Four former Flames will represent Canada at the 2022 Beijing Olympics

The NHL isn’t going to the 2022 Beijing Olympics, but the Calgary Flames will be well represented on Team Canada regardless.

The Flames have four former members on the roster, accidentally leaked by the IIHF on Monday and formally announced by Hockey Canada on Tuesday.

Meet Team Canada! 🇨🇦

25 men have been selected to represent 🇨🇦 at the 2022 Olympic Winter Games.

ROSTER ➡️ https://t.co/d8OVCa3Ceh @TeamCanada | #Beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/pcIv42Qkf6

— Hockey Canada (@HockeyCanada) January 25, 2022

Corban Knight, from High River, was among them.

The Flames acquired the rights to the local product on June 18, 2013, from the Florida Panthers in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2013 NHL Draft. Knight, who was playing at North Dakota at the time, signed with Calgary three weeks later and would eventually play nine games with the Flames over parts of two seasons from 2013-2015, amassing one goal.

Knight, 31, currently has 48 points (18 goals, 30 assists) in 47 games with Avangard Omsk in the KHL under his former Calgary coach, Bob Hartley.

A former teammate will join him in Beijing.

Ben Street, who played 19 games with the Flames from 2012 to 2014, will also represent Canada at the Olympics. Street had two assists during his stretch with the Flames. He has 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in 31 games with EHC Munchen in Deutsche Eishockey Liga.

Adam Cracknell, selected in the ninth round (No. 279) of the 2004 NHL Draft, was also named as one of 14 forwards on Canada’s roster.

He never suited up for Calgary but had 43 points (21 goals, 22 assists) in 210 games over parts of nine seasons with the St. Louis Blues, Columbus Blue Jackets, Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers, Dallas Stars, New York Rangers, and Anaheim Ducks.

Tyler Wotherspoon will be one of eight defensemen for Canada.

Wotherspoon, selected by Calgary in the second round (No. 57) of the 2011 NHL Draft, played 30 games over four seasons with the Flames. He had five points, all assists, in a minus-8 rating from 2013-2017. He’s spent the past five seasons playing in the AHL.

The 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games will take place from February 3-20, 2022, in Beijing, China. Canada will play in Group A with the United States, Germany, and China.

Sweden has a pair of former Flames set to represent at the Olympics, and Russia named three former Flames players to its preliminary roster last Tuesday. They’ve since made the final cut.

Czechia placed two former Flames on its roster last week, and the United States also has two former Flames participating.

Switzerland will be represented by a pair of former Flames in Raphael Diaz and Reto Berra, and Slovakia named Milos Roman and Marek Hrivik to its roster Tuesday.

David Wolf, Tobias Rieder and Yasin Ehliz were also announced to Germany’s team earlier Tuesday.

The NHL and NHLPA came to an agreement to withdraw from the Olympics last month. The decision was made as a result of rising cases of COVID-19 and the highly infectious Omicron variant.

NHL players attended every Winter Olympics from 1998 to 2014. Participation in the 2022 and 2026 Olympics was negotiated into the NHL’s most recent Collective Bargaining Agreement.

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