The Calgary Flames got their first win of the season on Tuesday night, but the 1-5-0 start has done nothing to change the bigger picture: this team still has to keep its eyes on the future.
That’s where Washington starts to come into focus. With Craig Conroy looking to keep building out the organization, two young Capitals have been floated as names worth monitoring, and both could make sense for Calgary in different ways.
The first is Ivan Miroshnichenko. Elliotte Friedman brought him up on a recent 32 Thoughts podcast, noting that Washington may not have room for the 22-year-old and likely believe he wouldn’t get through waivers.
On the surface, Miroshnichenko checks a lot of boxes for the Flames. He’s 6-foot-1 and 205 pounds, and he has already shown he can score at a useful pace.
Last season in the AHL, he put up 14 goals and 34 points. In the NHL, he has played 53 games and recorded 6 goals and 14 points, and this season he has already appeared in one game for Washington and scored a goal.
Calgary’s wing depth also makes the fit easy to see. With players like Maxim Tsyplakov, Joel Farabee and Yegor Sharangovich already in the mix, there is only so much room, which makes a move like this feel possible.
Then there’s Andrew Cristall, who might be the cleaner long-term swing if the Flames are willing to bet on pure talent. The 21-year-old has not yet made his NHL debut, but Washington could be open to moving him if it means landing a win-now piece.
Cristall is undersized at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, but the production has been loud. Early in the 2026/27 AHL season, he has 8 assists in 4 games. Last year, he scored 20 goals and finished with 60 points in 72 games.
For Calgary, the appeal here is straightforward: if Conroy can add young NHL-ready pieces, he should. That’s also in line with what he did this past summer when he put several chips on the table to land Simon Nemec. At 22 and 21, respectively, Miroshnichenko and Cristall fit the age profile.
Still, the missing piece is what Washington wants back. The Flames do have trade chips, with Morgan Frost, Zach Whitecloud, Ryan Strome and Yegor Sharangovich among the names that could be available, and draft capital remains a priority. But until the Capitals’ asking price becomes clearer, this is more about keeping an eye on two intriguing possibilities than expecting a deal to happen right away.
If either player can eventually slide into Calgary’s lineup, they’d make immediate sense for Conroy. For now, they’re names worth tracking closely.
In Other News...
Flames Ugly Start Is Fueling Questions Calgary Fans Feared
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There is also movement bubbling underneath the standings. Zach Whitecloud is drawing trade interest, Connor Zary has been placed on waivers and could be on the move, and Aydar Sunievs recall has at least given Calgary one early-season jolt in the right direction. For a fan base already uneasy about the start, the sense that roster changes may not be finished only adds another layer to a situation that has turned unexpectedly tense. [Read more 🡒]
Canadiens Suddenly Have A Goalie Twist Flames Fans Should Watch
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Jacob Fowler has already become part of that conversation after being recalled from the AHL and handed three starts, and he has answered with a 2-1 record, a 1.91 goals-against average and a shutout among those first outings. Jakub Dobes has struggled to hold the net, and the possibility of a three-goalie situation adds another layer of intrigue for a Canadiens team trying to sort out its goaltending picture before the picture gets any messier. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Roster Debate Just Reopened An Old Brad Treliving Problem
Connor Zarys path has suddenly become the latest reminder of how unforgiving roster-building can be for the Flames. A 2020 first-round pick, Zary was on waivers and went unclaimed, sending him back to the AHL and reopening the broader conversation about Calgarys draft history under former general manager Brad Treliving.
Looking back from 2014 through 2022, the ledger is mixed in a way that still matters to this franchise. Some classes produced useful NHL pieces and a few real impact players, but too many selections never reached the league in a meaningful way or could not hold onto a job once they got there, and the 2020 group is now looking especially thin with Yan Kuznetsov the lone full-time NHLer from that class. [Read more 🡒]