Aydar Suniev’s second-half surge earns more Flames call-ups

Aydar Suniev’s second-half run did more than pad the Calgary Wranglers’ scoresheet. It kept forcing the Flames to ask the same question: is this just a hot stretch, or the start of a winger who can stick in Calgary?

The 21-year-old from Kazan, Russia, was recalled on April 3, 2026, and it was not a routine shuffle. Calgary had already used four of its five available post-deadline regular recalls, and the move pushed the NHL roster to 27 players. Suniev arrived with momentum too strong to ignore, having posted four points in his previous four games and 10 of his 23 AHL points in 19 games after the all-star break.

That surge matters because Calgary spent the 2025-26 season hunting for cost-controlled forwards who could survive NHL minutes. The Flames finished 34-39-9, 29th in the league, and the organizational pressure was obvious: young players had to show they could become more than temporary call-ups. Suniev fit that test better than most. He was 6-foot-2 and 198 pounds, a third-round pick in 2023, taken 80th overall in a draft asset path that started with Seattle in the Calle Jarnkrok trade and came back through New Jersey in the Tyler Toffoli deal.

His climb has been steady. Suniev moved to North America in 2019, scored 20 points in 17 BCHL games with the Penticton Vees in 2021-22, then exploded for 45 goals and 90 points in 50 games in 2022-23. At the University of Massachusetts, he kept progressing with 25 points in 36 games as a freshman and 38 points in 35 games as a sophomore before signing a three-year entry-level deal on April 2, 2025, with a $923,333 average annual value.

Calgary gave him his first NHL look in the regular-season finale against the Los Angeles Kings on April 17, 2025, and he later added another appearance in 2025-26. In his first full pro season with the Wranglers, he scored 15 goals and 23 points in 55 games, then sharpened after the break. That is the number Calgary will keep circling.

Coach Ryan Huska saw the tools that keep earning Suniev more chances. He said Suniev was “dangerous,” “heavy on the puck,” good at protecting it and had “a very good shot.” Suniev had already said he expected to push for a spot and wanted to play in the NHL for a long time. Craig Conroy’s standard has been even clearer: every player in camp has to earn the right to wear the Flaming C. Suniev is making that decision harder by the week.