When the Calgary Flames were negotiating the deal that sent Chris Tanev to the Dallas Stars this past spring, they pushed hard to acquire defence prospect Artem Grushnikov as part of the trade.

Tanev played the role of the hard-nosed warrior extremely well over his four seasons in Calgary. He played an instrumental role in mentoring young defenders like Noah Hanifin and Oliver Kylington, posted sterling underlying numbers at both ends of the ice, and seldom missed a game due to injury.

Relatively few players who profile like Tanev in juniors make it to the NHL, and as such, he’s not someone who can be easily replaced. The Flames hope Grushnikov will be able to defy the odds and break the models like Tanev did. But will he actually be able to carve out a career for himself in Calgary? It’s too early to say, but he showed encouraging signs down the stretch last season.

Artem Grushnikov

Defenceman, shoots left
Born March 20, 2003 (age 21) in Voskresensk, Russia
6’2″, 180 pounds
Drafted in the second round (48th overall) by Dallas in the 2021 NHL Draft

It’s a good thing the Flames have a bevy of offensive defence prospects in Zayne Parekh, Jeremie Poirier, Hunter Brzustewicz, Henry Mews, and Etienne Morin, because Grushnikov is decidedly not one of those guys. He managed just one goal and six points in 64 AHL games split between the Texas Stars and Calgary Wranglers in his first full pro season in North America.

That’s not to say Grushnikov is particularly bad in the offensive zone, because he’s actually quite capable of moving the puck around and firing low, accurate shots on target from the point. He just isn’t typically asked to play that role, much the same as how Tanev hasn’t been throughout his career. It’s not his thing.

What has allowed Tanev to forge a 792-game NHL career and earn a new six-year contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs at age 34 is his truly elite defensive awareness coupled with his top-tier transition play. Very few players in the league can break up odd-man rushes with ease like Tanev does on a regular basis; better yet, Tanev often follows up those defensive plays by leading the rush out of his own zone. He’s a bit of a unicorn that way.

To his credit, Grushnikov is surprisingly quick on his feet and very seldom gets caught out of position. He hasn’t mastered the art of killing plays to nearly the same extent as Tanev has, but that could change as he becomes more familiar with the North American game. Becoming as successful as Tanev is a tall order for any defensive prospect, let alone one who was traded for him, but Grushnikov has a fair amount going for him and could feasibly become a capable No. 4 or 5 NHL defender with enough seasoning.

One area where Grushnikov has Tanev decisively beat is with his physical play. Grushnikov is a punishing hitter who seemingly takes pride in pummelling his opponents as hard as possible as they attempt to attack his side of the defensive zone. In that way, it’s easy to see a bit of Nikita Zadorov in Grushnikov, although he’s much less of an adventure than his elder countryman when it comes time to skate the puck up the ice.

For a bit more insight into Grushnikov’s tenure with the Stars organization, we reached out to Stephen Meserve at 100 Degree Hockey, who covered him during his run with the AHL’s Texas Stars, for his thoughts:

Defenceman Artem Grushnikov’s short time with the Stars was mostly unremarkable in the best of ways. Texas was slated to have a bevy of veteran defensemen to buoy their rookie group, which included Grushnikov. Injuries to two top veterans pressed Grushnikov and others into the every night rotation. More of a stay-at-home defenseman in his time in Cedar Park, he was remarkably unremarkable. That is, he didn’t make big mistakes but also didn’t dazzle with flashy play. I was personally not sold on his NHL upside in the same way as the Calgary organization clearly was based on his inclusion in the Tanev trade. He is a character guy nonetheless. Notably, after being a late scratch on the night of the trade and needing to undress and get going to Calgary, Grushnikov stuck around through the entire game to wish his teammates well and thank them for his time afterwards. Several players and the head coach commented to me about the meaningfulness of this gesture.

Expectations for 2024-25

It’s worth noting that Grushnikov did not play for the Wranglers in the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs, as head coach Trent Cull elected to use a collection of more experienced defenders (Jordan Oesterle, Mark Pysyk, Ilya Solovyov, Jonathan Aspirot, Colton Poolman, Yan Kuznetsov, and Poirier) whom he became more familiar with over the entirety of the 2023-24 regular season.

Oesterle, Pysyk, and Poolman are now gone, and Solovyov stands a decent chance of making the Flames out of training camp this fall. Even with Brzustewicz and Joni Jurmo likely becoming regulars with the Wranglers in 2024-25, Grushnikov should play top-four minutes in the AHL for a significant chunk of the upcoming season.

The Flames have a lot of defensive prospects. The vast majority of those prospects are left-handed, Grushnikov included. But not many of them are pure shutdown types, and if Grushnikov can continue to take incremental steps forward with the Wranglers, he’ll be given every opportunity to show what he can do with the Flames — potentially as soon as the next year or two.