Calgary Flames add assistant coach Brad Larsen to coaching staff

The 46-year-old Larsen joins the Flames with a really interesting resume, both as a player and a coach.

A British Columbia kid, Larsen played as a winger and worked his way up with the Western Hockey League’s Swift Current Broncos between 1993 and 1997, where he crossed paths with current Flames head coach Ryan Huska and special advisor Jarome Iginla during their time with the Kamloops Blazers. During his junior days, Larsen was part of a pair of gold medal-winning Canadian teams at the World Juniors.

Selected first in the 1995 NHL Draft by Ottawa, and later by Colorado in 1997 as a re-entry, Larsen carved out a really respectable pro career. He played 12 seasons as a pro, with stints with the Avalanche and the Atlanta Thrashers organizations – it would have been 13 seasons, but he missed the entire 2008-09 season, which would have been spent with Anaheim, due to a hip injury. Larsen split his career fairly evenly between the NHL and AHL, and he served as captain for three seasons with the Hershey Bears and one season with the Portland Pirates.

Retiring in 2010, Larsen joined the coaching staff of the AHL’s Springfield Falcons – Columbus’ farm club. He spent two seasons as an assistant and then two seasons as head coach before being summoned to the Blue Jackets to join their coaching staff. He spent nine seasons in Ohio, seven as assistant (responsible for the Columbus power play) and two as head coach. He left the Blue Jackets’ organization following the 2022-23 season after 13 seasons coaching in the NHL and AHL.

Larsen’s hiring functionally fills the spot vacated when Marc Savard left the organization last month. He’ll join Huska, Dan Lambert, Cail MacLean, Jason LaBarbera, Andrew Doty and Jamie Pringle on the Flames’ coaching staff for the coming season.