Flames Prospect Cullen Potter Sustains Season-Ending Injury
The Calgary Flames have been dealt bad news for a 2025 first-round pick. Arizona State University centerman Cullen Potter, the 32nd-overall pick in last year’s draft, sustained a season-ending upper-body injury in a January 10th match against Miami University. The injury occured on a hard hit from 2026 draft prospect Kocha Delic. Potter will undergo surgery and face a three-to-four month recovery process, head coach Greg Powers told reporters including Gabriella Chernoff of the Sun Devil Source.
Potter was a feature piece of a strong Sun Devils offense this season. He leads the team with 12 goals and has 26 points in 24 games. His season has been an encore to the breakout freshman season Potter had at ASU last season. He bought out of his contract with the U.S. National Team Development Program before his U18 season, opting instead to go to college for his draft season. The move seemed like a tall bet for the undersized, skilled-scorer but Potter stood up to the test. He scored 13 goals and 22 points in 35 games, second-most of all draft eligibles in college behind James Hagens.
Potter is the son of Jenny Potter, a former star of Team USA’s women’s national team. The elder Potter won one Olympic Gold, four World Championship Golds, and nine other international medals through a 20-year career that began when she was named an Olympian at 19. She was a high-speed, high-finesse scorer with a knack for filling all roles on offense. The younger Potter plays a similar style to his mom, bringing explosive speed and high skill to the offense.
Those talents have made Potter one of Calgary’s top prospects, a status that’s sure to stick even through an early end to his sophomore season. He will return to a starring role with the Sun Devils next season, flanked by fellow NHL draft picks and incoming recruits Benjamin Kevan, Nathan Behm, Brandon Gorzynski.
Flames Recall Martin Pospisil, Reassign Dryden Hunt
The Calgary Flames announced that they’ve recalled forward Martin Pospisil from the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers and reassigned Dryden Hunt in a corresponding roster move. Pospisil has been in the AHL on a conditioning loan for the last week.
Assuming he returns tomorrow night against the Pittsburgh Penguins, Pospisil, 26, will participate in his first NHL contest in nine months. He suffered an undisclosed upper-body injury during preseason and has been on Calgary’s injured reserve for the entire 2025-26 campaign up to today.
He’ll likely return to a bottom-six role and gradually move into a middle-six role if he can remain healthy. Throughout his first two years in the NHL, Pospisil has been a hyperphysical winger with quality playmaking abilities.
Since debuting for the Flames during the 2023-24 season, Pospisil has scored 12 goals and 49 points in 144 games, averaging 13:20 of ice time. Additionally, regarding his physicality, Pospisil has amassed 539 hits over that duration. He went scoreless in two games with a -3 rating during his conditioning loan.
Outside of Calgary, Pospisil’s return is good news for Team Slovakia for the upcoming Winter Olympics next month. Pospisil has been one of Team Slovakia’s best international players throughout the last few years, scoring three goals and seven points in seven games during the 2024 IIHF World Championships.
Meanwhile, Hunt returns to the Wranglers, where he’s spent much of the 2025-26 season. He’s tied for second in scoring on Calgary’s AHL affiliate, registering 11 goals and 31 points in 26 games.
Golden Knights Acquire Rasmus Andersson
The Golden Knights have acquired defenseman Rasmus Andersson from the Flames in a move now announced by both teams. In exchange, Calgary receives defenseman Zach Whitecloud, Vegas’ 2027 first-round pick, a conditional 2027 second-round pick, and the signing rights to University of North Dakota defender Abram Wiebe.
If the Golden Knights win the Stanley Cup this year, that 2027 second-rounder will upgrade to a 2028 first-round pick. Calgary is retaining 50% of Andersson’s $4.55MM cap hit in the deal, Friedman adds, bringing his impact down to just $2.275MM on Vegas’ books this season. Vegas’ 2027 first-rounder is also top-10 protected, Dreger notes.
