The Calgary Flames are in a strange but welcome spot: they’re winning, the goals are coming, the goaltending has held up, and their young players are doing a lot of the heavy lifting. That’s the good news. The tricky part is figuring out what happens when the roster finally gets whole again.
Jonathan Huberdeau still has to play a game for the team, while Sam Honzek and Brennan Othmann remain out injured. All three were on the opening-night roster back in October, and since then the Flames have leaned on call-ups like Aydar Suniev, Jonathan Castagna and William Stromgren. Those three have all chipped in in their own way, which makes the next roster squeeze a real one.
The cleanest answer for who heads back to the Wranglers starts with Stromgren, Honzek and Max Tysplakov.
Stromgren has earned a longer look at some point, but after playing just over eight minutes on Sunday night, the path is pretty clear. He’d be better served getting top minutes in the AHL than sitting on the bench for long stretches in Calgary.
Honzek is a tougher case, because he has flashed enough to suggest he can play at this level. But he also hasn’t been able to stay healthy, and before the injury he was struggling.
With Suniev playing as well as he has, it would send the wrong message to bump him aside for Honzek. At this stage, Honzek simply hasn’t done enough at the NHL level to be handed a spot instead of earning one.
Tysplakov is the easiest call of the bunch. He hasn’t been a good Flame, and he probably isn’t an NHL player right now. Since he won’t be claimed on waivers, Calgary can move on without much consequence.
So what does the lineup actually look like when everyone is available? The core shape probably stays familiar, even if Ryan Huska chooses to shuffle the exact combinations.
One move that makes sense is putting Matvei Gridin, Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato back together. They’ve all been playing their best hockey of the season, especially Gridin and Coronato, and the group has looked dangerous when they’ve been clicking. Reuniting them would give the Flames their most dangerous offensive trio back in one place.
Another line worth keeping intact is the one with Joel Farabee, Mikael Backlund and Yegor Sharangovich. Farabee has been off to the best start of his career and is sitting at a point-per-game pace.
Backlund brings his usual consistency, while Sharangovich has been unusually strong defensively this season and still has the shot to punish teams when he uses it. It’s not the flashiest unit, but it could be a difficult one to handle and would take some pressure off the younger scorers.
Huberdeau’s return is the biggest unknown. He hasn’t played since February, so even though his name still carries weight, the question is whether he can get back to being an NHL player after surgery. A sheltered offensive role seems like the safest way to bring him along.
That’s where Martin Pospisil and Suniev come in. Pospisil has bounced back this season after last year was interrupted by a preseason injury, and Suniev has been steady since his call-up.
That line would get favorable offensive-zone starts against weaker competition, giving Huberdeau a controlled environment to see if he can still contribute. A pure finisher on one side and a physical, disruptive presence on the other would help.
The fourth line, meanwhile, probably stays as it was before Othmann got hurt. Castagna has been excellent in a defensive role, Adam Klapka has been effective there too, and the mix of speed, youth and physical play has worked. There’s no obvious reason to break that up.
That leaves Ryan Strome on the outside looking in. He’s been fine, and the room clearly values him, but the roster is crowded.
With Castagna playing well, Pospisil taking a center spot, and the wings packed, there just may not be a clean opening for him. He can step in when needed, but with his contract expiring after the season, there doesn’t seem to be much point in using him every night if the rest of the group is healthy.
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What makes this decision tricky is the kind of move Calgary is likely to consider. The market does not always hand out clean fixes, and the Flames have to think about more than just plugging a gap for a few weeks. A young defender or a shorter-term addition could make more sense than a pure rental, but whichever direction Conroy chooses, the loss of Bahl has turned a manageable situation into one that now demands a careful answer. [Read more 🡒]