How quickly new Flames make their NHL debuts depends on time of year

When Connor Zary suffered his knee injury against the Anaheim Ducks, fans of the Calgary Flames were understandably bummed out – Zary’s a really fun hockey player and he’s been having a great season.

The silver lining for fans was the recall of Calgary Wranglers standout Rory Kerins to the NHL, and the chance to see him make his NHL debut. He’ll be the seventh player to make their NHL debut with the Flames since Ryan Huska became head coach (and Craig Conroy became general manager).

Kerins wasn’t in the lineup for the Flames’ Saturday night win over the Los Angeles Kings, but looking back at how the Flames have prepared call-ups for their debuts… well, it’s pretty much right in line with how they’ve always done things.

Here’s a quick look at the previous six players to make their NHL debuts with the Flames under Huska.

Ilya Solovyov

Solovyov was called up on Oct. 26, 2023 and made his debut with the Flames the same day at home against St. Louis. At the time Rasmus Andersson was serving a four game suspension and the club opted to scratch Jordan Oesterle and bring up Solovyov. This call-up was three weeks into the season, so training camp was still fresh and Solovyov could be put right into the lineup.

Connor Zary

Zary was called up on Oct. 31, 2023 and made his debut with the Flames the following day at home against Dallas. Dillon Dube had been injured in the previous game, so the Flames needed a forward and Zary was in the midst of a great start to the season. As with Solovyov, this was so close to training camp that Zary could just be eased right in.

Martin Pospisil

Pospisil was called up on Nov. 3, 2023 and made his debut with the Flames on the road against Seattle the next day. This was part of the Flames’ roster shuffle a month into the season; Matt Coronato had played the previous game at centre due to some injuries. The Flames sent Coronato down when they brought up Pospisil and scratched Dryden Hunt in place of Pospisil.

Yan Kuznetsov

Kuznetsov was called up on Jan. 5, 2024 and made his NHL debut four nights later at home against Ottawa. At the time Dennis Gilbert was injured and the Flames opted to call up Kuznetsov and scratch Oesterle to allow his NHL debut. This was months into the season and Kuznetsov watched two games as a healthy scratch before debuting.

Adam Klapka

Klpaka was called up Jan. 18, 2024 and made his debut two days later against Edmonton. At the time Dube left the club and the Flames swapped Walker Duehr, who had been with the club, down to the AHL in favour of Klapka. Klapka didn’t watch any games as a scratch before playing his first game, but he was able to practice with the team first.

Sam Honzek

Honzek made the Flames out of training camp this season and debuted on Oct. 9, 2024 on the road against Vancouver. Since he had just gone through training camp, they didn’t need to ease him in.

The general trend for the Flames tends to be that if you’re called up in the month after training camp, the coaching staff has seen you recently enough that you don’t necessarily need to be eased into things because of that familiarity. If you’re brought up mid-season, there’s a bit more of a catch-up needed.

Prior to Saturday’s game against Los Angeles, Huska was asked about the process of debuting NHL players, especially in the case of Kerins.

“Getting him around the coaching staff for us, around the players, around some meetings, having a chance to get himself on the ice in a practice,” said Huska. “I think creating a little bit of familiarity so it’s not all brand new for him when he comes up here. And as I said [Thursday], he’s going to get himself into the game. It’s just a matter of when. So it’s just a matter of getting to know the player a little bit more, both ways, from him to us and us to him.”

The Flames begin a four game, week-long road trip on Monday night in Chicago.