It’s far from a stunning move. Andersson was first implicated in trade talks nearly two full calendar years ago. Ever since, Vegas has been one of the teams most consistently linked to the right-shot blue liner. That’s only ramped up since this past offseason, when reports indicated Nevada was the Swede’s preferred long-term destination and, naturally, would yield a larger return for Calgary because he’d be willing to sign an extension with the Knights. However, any extension won’t be registered today – David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reports there’s no new contract in place at this time.
That means Andersson, 29, is still set to reach unrestricted free agency this summer as the top defenseman available – for now. He is in the final season of the six-year, $27.3MM extension he signed with Calgary in January 2020, coming off his entry-level contract. A second-round pick by the Flames in 2015, his tenure in Calgary ends with him seventh on the franchise defenseman leaderboard in games played (584), sixth in assists (204), and sixth in points (261).
Back in training camp, it looked like the Flames’ ongoing retool had removed any possibility of their top-four anchor remaining in Calgary. Captain Mikael Backlund said in August that Andersson didn’t want his future to be a “distraction” but that a trade was inevitable. Talk of separation softened after he reported to camp, with reports indicating he’d reopened extension talks. Over the past few days, though, it became clear the Flames had received the type of trade offers they wanted and would pull the trigger on a deal.
The other team that was in it to the wire – as late as this morning – was the Bruins. According to Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic, the Flames gave Andersson permission to discuss an extension with Boston, presumably upon which the deal was contingent. They weren’t able to come to an agreement on a contract, though, putting Vegas back in the driver’s seat despite the Golden Knights not being able to talk contract with Andersson’s camp prior to the deal. If Andersson’s long-reported interest in Vegas is true, though, they shouldn’t have much trouble coming to a resolution before July 1.
The Flames’ retool is only further accelerated by the move. They already owned Vegas’ first-round pick this year as a result of 2024’s Noah Hanifin trade, giving them four guaranteed first-rounders over the next two drafts. If the Knights take home the Cup, they’ll have six first-rounders in the next three years.
Those hopefully high-value draft choices are the principal point of the return for the Flames. Whitecloud’s inclusion in the deal primarily serves as cap management for Vegas, but also gives the Flames a stable veteran option to, in part, replace Andersson’s minutes as they try to avoid overloading their young blue line talent too early in their development.
Whitecloud, 29, signed with the Knights as an undrafted free agent out of Bemidji State in 2018 and has thus remained in the organization since its inaugural season. The 6’2″ 210-lb righty has posted some tough numbers this season but has 78 points and a +42 rating in 368 games for his career, serving as their staple third-pairing option on the right side behind Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore for the past several seasons. With Pietrangelo injured, he’d been averaging 18:46 of ice time per game this season, nearly a career-high.
Wiebe, 22, isn’t without ceiling, either. The nephew of longtime Blackhawks defenseman Keith Brown was a seventh-round pick by Vegas in 2022 but has since gone on to put up some solid numbers with the Fighting Hawks. He’s now in his junior season, is an alternate captain, and has scored 48 points with a +13 rating in 102 games on North Dakota’s blue line. He owns a pro-ready 6’3″, 209-lb frame, giving him a legitimate shot at being a mobile piece near the bottom of Calgary’s lineup in the next few years.
For the Knights, acquiring Andersson means they’re back to their ethos of big in-season swings after taking last year off. Their acquisition of a high-end right-shot defender was a foregone conclusion ever since it was announced that Pietrangelo wouldn’t play this season, with his career likely over due to various lingering injuries.
They get a resurgent name in Andersson, who’ll be heading to the Olympics with Sweden. With 10 goals and 30 points in 48 games this season, he’s 20th in the league in scoring among defenders and immediately becomes the Knights’ leader in overall production from the blue line.
The question becomes how his defensive game will slot in on a Vegas club that’s been above-average in the possession department this year. He’s coming off a -38 rating last season and has posted negative relative Corsi shares at 5-on-5 in nine of his 10 NHL seasons, including this one. Might he be eating into the already sheltered offensive zone minutes that his now-reunited teammate Hanifin has been receiving?
