The Calgary Flames have turned a small early-season roster shakeup into two fresh looks up front, recalling Aydar Suniev and Jonathan Castagna ahead of Thursday’s meeting with the Colorado Avalanche.
The Suniev move had been building for a while. He was the standout story of Flames camp this preseason, flashing the kind of offensive ceiling that made him hard to ignore.
Across the NexGen Rookie Showcase and two preseason games, he scored multiple goals and kept putting his name in the conversation. His start with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers was quieter - one assist in two games - but at 21, the jump felt inevitable once a spot opened.
That opening came after Calgary waived Connor Zary, one of the bigger surprises of the young season. Zary cleared waivers along with Brayden Pachal and is now headed to a key role with the Wranglers as he tries to get his game back on track.
For Suniev, the opportunity is real. The Flames are thin enough in the top six that he should get a shot there quickly, and the organization clearly sees the upside in giving him a longer look now rather than later.
The second recall was less obvious, but it wasn’t random. Calgary could have gone with a 13-forward, eight-defenseman setup, but instead brought up Castagna, another forward with a growing case. On Episode 1 of The Chase, Craig Conroy made it clear he was high on the former third-round pick, and Castagna has done nothing to hurt that momentum.
Through two AHL games this season, Castagna has two goals and a plus-3 rating while helping the Wranglers start 2-0-0. At 6-foot-1 and 185 pounds, he brings size and two-way value, and his NHL arrival was always more about timing than possibility.
Long term, he projects as a Ryan Strome replacement. Right now, the more immediate fit is on the fourth line, where he could slide in for one of Maxim Tsyplakov, Adam Klapka, Martin Pospisil or Brennan Othmann.
As for the forward group Thursday, some pieces already look set. The top line of Gridin-Frost-Coronato appears locked in, and Ryan Huska doesn’t seem eager to separate Mikael Backlund and Joel Farabee on the second line. Beyond that, the picture is still fluid.
One other spot seems worth watching: the top power play. Farabee has been working there, but Suniev’s finishing touch makes him a cleaner fit for that unit alongside Frost, Gridin, Coronato and Zayne Parekh.
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The Flames are already facing an early test of roster balance, with scoring depth suddenly at the center of the discussion. With the club looking for help up front, the next move is expected to come from the Calgary Wranglers, where a few forwards have put themselves on the radar with recent play and fit the kind of need Calgary is trying to address.
Aydar Suniev, Tyson Gross, Jonathan Castagna, Alex Nylander and Rory Kerins are all being viewed as possible options for an NHL promotion, and the teams decision could say plenty about how it wants to handle its forward group in the short term. Nothing has been made official yet, but the anticipation alone underscores how quickly the Flames may need to sort through their options if they want to keep enough offense in the lineup. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Scoring Problem Puts One Veteran Option In Focus
Three games into the 2026-27 season, the Flames are already facing an offense that has produced just three goals, and that has naturally pushed help-seeking conversations into the open. On TSNs Insider Trading, Pierre LeBrun reported that Calgary has at least discussed the idea of adding veteran winger Patrik Laine, a free agent who is still recovering from injury and would bring instant name value to a lineup that has struggled to find it early.
For now, though, the focus appears to be internal, with the team inclined to see what its young options can provide before making a bigger move. Aydar Suniev, Rory Kerins and Alex Nylander are among the Wranglers players the Flames want to evaluate, which leaves Laine as a potential fix rather than an immediate one. The interest is there, but the urgency to act on it does not seem to be. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Turn To Two Young Forwards As One Lineup Question Looms
The Flames are sorting through an early roster shuffle, and it has opened the door for two young forwards who have been waiting for their next NHL look. Connor Zary and Brayden Pachal both went on waivers and cleared, which created the openings Calgary used to bring back Aydar Suniev and Jonathan Castagna as it looks ahead to its next game.
Suniev, a 2024 third-round pick, had only a brief stay in the AHL before getting the call again, while Castagna arrives with some momentum after starting the minor-league season with two goals in two games. The next step is figuring out where each fits once the Flames settle their lineup roles, and that decision is still hanging over the group. [Read more 🡒]