Matvei Gridin might be forcing his way onto the Flames roster

In 2024-25, the following National Hockey League clubs scored fewer goals than the Calgary Flames: San Jose, Nashville and Anaheim. When you consider that the Flames lost out on the final Western Conference playoff spot on tiebreakers and scored so few goals overall, you can understand their desire to find goals wherever they can.

So with that in mind, friends, let’s talk about 19-year-old forward Matvei Gridin and his impressive pre-season thus far.

Three years ago, Gridin arrived with the United States Hockey League’s Muskegon Lumberjacks from Russia and began adapting to an entirely different country and style of hockey. Two years ago, he was preparing for his draft year with the Lumberjacks after a successful rookie season. He was drafted by the Flames at 28th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft.

One year ago, Gridin was assigned by the Flames early in training camp to the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League’s Shawinigan Cataractes, his second new league in three seasons. Following Gridin’s assignment to junior last fall, Flames head coach Ryan Huska relayed his assessment of Gridin’s first NHL camp.

“I almost envision him as a guy that’s going to go away, and he’s going to dominate in the Q,” Huska said. “And he’s going to come back next year and be in a position to make our team. You have a sense about him. He’s got the ability to play the game.”

A year later, Huska’s words seem downright prophetic.

Six games into the Flames’ pre-season calendar, and Gridin has emerged as one of the most positive stories of 2025’s training camp. The 19-year-old winger looks fast. He looks poised. He looks dangerous with the puck. And he doesn’t look a bit out of place with established NHL players; he played on the Flames’ top line in Seattle alongside Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato, and scored the game-tying goal and the shootout winner in a 2-1 victory over the Kraken.

Yes, Gridin is just 19 and still needs to learn a lot about pro hockey.

Yes, Gridin is waiver exempt and for a Flames team with oodles of waiver eligible forwards, one of the easier players to send to the Wranglers.

And yes, Gridin could just be one of a lengthy line of youngsters that had a superb September before crashing back down to Earth in October – his teammate Sam Honzek was an example of that last season, making the opening roster before eventually being sent to the Wranglers.

But for a Flames team that barely missed the playoffs last season and would very much like to play into the spring this season, there’s a possibility that Gridin could emerge as a difference-maker (and quickly). And perhaps Craig Conroy and his management team could be forgiven if they don’t think long and hard about perhaps giving Gridin a larger opportunity than perhaps they originally intended.

At the end of the day: the Flames need to score more goals.