Calgary Flames make surprise assistant coach swap weeks before training camp
The Calgary Flames have made an abrupt and surprising change to their coaching staff just weeks before training camp is set to start.
The Flames announced on Tuesday that they have hired Dave Lowry as an assistant coach and that Brad Larsen, who served as an assistant last season, has left the organization due to family reasons.
Larsen was hired by the Flames last summer and had to take an indefinite leave from the team back in December. There has been no further information released on the exact reason why Larsen is departing from the organization.
Rounding out the coaching staff 📋
The #Flames have added Dave Lowry as an assistant coach!
— Calgary Flames (@NHLFlames) September 2, 2025
Calgary hockey fans should be very familiar with Lowry. The 60-year-old former NHLer spent four seasons with the Flames between 2000 to 2004 and served as team captain for two of those years. Lowry was also a member of the 2004 Flames team that came within one win of the Stanley Cup.
After his playing career ended, Lowry opted to stay in Calgary to pursue coaching. He rose the ranks of the WHL’s Calgary Hitmen, becoming their head coach in 2008 before parlaying that into his first NHL job as an assistant coach with the Flames for the 2009-10 season.
The Ontario native spent three seasons behind the Flames bench before returning to the WHL to coach the Victoria Royals. Lowry would then return to the NHL as an assistant with the LA Kings in 2017 and later on with the Winnipeg Jets, where he had a brief tenure as an interim head coach in 2021.
Most recently, Lowry has served as the assistant coach of the Seattle Kraken for the past three seasons.
He will join the Flames staff under head coach Ryan Huska and alongside fellow assistant coaches Trent Cull and Cail MacLean.