Flames’ Ethan Wyttenbach To Stay In NCAA For Sophomore Season
Calgary Flames fans will have to wait a little while longer to see a breakout prospect take pro ice. Winger Ethan Wyttenbach has announced he will return to Quinnipiac University for his sophomore season after leading the country in scoring as a freshman. It was a breakout performance for the 2025 fifth-round pick that culminated in a top-10 finish in Hobey Baker Award voting, awarded annually to the NCAA’s MVP.
Wyttenbach became only the fifth freshman to lead college hockey in scoring since 2000. He joins an exclusive list of NHL stars, including Jack Eichel, Kyle Connor, Adam Fantilli, and Will Smith. In each instance, the breakout performance was followed by an immediate pro contract. Wyttenbach will break that mold by returning for a second season.
The Quinnnipiac Bobcats led college hockey in scoring this season but fell well shy of an ECAC conference championship. They haven’t acheived that feat since 2016, despite winning the NCAA National championship in 2023. That is another course they were knocked off of this season, losing to the University of North Dakota in the first round this season.
Wyttenbach’s return will help the Cougars attempt to right both wrongs. He was a main play-driver all year long, playing well off of fellow freshmen Antonin Verreault and Markus Vidicek. Their support helped Wyttenbach reach a staggering 58 points in 40 games on the year. It also, more importantly, allowed Boston Bruins prospect Christopher Pelosi to remain in a second-line role, giving Quinnipiac a top-six that was hard to beat. Verreault and Vidicek are both expected to return to Quinnipiac next season, as is top defender and Bruins prospect Elliott Groenewold.
Those returnees will keep Quinnipiac’s lineup formidable into the 2026-27 season. Wyttenbach will undoubtedly continue on as the team’s top forward. He faces a tough challenge repeating his historic freshman season but managing the feat could go far in cementing his spot as one of Calgary’s top prospects. Wyttenbach is only two seasons removed from playing youth, AAA hockey in New England. Before moving to college, he scored 51 points in 44 games with the USHL’s Sioux Falls Stampede.
Flames Sign Axel Hurtig To Entry-Level Contract
The Calgary Flames have signed defenseman Axel Hurtig to a three-year, entry-level contract. The deal begins in the 2026-27 season. Hurtig was a seventh-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, after a year in Sweden’s U20 league. He played one more season in Sweden after his draft, before moving to the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen for the last two seasons.
Hurtig, 20, is a towering defenseman who took on a top-four role soon after joining the Hitmen. His 6-foot-5, 215-pound frame made Hurtig an effective rush-defender, where his long reach and strong physicality created little space for opponents to push past. He was quick to move the puck up ice after forcing turnovers but often left the role of joining the rush to his defense partners. In 119 games with the Hitmen, Hurtig only racked up 35 points – just narrowly more than the 21 points he scored in 77 games at Sweden’s U20 level.
Despite quiet scoring totals, Hurtig found his way towards routine impact. He played in all seven games of Sweden’s fourth-place finish at the 2025 World Junior Championships, recording 10 minutes of ice time on average to go with one point and a plus-two. That experience, and a knack for stepping up physically, helped Hurtig earn the Hitmen’s captaincy for the 2025-26 season. He became the first European captain in the team’s history. With a letter on his chest, Hurtig racked up 19 points, a team-best plus-21, and eight five-minute major penalties this season. His defensive presence helped the Hitmen finish the WHL season in eighth place.
Hurtig’s size should help him bridge the gap between junior and pro hockey. He will add another strong stick to the Flames’ left-defense depth chart and could fight for his NHL debut next season with an entry-level contract in place. The Flames have leaned heavily on young left-defenders, including Yan Kuznetsov and Kevin Bahl, through much of this season. They have also promoted puck-movers Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz on the right-side. With a heap of young potential on the blue-line, Hurtig’s defensive presence will hope to round out Calgary’s future on the blue-line.
Flames Sign Jonathan Castagna To Entry-Level Contract
As expected, the Calgary Flames have signed one of their recently acquired prospects to his entry-level contract. Calgary announced that they’ve signed forward Jonathan Castagna to a three-year, $3.225MM ($1.075MM AAV) entry-level contract beginning next season. Outside of his AAV, the Flames didn’t provide any more contractual details.
