Which veteran Flames blueliner do you like the most? Which youngsters do you want to see more of? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n
Hurtig\u2019s deal made him the 10th defenceman in the organization under contract for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n
As the Flames schedule has been winding down, we\u2019ve been looking ahead to who\u2019s under contract for next season, and the various decisions the Flames have on their plate this off-season.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve already looked in net, so let\u2019s take a look at the blueline!<\/p>\n
Under contract<\/p>\n
As mentioned, the Flames have 10 defenders under NHL deals for 2026-27. We\u2019ll do this rundown in themed groups.<\/p>\n
Kevin Bahl (25) enters the second year of his hefty six year, $5.35 million AAV deal. He\u2019s basically been a top pairing option this season, either as the defensive id to Rasmus Andersson\u2019s offensive tendencies, or on a more pure shutdown pairing alongside Zach Whitecloud. He\u2019s been really solid.<\/p>\n
Speaking of\u00a0Zach Whitecloud (29), he\u2019ll be entering the fifth year of a six year, $2.75 million AAV deal he signed back when he was with Vegas. He\u2019s been really solid, particularly in defensive situations.<\/p>\n
Continuing our tour of \u201cdefencemen Craig Conroy acquired from other teams,\u201d\u00a0Olli Maatta (31) will be in the first year of a three year deal with a $3.5 million AAV that he signed when he was in Utah. Maatta\u2019s played on the second or third pairing with the Flames, usually with either Brayden Pachal or Hunter Brzustewicz, but he\u2019s been quite effective so far.<\/p>\n
A pair of waiver claims are next up: Joel Hanley (34) and Brayden Pachal (26). Hanley\u2019s in the second year of a $1.75 million AAV deal, while Pachal\u2019s in the second year of a $1,187,500 AAV deal. With the Flames\u2019 youth, neither guy has been emphasized all that much this year, but both guys have been effective depth when called upon.<\/p>\n
Finally, young guys!<\/p>\n
Yan Kuznetsov (24) is the oldest young guy, and he\u2019s in the second year of a $812,500 AAV deal. He\u2019s become a defensive specialist with the Flames in 2025-26 and has quietly been one of the more effective rookie blueliners in the NHL.Hunter Brzustewicz\u00a0(21) is entering the final year of his three year entry-level deal with a $950,00 AAV. He\u2019s bounced between the NHL and AHL a bit this season \u2013 his waiver exemption has made him the easiest guy to send up and down \u2013 but he\u2019s been solid if unspectacular with the Flames.Zayne Parekh (20) is entering the second year of his entry-level deal with a $942,500 AAV. He\u2019ll be eligible to play in the NHL or AHL in 2026-27, but we suspect the Flames will give him every chance to be on the big club\u2019s roster given the flashes of brilliance he\u2019s shown down the stretch. (We won\u2019t rule out the AHL for short stints, though.)Etienne Morin (21) is entering the second year of his entry-level deal with $871,666 AAV. He bounced between the AHL and ECHL early in 2025-26, but he\u2019s really found his stride in the back half of the season. Like Parekh, he\u2019s shown puck-moving brilliance. But like Parekh, he probably needs a summer of training to be able to physically battle more effectively for pucks.Finally,\u00a0Axel Hurtig (20) just signed his entry-level deal with a $990,000 AAV. (His AAV is higher than everyone else on entry-level deals because rookie minimums and maximums were boosted in the new CBA.) He\u2019s destined for the AHL for 2026-27, we imagine.On expiring deals<\/p>\n
Five currently-contracted defenders are on expiring contracts on July 1.<\/p>\n
Minor-leaguers\u00a0Gavin White (23) and Artem Grushnikov (23) are eligible to become restricted free agents this summer as their entry-level deals expire. Both are more AHL depth options than future NHLers at this point, with Grushnikov being an occasional healthy scratch for the Wranglers from time to time.<\/p>\n
Nick Cicek (25) is slated to become a Group 6 unrestricted free agent, but he\u2019s been really effective<\/a> and unless he\u2019s going someplace he\u2019ll have a clearer path to the NHL, perhaps the Flames try to retain him. Meanwhile,\u00a0Jake Bean (27) and\u00a0Daniil Miromanov\u00a0(28) will be traditional UFAs. Given the amount of younger options pushing in the system, we wouldn\u2019t expect to see Bean or Miromanov back.Don\u2019t forget about\u2026College prospect Abram Wiebe, acquired from Vegas in the Rasmus Andersson deal, is finishing up school\u00a0this year \u2013 he\u2019s on an accelerated path, per Sportsnet\u2019s Pat Steinberg<\/a>, and we imagine he did college classes after high school but before arriving at North Dakota\u00a0 \u2013 so the Flames have until June 1 or 30 days after he finishes college to sign him or he becomes a UFA.Swedish prospect\u00a0Jakob Leander likely sticks around his homeland for another year.\u00a0College standout\u00a0Henry Mews is headed back to Michigan after knee surgery early this season<\/a>. We suspect\u00a0Eric Jamieson may go back to Denver for a sopohmore season after impressing as a freshman, but we\u2019ll see what happens after the Frozen Four.\u00a0Mace\u2019o Phillips is headed to the University of Minnesota after spending this season in the USHL with the Green Bay Gamblers.<\/p>\n Which veteran Flames blueliner do you like the most? Which youngsters do you want to see more of? Let us know in the comments!<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775324911_653_image.webp\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hurtig\u2019s deal made him the 10th defenceman in the organization under contract for the 2026-27 season. As the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[895,26,5294,896,5,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-540653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary-flames","8":"tag-calgary","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-calgaryflames","11":"tag-flames","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116347701002753768","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540653","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=540653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}