Calgary Flames' opening-night roster set and Gridin has made the team
The Calgary Flames will be keeping Matvei Gridin on their opening-night roster for the upcoming 2025-26 season.
This is a well-deserved opportunity for the 19-year-old, who impressed throughout training camp, with some strong performances throughout the preseason.
While fans were hoping to see Gridin crack the roster, he appeared to be on the outside looking in, given that he was the only waiver-exempt forward who remained on the roster. However, injuries to Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil, which will keep both out of the Flames’ season opener, helped pave the way for the 2019 first-round pick.
Players hugging Matvei Gridin in the dressing room, as he was recognized after practice for making the opening roster, which will be announced at 1 pm.
— Eric Francis (@EricFrancis) October 6, 2025
Gridin is coming off a 2024-25 season in which he posted 36 goals and 79 points as a rookie with the Shawinigan Cataractes of the QMJHL. The impressive campaign earned him the Sidney Crosby Trophy, a new award presented to the league’s best rookie skater.
Also cracking the roster, albeit in a less surprising fashion, is Zayne Parekh. The ninth-overall selection from the 2024 draft isn’t eligible to play in the OHL this season, meaning the Flames had to decide whether to keep him on their roster or return him to junior. The option to send him back down still exists going forward, though the expectation is that he will spend the entire 2025-26 campaign in a Flames sweater.
With their roster officially set, here is how the Flames will look on paper entering the 2025-26 season.
Forwards
* = injured
- Mikael Backlund
- Blake Coleman
- Matt Coronato
- Joel Farabee
- Morgan Frost
- Matvei Gridin
- * Jonathan Huberdeau
- Nazem Kadri
- Justin Kirkland
- Adam Klapka
- Ryan Lomberg
- * Martin Pospisil
- Yegor Sharangovich
- Connor Zary
Defencemen
- Rasmus Andersson
- Kevin Bahl
- Jake Bean
- Joel Hanley
- Daniil Miromanov
- Brayden Pachal
- Zayne Parekh
- MacKenzie Weegar
Goalies
- Dustin Wolf
- Devin Cooley
The Flames’ season opener, as well as Gridin’s official NHL debut, will come this Wednesday at Rogers Place versus the Edmonton Oilers.