Two wins over the Edmonton Oilers prospects. Not a bad weekend.
The Calgary Flames young guns beat their rivals from the north 5-4 on Sunday evening at the Saddledome, and will now begin their preparations for when the veterans arrive for main camp in a couple of days.
It wasn’t a perfect game, but these pre-season contests aren’t supposed to be.
Here are five players who stood out against the Oilers:
1. AYDAR SUNIEV
The thing that jumps out most about Suniev is how comfortable he is with the puck on his stick in the offensive zone.
He doesn’t rush to give it up, and is remarkably calm stickhandling for a couple seconds and looking for opportunities to create. Throughout Friday’s game, that led to a couple solid opportunities for the Flames youngsters. His patience on the puck led directly to Hunter Laing’s third-period power-play goal, and he had another assist earlier on Parker Bell’s lamp-lighter.
“I really liked it, I thought that line was our best line with (Parker) Bell and (David) Silye),” said Calgary Wranglers head coach Brett Sutter, who was the bench boss for the young Flames on Sunday. “They played against the other team’s best line the whole night and they controlled it for the most part. Really good job staying on top of play and then they had some really good looks offensively, I thought they could have gotten rewarded with a couple more.
“Really liked him, he drove the pace of play and I thought he was one of the most noticeable forwards for us.”
Those of us who have watched him during prospects camp have noted his shot – it’s nasty – but Suniev isn’t just going to be a guy who sets up in the slot and waits for one-timers. There’s a creativity to his game that is fun to watch and the skill-set is there to back it up.
He’s more than a sniper, that’s for sure.
“I think I’m a little bit of both, obviously if I can shoot I’ll shoot, but if my partner is in a better position I can make a play, too,” Suniev explained.
How quickly can that translate to the NHL? We may find out sooner rather than later.
Calgary Flames centre Carter King was photographed during the prospects game against the Edmonton Oilers at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday, September 14, 2025. Brent Calver/Postmedia
2. CARTER KING
King was credited for assisting on Matvei Gridin’s second period marker, but it could easily have been his second helper of the night.
His best pass of the night came in the first period when he found a streaking Gridin and set up a breakaway that the young Russian – who we’ll get to in a minute – couldn’t bury.
The pass itself was right on the tape, though, and so was his set-up in the second that Gridin made no mistake burying.
King was excellent throughout the night, and while at 24-years-old he’s got a few more years of experience to his name than many of the other players out on the ice at the Saddledome on Sunday, he’s still entering his first professional season.
King has shown through prospects camp why he was so highly regarded coming out of the University of Denver earlier this year, and he’s going to be one to keep an eye on with the Wranglers this season.
“He can slow the game down and find those guys flying down the wings,” Sutter said. “Another one of the guys who I thought kind of controlled the pace of play and how he wanted to play. He was one of those guys who took a big step … It’s clear he’s buying in.”
3. MATVEI GRIDIN
Gridin is fun to watch, plain and simple.
He’s fast, he’s creative and he seems to shoot from anywhere.
For the second game in a row, he was rewarded with a goal on Sunday, ripping a puck into the Edmonton net after some nice work along the boards by Sam Honzek and a pretty feed from King.
“I thought he was awesome. Both sides,” Sutter said. “He drives plays, he’s creative, he creates chances for himself and his teammates and he’s doing all the right things at the other end. Awesome.”
Selected in the first round, 28th overall, of the 2024 NHL Draft, Gridin has come a long way in only a year. There’s rightfully going to be a lot of excitement surrounding his future in Calgary.
“Honestly, he’s really good at getting into the areas where he can shoot,” King said when asked about playing with Gridin. “I think that’s the best part of a shooter, is having that ability to find that pocket and that area to give it to him. When you have a guy like that, it’s find him, because he’s probably open.”
4. AXEL HURTIG
It’s possible that Hurtig will spend another season with the Calgary Hitmen this year instead of starting his pro career with the Wranglers. That has more to do with the depth the Flames organization has at the AHL level than anything else.
He was great on Sunday night, throwing his 6-foot-4 frame around and earning rave reviews from the coaches.
“I loved Axel’s game today, I thought him and (Simon) Mack were by far our best pair out there,” Sutter said. “Really reliable, steady, predictable, exactly what you want from a guy like him.
“Another one of those guys, big long reach and guys have a hard time getting around him and he’s really smart, he makes the right reads at the right time.”
The Flames have a lot of exciting defensive pieces in their system. Nobody should be sleeping on Hurtig, though.
Calgary Flames goaltender Arsenii Sergeev deflects the puck during the prospects game against the Edmonton Oilers at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Sunday, September 14, 2025. Brent Calver/Postmedia
5. ARSENII SERGEEV
This was a pre-season prospects game, so there aren’t super reliable stats to go off and we can’t be totally sure how many shots Sergeev faced against the Oilers.
He did allow four goals, which he won’t be happy with, even if a couple of them definitely weren’t his fault.
In the dying seconds, though, he sprawled out to make a couple huge saves that prevented the game from going to overtime.
“He gave us a chance to win and that’s all you can ask,” Sutter said. “He wasn’t very happy after the game, I know that, but at the end of the day you win a big one for us and give us a chance to win, as a coaching staff that’s all you can ask.”
Sergeev will have lots of opportunities to show that he’s capable of more than his showing on Sunday.