Flames Sunday Census: Which defenceman earns a job out of training camp?

Training camp is in full swing and the Calgary Flames will undoubtedly look a lot different this season than last. After numerous trades, draft picks, and signings, the Flames have started a new chapter in the franchise’s history.
Some of the biggest subtractions from last season included that of the defensive group. Four of the team’s top-six defence men will don a different jersey this season with Nikita Zadorov, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Oliver Kylington all departing in the last nine months.
Projected defensive pairings from Daily Faceoff have MacKenzie Weegar paired with Daniil Miromanov, Jake Bean with Rasmus Andersson, and Kevin Bahl alongside Brayden Pachal on the third pairing.
What does that mean for 2024–25? The short of it is that there are a lot of opportunities to move up and down with some very interesting names competing for a roster spot outside of the projected lineup. We wanted to know what other defenceman Flames fans think is most likely to earn a job out of camp.
We asked, you answered.
Which defenceman is most likely to win a job?
We sent the below poll to our readers to see who they think will get an NHL roster spot. The options were between Tyson Barrie, Ilya Solovyov, Jarred Tinordi, and Hunter Brzustewicz.
Tyson Barrie
The 33-year-old veteran defence man earned himself a PTO with the Flames and first place in this week’s poll with over half of the votes. It seems pretty clear who Flames fans think has the best chance, and it makes sense.
Barrie has had a strong career playing over 800 games and scoring over 100 goals and 500 points. He’s coming off a season that saw him battle an upper-body injury and never fully return to his 2022–23 form, playing in 41 games scoring a goal and 14 assists. Although he battled injury, Barrie was also healthy scratched for 13 consecutive games at one point last season.
But, he has an opportunity to provide the Flames with some great leadership and powerplay experience, while also having the potential to return to a 40-point player. In fact, last year was the first time in his NHL career he hasn’t scored at least 35 points, excluding his rookie season where he tallied 13 in 35 games.
His defence isn’t where it used to be and he is getting older, but Tyson Barrie can still provide the Flames with some valuable play and some great intangibles as well.
Ilya Solovyov
Collecting only 14% of the vote, Ilya Solovyov finished third in this week’s poll. The 24-year-old Belarusian has played a season in KHL and three in North America since being drafted by the Flames in the seventh round of the 2020 NHL Draft. He has suited up for 10 NHL games, all coming last season. Solovyov looked solid on the penalty kill in his short stint with the Flames last season and played a tight defensive game on the third pairing.
Unfortunately for Solovyov, It seems Flames fans would rather more offensive upside despite his few, but solid performances.
Jarred Tinordi
Only 5% of polled fans think newly signed Jarred Tinordi will earn a job out of camp. The 6’6” defenceman spent the last two seasons with the Chicago Blackhawks. Tinordi played in 52 games last year tallying nine points. The former 22nd overall pick of the Montreal Canadiens has played 205 NHL games with six different teams in 14 seasons.
He seems to be on the outside looking in, but he should provide good competition and fill out the depth even if he plays the majority of the season in the AHL.
Hunter Brzustewicz
Hunter Brzustewicz comes in at second in this week’s poll collecting 25% of the vote. Brzustewicz was drafted by Vancouver in the third round of the 2023 NHL Draft. The Flames acquired him as a part of the Elias Lindholm trade. Meanwhile, he returned to the Kitchener Rangers to score 92 points in 67 games. Not too shabby.
The 19-year-old defenceman evidently has some offensive firepower. He was the talk of the town in regards to the Flames skater prospect pool until the team drafted the only D-man to score more points than Brzustewicz in the OHL last season: Zayne Parekh.
Brzustewicz does have a solid chance here though. Craig Conroy has preached giving young players opportunities and entering his first pro season could mean seeing NHL games. It might not happen out of camp, but who knows? We haven’t seen him at a pro level outside of rookie camp and the Young Stars Classic, in which he did show flashes of brilliance, but then again, it’s not the NHL.
It will be interesting to see how he and Parekh both fare in upcoming preseason games. It’s not every day a rookie defenceman walks into the NHL, but it’s also not every day you have two that scored 90+ points in the OHL last season either.
Hockey is just around the corner
It’s almost here folks, the preseason is right around the corner and that means the season is right around that corner’s, corner? I’m not sure, I’m still thinking about how little you all believe in Jarred Tinordi.
Regardless, training camp marks the start of the year for NHL teams and despite Calgary projected to be a reasonably bad team this season, I’m excited to watch some hockey again. It’s a new era of Flames hockey and even if it’s a long season, we’ve got lots to look forward to.
Who knows, maybe Tyson Barrie will outscore Jonathan Huberdeau this season. After the last couple of years, feels like anything could happen.
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