Nonetheless, it’s nearly impossible to criticize the deal from Vegas’ perspective. They’ve already got a clear path to a deep playoff run through a weak Pacific Division but, with Pietrangelo gone and Theodore and Brayden McNabb missing significant time this year, have lacked the identity that their historically overloaded top-four group has provided. Now, that blue line power is back with Andersson, Hanifin, McNabb, and Theodore comprising one of the most experienced and dynamic groups in the league.
They also do so while actually increasing their cap space for this season. Whitecloud was signed through next season at a $2.75MM cap hit, so Vegas frees up nearly $500K in space with this deal.
Image courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.
Darren Dreger of TSN was the first to report that Andersson was going to Vegas. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first with the trade details.
Bruins Lead Pursuit Of Flames’ Rasmus Andersson
Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson is one of the top players available for trade at this stage in the 2025-26 season, and as a result, his name has featured heavily in recent reporting as he figures to be dealt at some point in the near future. Numerous developments have been reported regarding Andersson, and on yesterday’s Saturday Headlines segment on Sportsnet’s Hockey Night in Canada broadcast, Elliotte Friedman issued a few notable updates on Andersson’s status.
According to Friedman, “the team that appears to be in the driver’s seat” is the Boston Bruins. Friedman characterized Boston’s interest in Andersson as “very serious,” and added that not only has Boston made Calgary an offer that is believed to be more to Calgary’s liking than the offers of other suitors (such as the Vegas Golden Knights), but they are also the only team, per Friedman, that has permission from the Flames to conduct extension talks with Andersson’s representatives.
Those extension talks between Boston and Andersson’s camp, which is led by Claude Lemieux of 4Sports Hockey, were characterized as “pretty significant” by Friedman. The talks are significant for all parties involved, as the Bruins’ interest in trading for Andersson is reportedly entirely contingent on being able to secure his agreement on a long-term extension.
Because the Bruins are only interested in trading for Andersson if they can sign him to a contract extension, it tracks that their offer to the Flames appears to be more substantive, at this stage, than the offers made by other suitors.
Generally speaking, teams are more willing to part with quality trade assets if they’re receiving a core player in return, rather than a rental.
While the Vegas Golden Knights appear confident that they’d be able to sign Andersson, the fact that the Bruins would only make this trade with an extension in place has a key implication: it means that their trade offer to the Flames takes into consideration, from the outset, the fact that they’d be acquiring a core piece rather than a rental player.
Right now, per Friedman, Vegas’ offer “is not seen” to be as strong as Boston’s. While he cited both the Dallas Stars and Toronto Maple Leafs as other teams in the mix, the Bruins are seen as the clear front-runner to acquire the Flames blueliner.
As for what Andersson might cost Boston, there’s no firm indication as to what the Bruins have included in their offer to Calgary. If the Flames are looking for, at minimum, a first-round pick and a quality prospect, perhaps one that is close to NHL ready, the Bruins have some options to play with.
Boston could dangle a top-five-protected Toronto Maple Leafs’ 2026 first round pick, the one they acquired in last year’s Brandon Carlo deal, as a core part of their offer. The Maple Leafs are currently on the outside of the playoff picture, meaning the pick could be one that participates in the draft lottery.
While it’s almost guaranteed Boston would be trading at least one of its first-rounders in any Andersson deal, it’s less immediately clear what sort of prospect (or prospects) they might have included in their offer to the Flames. Their prospect pool is in better shape than it’s been in recent years, rising to a No. 17 ranking among systems across the league, per Elite Prospects.
One has to assume 2025 No. 7 pick James Hagens is off the table as Boston’s No. 1 prospect and a key piece of the team’s future. 2024 first-rounder Dean Letourneau has had a stellar sophomore season at Boston College, but the Bruins may be loath to surrender the 6’7″ pivot alongside a high-end draft choice.
2021 first-rounder Fabian Lysell has been unable to break into the NHL with the Bruins, and an Andersson trade could serve as his opportunity to receive a change of scenery. But Lysell may not hold enough value at this stage to be the centerpiece prospect of an Andersson offer, though he is far closer to the NHL than No. 2-ranked prospect Letourneau or No. 4 prospect William Moore.
