Flames shuffle coaching staff: Trent Cull promoted, Brad Larsen returns and Dan Lambert departs

The Calgary Flames announced some changes to their coaching staff on Friday afternoon.

Calgary Wranglers head coach Trent Cull, who joined the Flames staff last season on an interim basis during Brad Larsen’s leave of absence, has been promoted to full-fledged assistant coach. Larsen, who was absent from the club dealing with family matters from early December until the end of the regular season, is returning to the club. Assistant coach Dan Lambert has been released from the final year of his contract.

The Flames will be conducting a search for a new head coach for the Wranglers.

Cull, 51, joined the Flames organization as Wranglers head coach prior to the 2023-24 season. He had previously coached extensively in the AHL and OHL, and briefly served as assistant coach on the Vancouver Canucks under Bruce Boudreau during the 2022-23 season. He was brought to the Flames staff after Christmas in 2024 and really sunk his teeth into the penalty killing group, doing a lot to turn a struggling group around with systems tweaks.

Larsen, 47, joined the Flames staff last summer as a replacement for the departure of Marc Savard. He had previously coached in the Columbus Blue Jackets organization, working his way up from AHL assistant coach to NHL head coach before departing that organization after the 2022-23 season.

Lambert, 55, joined the Flames staff prior to the 2023-24 season. He had previously worked with Ryan Huska with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL, and he had also worked as an assistant coach with Buffalo and Nashville.

Assistant coach duties began the 2024-25 season roughly like this:

• Cail MacLean managed forwards and the power play.
• Larsen worked with MacLean with the forwards and managed the penalty kill.
• Lambert managed the defencemen.

When Cull swapped in for Larsen in December, he took over management of the penalty kill. (In Vancouver, Cull ran the penalty kill and the defencemen.) Considering the changes in staff, it remains to be seen how the duties will shift around as we head into the 2025-26 season.

After these changes, the coaching staff for 2025-26 appears to be head coach Ryan Huska, with assistants Trent Cull, Brad Larsen and Cail MacLean, video coach Jamie Pringle and goaltending coach Jason LaBarbera.