The Calgary Flames have themselves a great young player in Matvei Gridin. He has burst onto the NHL scene this season and has been one of the top bright spots in the Flames organization. The Flames drafted Gridin 28th overall in the 2024 NHL Draft. There was not a ton of hype around him, but he has certainly shown early signs of becoming a solid NHL player.
Gridin has worked his way up in the hockey ranks extremely fast early in his career. He had a solid QMJHL season with the Shawinigan Cataractes in 2024–25, posting 79 points in 56 games. Afterwards, he made the jump to the AHL and made the Flames out of preseason. His hard work earned him a full-time role with the Flames later on to end the season. Let’s see what the young man has to offer the Flames.
Gridin’s current role
After just turning 20 years old, Gridin has solidified himself in a spot on the Flames’ second line. He plays alongside Morgan Frost and Matt Coronato, which has been a joy to watch. This line has the perfect blend of speed and skill and has shown some fantastic chemistry over the previous homestand. Through 28 NHL games this year, Gridin has 14 points and is currently on a four-game point streak. He has also earned a spot on the first power play unit of the Flames. Here, Gridin and Zayne Parekh get to work their magic very early in their careers.
It seems as though Ryan Huska is a big fan of Gridin as well. The head coach of the Flames has given the forward every chance to succeed. He gets consistent ice time, overtime minutes, and is a regular shooter in the shootout. Gridin averages 14:38 of ice time a night, and recently played the most minutes of his career on March 20th against the Florida Panthers. The young forward earned over 19 minutes in that game, providing a sweet assist on Coronato’s breakaway goal.
For the remainder of the season, Gridin will be one of the must-watch players on the Flames. Seeing how well he has progressed at such an early age is hopefully a sign of a great future.
The future core
As all Flames fans know, Gridin is a part of a very important future core in Calgary. This young core consists of:
- Dustin Wolf
- Matt Coronato
- Zayne Parekh
- Hunter Brzustewicz
- Yan Kuznetsov
- Matvei Gridin
- Connor Zary
The majority of these players will be around for quite some time. Most of them have begun to establish a consistent role with the Flames organization. However, one player who has not done that yet is Zary. The 24-year-old is in the midst of his worst point-producing season as a Flame, and has lost ground in the Flames’ lineup. Throughout this season, Zary has played all up and down the lineup, struggling to find some good chemistry. Thankfully, that is not the case for anyone else.
Gridin has fit in very well with Coronato. Many fans thought that Jonathan Huberdeau would have been the perfect setup man to play with a young goal scorer. However, it turns out it was another young gun to fill that void. The one concern about this duo is that their centreman, Morgan Frost, only has one year left on his contract. He will be a UFA after next year, and the Flames will need a replacement. Should they look to draft that centreman at this year’s NHL Draft?
What would a future contract look like?
A few of the young Flames have signed legit contract extensions. Wolf begins a 7-year contract next season with an average salary of $7.5M. Meanwhile, Coronato is in the first season of his 6-year contract, making an average salary of $6.5M. Zary signed a three-year bridge deal, while Parekh, Brzustewicz, and Gridin are still on entry-level deals.
I could see Gridin getting a similar contract to Coronato. In three years, he will be around the same age as Coronato when he signed his extension. I would like to think that Gridin could be a better player by then, which could wager even more money. Conroy has not been messing around with making sure that the young guys are signed long-term. I could see Gridin and Parekh getting huge extensions in the 2028 offseason.
Looking at some recent signings of NHL veterans, it is no secret that the young core will get a huge term on their next deals. Nick Schmaltz of the Utah Mammoth recently got an 8×8-year deal, while Kiefer Sherwood got a 5-year extension with an average of just under $6M a year with the Sharks. If these guys are getting those big numbers, the NHL’s average salaries will only increase. It could be a little bit of a problem having to give out many big contracts, but for a guy like Gridin, it very well could be worth it.
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