Other possibilities from Boston’s system include World Juniors standout Will Zellers, first-year pro center Dans Locmelis, and Youngstown Phantoms star Cooper Simpson.
While one of these names appears likely to have been included in Boston’s offer for Andersson, there’s no guarantee any of them will end up ultimately being dealt by the Bruins. Other teams are still in the mix to secure Andersson’s services. Although Boston is reportedly the only one at this stage that has had substantive extension talks with the player, it’s not a foregone conclusion that he’ll end up a Bruin.
Photos courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Flames Make Several Roster Moves
The Flames have made a series of transactions heading into their game against the Islanders. The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Matvei Gridin has been recalled from AHL Calgary. To make room on the roster, winger William Stromgren was sent back to the Wranglers. Additionally, defenceman Zayne Parekh was also sent down on a conditioning loan.
Gridin was a first-round pick by Calgary in 2024, going 28th overall. While he had a solid showing last season with QMJHL Shawinigan, he wasn’t expected to realistically contend for a roster spot in training camp. However, after potting three goals in six preseason contests, Gridin broke camp with the Flames and got into four games with them, picking up his first NHL goal before being sent down to the Wranglers a little more than a week into the season.
In the minors, Gridin has been quite impressive. He has 10 goals and 18 assists in 32 games with the Wranglers, good for a share of second overall among all rookies which has helped earn this promotion. Gridin can play up to five more games with the Flames this season without burning the first year of his entry-level contract so it will be interesting to see if the team intends to give him just a quick look or a longer opportunity that officially activates his deal.
As for Stromgren, he received his first NHL promotion earlier this month and was in and out of the lineup, getting into three games with the Flames altogether. The 22-year-old had a very limited role in those outings, playing just 7:17 per game while being held off the scoresheet. Stromgren has been one of the better playmakers for the Wranglers, however, picking up 23 assists in 33 contests. He’ll now get a chance to go back to playing a much more prominent role compared to the fourth-line minutes he was seeing with the big club.
Parekh, meanwhile, has yet to play since returning from playing for Canada at the World Juniors. The 19-year-old isn’t eligible to play full-time for the Wranglers but now that he has been scratched long enough, he is eligible for this conditioning stint which can last for up to two weeks. It seems likely that management will want him to play the full two weeks in the minors, meaning he won’t likely rejoin the Flames until the end of the month. Parekh, a top performer with OHL Saginaw to the tune of 203 points over his last two seasons, has one assist in 11 NHL contests while playing a little under 15 minutes per night of playing time.
Flames Ramping Up Rasmus Andersson Trade Talks
Jan. 17th: According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Andersson’s market has been narrowed down to four teams: two in the Eastern Conference and two in the Western Conference. Dreger listed the Boston Bruins and Vegas Golden Knights as two of them, but didn’t specify the other two. Unless significant traction is made within the next few hours, Dreger expects Andersson to play for the Flames tonight.
Jan. 16th: It appears the Flames have finally received the type of offer they want to part ways with pending UFA defenseman Rasmus Andersson. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports that “talks have intensified” in the last several days, and a deal could come by the end of the weekend.
Calgary Flames Recall Dryden Hunt
The Calgary Flames announced today that forward Dryden Hunt has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the Calgary Wranglers.
The move adds a healthy 13th forward to the Flames’ roster. Hunt’s served in that role before, both throughout his professional career and during his tenure in Calgary. He was last on the NHL roster in December, dressing most recently for the club’s Dec. 2 loss to the Nashville Predators.
A 30-year-old winger, Hunt has become a key depth piece in Calgary. He’s a top scorer for the Wranglers, notching with 11 goals, 31 points in 26 games this season. Last year, he managed 49 points in 49 games. Alongside being a point-per-game AHL player, Hunt is a dependable, steady fourth-line fill-in player. He brings 237 games of NHL experience to the table, including five games of playoff experience, most recently coming in 2021-22 with the New York Rangers.
While the Flames don’t appear poised to make the playoffs this season, the wealth of experience Hunt brings helps to stabilize the bottom portion of the Flames’ roster. With Calgary considering more significant trade moves to its forward corps (Blake Coleman‘s name specifically is surfacing in trade rumors), it appears likely that down the line this season, Hunt could earn an extended stay on the NHL roster.
