{"id":189401,"date":"2025-09-11T22:29:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:29:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/189401\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T22:29:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T22:29:10","slug":"trio-of-calgary-flames-youngsters-have-sights-set-on-nhl-roster-spots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/189401\/","title":{"rendered":"Trio of Calgary Flames youngsters have sights set on NHL roster spots"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three players who made their National Hockey League debuts last season took the ice at Calgary Flames<\/a>\u2019 prospect camp Thursday at Canada Olympic Park. <\/p>\n

Defenceman Hunter Brzustewicz<\/a> and forwards Samuel Honzek<\/a> and Aydar Suniev<\/a> all have a shot to make the Flames when training camp kicks off next week. <\/p>\n

Honzek surprised many by making the team out of camp a season ago, while Brzustewicz and Suniev played their first games in the regular-season finale after the Flames were eliminated from playoff contention. <\/p>\n

\u201cI did an okay job last year but I\u2019m just trying to get better every day,\u201d Brzustewicz said. <\/p>\n

At training camp a year ago, head coach Ryan Huska<\/a> compared Brzustewicz to Rasmus Andersson<\/a>, whose future with the organization is tenuous.<\/p>\n

Brzustewicz, an offensive defenceman the team acquired from Vancouver for Elias Lindholm<\/a> back in 2024, said he\u2019s tried to get stronger and cut out bad off-ice habits to adapt to the pro game. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou learn from other guys,\u201d he said. \u201cBecome more of a pro. Less snacks off the ice is always a big one\u2026ice cream is my favourite.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brzustewicz believes he can make the jump to the NHL on a more full-time basis after getting a taste in April.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery single thing you see within the NHL teams, it makes you want it that much more, just to be there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Honzek, the team\u2019s 2023 first-round pick, said he put on 15 pounds of muscle over the summer after tallying 21 points in 52 games with the AHL\u2019s Wranglers last season. Prior to joining the Wranglers, he skated five games on a line with veterans Nazem Kadri<\/a> and Andrei Kuzmenko<\/a> to start the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe better on the walls,\u201d he said, of areas he\u2019s been challenged to improve in. \u201cPlay harder. Be harder on the puck\u2026getting the pucks on the forecheck and using the extra muscles I gained during the summer to my advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honzek has previously spoken about how motivating it was to train with teammate Martin Pospisil<\/a> two summers ago. Pospisil would push him at the gym to an extra set or rep. The two trained together again this year in Slovakia, this time with a different dynamic. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis time\u2026I pushed him,\u201d Honzek said with a smile. \u201cI just want to be better than him and he wants to be better than me. It\u2019s a good kind of competitiveness between us. We had a great summer, and he looks good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Honzek said he is relying on the self-belief he gained this time last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the right mindset, even if things don\u2019t go well,\u201d he said. \u201cStill focus, work hard, and whatever happens, I have to be ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suniev spent part of his summer training with established NHLers Chris Kreider<\/a> and Trevor Zegras<\/a> in New York. He played last season with UMass-Amherst, tallying 38 points in 35 games before signing his entry-level contract at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tried to get faster and work on my skill work\u2026[and] a little more details in the defensive zone,\u201d he said of his focus during the off-season.<\/p>\n

Suniev said he soaked in the experience of being around those veterans. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a cool environment to learn something\u2026they\u2019ve played a long time in the NHL.\u201d<\/p>\n

General manager Craig Conroy<\/a> has constantly preached that he wants young players to steal jobs at the NHL level, and goalie Dustin Wolf\u2019s recent seven-year, $52.5 million extension<\/a> is the most recent evidence of that coming to fruition.<\/p>\n

The third-year GM is slowly building around a young core that includes Wolf, defenceman Kevin Bahl<\/a>, and forward Matt Coronato<\/a>, all of whom have signed long-term deals to remain in southern Alberta. <\/p>\n

Ahead of two games versus Edmonton Oilers<\/a> prospects on Friday and Sunday, Flames rookies know there\u2019s a chance they can be part of the youth movement initiated by Conroy. <\/p>\n

Top prospect Zayne Parekh<\/a> is a big part of the organization\u2019s future, but is injured and won\u2019t play this weekend, though he is expected to be ready when main camp opens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get more and more confident that I potentially could make the team,\u201d Brzustewicz said. \u201cI think that should be everyone\u2019s goal \u2013 to make the team, even if you\u2019re 18 or 25.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Three players who made their National Hockey League debuts last season took the ice at Calgary Flames\u2019 prospect…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189402,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[4759,895,26,32473,5294,32476,896,5,32474,4,32475],"class_list":{"0":"post-189401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary-flames","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-calgary","10":"tag-calgary-flames","11":"tag-calgary-flames-sports-hockey-team-team-nhl-api-20","12":"tag-calgaryflames","13":"tag-craig-conroy-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8455919","14":"tag-flames","15":"tag-hockey","16":"tag-hunter-brzustewicz-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8484150","17":"tag-nhl","18":"tag-samuel-honzek-sports-hockey-player-player-nhl-api-8484180"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115188030750503866","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}