Castagna, 20, was drafted with the 70th overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft by the now-defunct Arizona Coyotes. He was playing in the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association with St. Andrew’s College at the time, scoring 29 goals and 72 points in 50 games.
The following year, Castagna began his collegiate career at Cornell University. He had a decent showing as a freshman, scoring 11 goals and 25 points in 35 games with a +20 rating. Unfortunately, he took a step back in his sophomore season, registering five goals and 15 points in 32 contests.
He rebounded in a big way this year. Although he only finished 40th in scoring throughout the entire NCAA, Castagna still had a point-per-game year, registering 15 goals and 34 points in 34 games with a +23 rating.
In an interesting way, that made him a more expendable prospect for the Utah Mammoth. The team is already flush with young top-six forwards and has other prospects on the way. Looking to make a splash at the deadline, the Mammoth included Castagna in the package for defenseman MacKenzie Weegar.
In their announcement, the Flames shared that Castagna will begin his professional career on an amateur tryout agreement with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. He’s dealing with a minor lower-body injury at the time being, so it’ll be a few days before he makes his professional debut.
Flames Trying To Sign Castagna
- With Cornell being eliminated from the NCAA tournament yesterday, the Flames have sent two front office staff to speak to Jonathan Castagna to try to get him to sign, reports Sportsnet’s Eric Francis (Twitter link). The 20-year-old was acquired as part of the return for MacKenzie Weegar earlier this month and is coming off a strong season that saw him record 15 goals and 19 assists in 34 games. Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg adds (Twitter link) that Calgary has two contract slots remaining and wants Castagna to fill one of those, suggesting that if he agrees to sign, his deal will begin this season.
Flames Recall Brennan Othmann
The Flames will be getting a look at one of their newest prospects for the stretch run. The team announced (Twitter link) that winger Brennan Othmann has been recalled from AHL Calgary.
The 23-year-old was a first-round pick by the Rangers back in 2023 but hasn’t had much success at the NHL level so far. Heading into the season, he had just two assists in 25 career games, leading to some speculation that a change of scenery could be coming. Othmann then bounced back and forth between New York and AHL Hartford throughout the first two-thirds of the campaign. He got into 17 more games with the big club but managed just one point, his first NHL goal, along with 40 hits.
At the trade deadline, Othmann indeed received his change of scenery, getting sent to Calgary in exchange for junior prospect winger Jacob Battaglia. But rather than bring him up right away, the Flames elected to have Othmann start with the Wranglers. He has five assists in ten games with them, bringing his season totals to eight goals and 13 helpers in 36 contests when adding in his time with Hartford.
Calgary already had 12 healthy forwards on its roster, meaning this does not qualify as an emergency recall and thus counts against their post-deadline limit of five. Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg adds (Twitter link) that the Flames have now used three of those.
Honzek Already Skating But Still Won't Return This Season
- Flames forward Samuel Honzek returned to practice today for the first time since suffering an upper-body injury in a collision with teammate Mikael Backlund back in mid-November, reports Danny Austin of the Calgary Herald. However, the team has already indicated that even though he’s skating ahead of schedule, he remains out for the season. The 21-year-old was a first-round pick in 2023 and had four points in 18 games. While he won’t be able to add to that total, the fact that he’s back on the ice now suggests he’ll be primed for a full offseason and perhaps a stint for Slovakia at the Worlds in May.
Zary Day-To-Day, Kuznetsov Should Be Back Soon
- Flames winger Connor Zary is listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury, relays Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). The 23-year-old was injured on a hit from Florida’s A.J. Greer, one that saw the Panther receive a three-game suspension. After collecting 27 points in 54 games last season, his numbers have dipped a bit this year as Zary has 11 goals and 13 assists in 67 appearances. Meanwhile, Steinberg adds that defenseman Yan Kuznetsov is nearing a return from his upper-body injury. The 24-year-old has missed a little more than a week with the issue. Kuznetsov cleared waivers in training camp but since he was recalled back in November, he has been a regular in Calgary’s lineup ever since then.
