jersey for Kevin Bahl and a 2025 first-round pick, and both of those assets wound up being more valuable long-term pieces than Holtz.
The Flames will turn in their season-opening roster on Monday, and the early read is that Brennan Othmann will make it, while Aydar Suniev and Alex Nylander will not. Once that’s done, Calgary will be set to begin its 2026-27 schedule against the Seattle Kraken on Oct. 1.
In Other News...
Aydar Suniev Is Forcing A Flames Decision They Didn't Expect
Aydar Suniev has done just about everything a young player can do to get noticed in camp. The winger has flashed real offensive promise for Calgary, and his run of goals in preseason has put him squarely on the radar as the kind of prospect who can make a conversation get uncomfortable for management in a hurry.
The problem for the Flames is that the depth chart in the top nine is already crowded with veterans and returning players, which makes the immediate path to the NHL look narrow. Unless Calgary clears room later by moving one or more established forwards, Suniev appears headed for the AHL to start the 2026/27 season, even if his preseason play keeps forcing the front office to think about him sooner than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Near Final Roster Call As Camp Battle Reaches The Finish Line
The Flames training camp picture got a little clearer with forward Alex Nylander headed to the AHLs Calgary Wranglers after clearing waivers, trimming the roster to 25 players as the team heads into the final stretch of decisions. At this stage of camp, the remaining moves are less about broad evaluation and more about sorting out the last few spots, with the organization closing in on what should be its opening-night group.
Calgary is expected to settle the roster by placing Jonathan Huberdeau on injured reserve and sending waiver-exempt Aydar Suniev to the Wranglers, moves that would effectively lock in Brennan Othmanns place with the big club. Othmanns recent contract signing and preseason play have put him in strong position, and unless something changes late, he appears to have done enough to stick when the Flames make the call. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Linked To A Risky Fit They May Not Want To Pay For
The Flames are still looking for help down the middle, and Kirby Dach has surfaced as a name worth watching. According to NHL insider Frank Seravalli, Calgary has shown interest in the Montral Canadiens forward, who can play both centre and wing and was taken third overall in 2019. For a team trying to bolster its top six, the appeal is obvious: Dach brings size, pedigree and positional versatility, all of which fit a lineup that has been searching for more stability up front.
The question, as it so often is with Dach, comes back to whether the fit is worth the uncertainty. His career has been marked by injuries, and that history makes any potential move a calculated gamble rather than a straightforward upgrade. Calgary may like the idea of adding a centre who can move around the lineup, but the real debate is whether the Flames want to pay for a player whose upside is still tied so closely to his health and availability. [Read more 🡒]