The Calgary Flames are running out of room, and that means roster cuts are coming before Sept. 28’s final deadline.
Right now, Calgary sits at 41 players on NHL contracts, which is 18 over the 23-man limit. With the roster due at 3:00 p.m. MT on Sept. 28, the Flames are going to have to put names on waivers between now and then.
PuckPedia has already rolled out its waiver watch tracker, and for Calgary it points to a group of players who could be exposed before opening night. Among the eight listed as likely waiver candidates are Ben Jones, Michael Benning, Rory Kerins, Andreas Englund, Dryden Hunt, William Strömgren, Sam Morton, and Jake Livingstone.
The most interesting names in that group are Kerins and Strömgren.
Kerins put up 22 goals and 57 points in 56 AHL games last season, a slightly better scoring rate than his 33 goals and 61 points in 63 games during the 2024-25 AHL campaign. He still hasn’t found a real foothold in the NHL, though, with just nine games over the last two seasons and four assists to show for it.
Strömgren also had a brief NHL look last season and didn’t score in three games. In the AHL, the 23-year-old Swede posted 11 goals and 47 points, which actually edged his 2024-25 production of 14 goals and 49 points in 70 games on a per-game basis. Both players have earned another shot, and if they don’t crack the roster and make it through waivers, they should get a look at some point.
Hunt was the Wranglers’ top point producer last season, finishing with 18 goals and 63 points in 52 games. He spent 2021-22 as a regular NHL player, but over the last two seasons he has managed only eight games with the Flames and has spent most of his time in the AHL.
Morton was also in the thick of the Wranglers’ scoring race, putting up 17 goals and 38 points in 68 games. He has already appeared in three NHL games in 2025-26, but he has not yet stuck in the lineup. With Calgary rebuilding, that could change this season.
Benning joined the organization this past off-season after playing 18 NHL games for the Florida Panthers in 2025-26, where he had two goals and six points. He also added eight goals and 31 points in 57 AHL games with the Charlotte Checkers.
Livingstone was Benning’s teammate in Charlotte. Over 52 games, he scored three goals and 17 points. His NHL experience is limited to five games back in 2022-23, and he was also a teammate of Morton’s at Minnesota State University - Mankato.
Jones brings some NHL time as well, having played 28 games with the Minnesota Wild in 2025-26. He scored a goal and three points at that level, while also producing 12 goals and 32 points in 37 games. Like Hunt and Morton, he fits the mold of a veteran who has bounced between the AHL and NHL.
Englund has by far the longest NHL résumé of the group, with 2000 career games split between the Ottawa Senators, Colorado Avalanche, Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, and Nashville Predators. But last season was mostly an AHL year for him, and he finished with three goals and 13 points in 52 games while appearing in only three NHL contests.
Of that eight-player group, Strömgren and Kerins look like the best bets to make the roster before the deadline, and the ones with the strongest chance to become regulars if they clear waivers.
PuckPedia also listed five players as waiver candidates rather than likely cuts: Brennan Othmann, Yan Kuznetsov, Adam Klapka, Brayden Pachal, and Maxim Tsyplakov.
Klapka looks like the safest of that group. The 6-foot-8, 235-pound Czech forward scored six goals and 18 points in 79 games last season, and with Calgary rebuilding, letting a player with that kind of size and skill get away for nothing would be a tough move.
Othmann is another player who seems unlikely to be waived. The former top prospect came to the Flames from the New York Rangers before the 2026 trade deadline in the deal for Jacob Battaglia, and the Pickering product is expected to get a real NHL chance this season.
Tsyplakov arrived with Šimon Nemec in a trade shortly before the 2026 NHL Draft. The Russian forward scored 10 goals and 35 points in 77 games in his first NHL season in 2024-25, then managed two goals and four points in 49 points split between the New York Islanders and New Jersey Devils. Before coming to North America, the 28-year-old had 31 goals for Moscow Spartak in the 2023-24 Kontinental Hockey League season.
Kuznetsov became a regular last season, playing 57 games and finishing with four goals and 12 points. Pachal had a similar role, appearing in 39 games and recording a goal and seven points. The two could end up splitting time as Calgary’s seventh defenceman in 2026-27.
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