A.J. Greer Receives Three-Game Suspension
After announcing that he’d be receiving a phone hearing last night, the Department of Player Safety has made its ruling on Panthers forward A.J. Greer. The league announced (video link) that the veteran has received a three-game suspension for his hit on Flames winger Connor Zary.
The incident occurred during Thursday’s game where Greer hit Zary from behind into the boards. On the play, he was assessed a two-minute minor for hooking, a five-minute major for interference, and a game misconduct. In its ruling, the Department of Player Safety noted that Greer was in control at all times. That ultimately puts the onus on him to deliver a legal check, something he didn’t do given the distance from the boards when he hit Zary from behind.
This is the second suspension of Greer’s career. He received a one-game ban back in 2023 for a cross-check on Montreal’s Mike Hoffman. Given that it has been more than two years since that suspension, he is not classified as a repeat offender for the purposes of determining forfeited salary. Accordingly, Greer loses three days’ pay (3/192 days) compared to three games’ pay (3/82) had he been a repeat offender. With his $850K AAV, that means he will forfeit $13,281.24 in salary; that money goes to the Players’ Emergency Assistance Fund.
Greer will miss Florida’s upcoming games on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, and will be eligible to return to the lineup a week today when the Panthers travel to New York to take on the Rangers.
Flames’ Yan Kuznetsov Out Day-To-Day
The Calgary Flames will need to shake up their blue-line before Monday night’s matchup against the Detroit Red Wings. Defenseman Yan Kuznetsov is out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, head coach Ryan Huska told Pat Steinberg of Sportsnet 960. Kuznetsov filled a second-pair role in Calgary’s Saturday night loss to the New York Islanders. He and partner Zach Whitecloud were the only Flames pairing to record a plus-minus and outshoot their opponents in that matchup.
Kuznetsov, in his rookie season, has grown into a bigger role in the lineup following the departure of Rasmus Andersson. He has now played 10 games with at least 20 minutes of ice time, since Andersson’s trade – bringing Kuznetsov up to 33 such games on the year. His 20:09 in average ice time ranks fourth among current Flames defenders.
The 24-year-old Russian has racked up four goals, 12 points, and a minus-nine in 52 games this season. He is the second-highest scoring defenseman on the current Flames roster, behind Kevin Bahl who has 16 points. That’s an impressive jump for Kuznetsov, who spent the entire 2024-25 season with the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers. He totaled 21 points in 72 AHL games last season, bringing his career totals in the minors up to 53 points in 216 games. Kuznetsov also recorded two goals in 10 AHL games to start this season, before earning a full-time call-up in early-November. He has played in 52 consecutive NHL games since that recall, a streak that will end on Monday.
Kuznetsov’s absence will force fellow rookie Zayne Parekh up the lineup. Parekh has just two points, both assists, in 21 NHL games this season. It has been a quiet year despite the 19 year old scoring five points in four AHL games throughout the season. A bump into the top-four should represent a chance to find his scoring behind Calgary’s top forward lines – though the Flames will need to lean on Whitecloud and Bahl to make up for Kuznetsov’s physical role.
This move will also promote another rookie, Hunter Brzustewicz, into the lineup. Brzustewicz recorded 15 minutes of ice time, and three shots on goal, in Calgary’s March 12th win over the New Jersey Devils. That was his first NHL appearance since late-January. In total, he has scored two points in 19 NHL games and 13 points in 34 AHL games this season. He too will sit in a prove-it role as Calgary looks for who can replace one of their most impactful rookies this season.
Whitecloud Back At Practice, Could Return Tonight
- Flames defenseman Zach Whitecloud has joined the team on its road trip and took part in the morning skate today, relays Sportsnet 960’s Derek Wills (Twitter link). The 29-year-old has missed the last three games due to an upper-body injury. Acquired in the Rasmus Andersson trade earlier this season, Whitecloud is averaging more than 22 minutes per night since the swap, leading to some trade interest before last week’s deadline. Now, it appears he’s ready to return and will continue to play a big role down the stretch.