Seeing as he’s currently playing on a two-way contract, any NHL recall comes with a very real financial benefit for Hunt. He earns a $825K NHL salary, $400K AHL salary, and a hefty $500K total guarantee in each year of his two-year deal. With each day spent on the Flames’ NHL roster, it becomes increasingly likely Hunt will be able to surpass that $500K guarantee in terms of total compensation by the end of the season. Today’s recall will certainly help him in that pursuit.
As for what role exactly Hunt might slot into within head coach Ryan Huska’s lineup, it’s likely to be a limited one. Hunt averaged 10:36 time on ice in his two prior NHL games of 2025-26, and averaged 11:39 time on ice per game in five contests in 2024-25. It’s unlikely his deployment moving forward will deviate much from that established trend.
Flames Place Blake Coleman On Injured Reserve
As expected, the Calgary Flames announced they’ve placed forward Blake Coleman on the team’s injured reserve. The transaction opens up a roster spot for tonight’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets, though the Flames haven’t shared a corresponding roster move.
Assuming he remains on a day-to-day recovery timeline, Coleman should return by the weekend. The Flames likely made the transaction retroactive to his last game on January 8th, meaning Coleman will be eligible to return on Saturday against the New York Islanders. He’s dealing with a minor upper-body issue.
The 34-year-old forward has been the topic of much conversation this season, though not on the injury front. There is a growing expectation that the Flames will trade Coleman ahead of the trade deadline. He has recently been connected to the Montreal Canadiens.
Still, Coleman holds some of the power in any trade negotiations as the owner of a 10-team no-trade list in his contract. Additionally, he’s signed through next season at a $4.9MM salary, giving Calgary plenty of time to pull the trigger one way or another.
When healthy, he’s been his consistent self with the Flames, scoring 13 goals and 21 points in 44 games. Being one of the most consistent goal-scorers on the team throughout the duration of his contract, Coleman is only eight goals away from 100 in a Flames uniform. For any team looking to add more firepower to their secondary scoring, Coleman fits the bill.
Flames Assign Martin Pospisil To AHL On Conditioning Loan
According to a team announcement, the Calgary Flames have moved forward Martin Pospisil to the long-term injury list, and have loaned him to the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers on a conditioning loan. Pospisil has been on the Flames’ injured reserve for the entire 2025-26 campaign.
There haven’t been many reports specifying Pospisil’s injury. Still, it’s known that he has been dealing with an undisclosed upper-body injury dating back to the preseason, and he has been ramping up skating over the past few weeks.
Once he returns, he should provide additional scoring to Calgary’s bottom-six, and could even find his way into the middle-six if the Flames trade from their forward core leading up to the trade deadline. Throughout the past two years, Pospisil has scored 12 goals and 49 points in 144 games, averaging 13:20 of ice time per night.
Outside of being a playmaker, Pospisil is one of the most physical forwards in Calgary’s arsenal. He’s led the team in hits over his past two years, averaging 3.74 hits per game. Additionally, he’s been a solid analytical player for the Flames, averaging a 54.4% CorsiFor% and 92.1% on-ice save percentage at even strength.
Meanwhile, another team stands to benefit from Pospisil’s expected return. Pospisil was named to Team Slovakia for the 2026 Winter Olympics, being one of their best international players over the past few years. In the summer of 2024, Pospisil scored three goals and seven points in seven games with a +5 rating during the IIHF World Championships. Additionally, he helped the team reach the Olympic Games this year, registering three assists in three games during last year’s Olympic Games qualifiers.
Blake Coleman Out With Upper-Body Injury
- The Calgary Flames are dealing with a minor injury to one of their prized trade deadline candidates. According to Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet, forward Blake Coleman is set to miss the next few days with an upper-body injury. Still, a day-to-day issue at the maximum may be seen as a blessing by the Flames as they contemplate trading the 34-year-old forward at the deadline this season. Coleman has 13 goals and 21 points in 44 games this season.
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