Calgary Flames prospect Adam Klapka will make his NHL debut on Saturday against Edmonton

On Thursday, the Calgary Flames summoned forward Adam Klapka from the American Hockey League’s Calgary Wranglers. On Saturday night against the Edmonton Oilers, Klapka is set to make his NHL debut.

Originally signed as a free agent out of Europe back in May 2022, Klapka adapted to the AHL game fairly quickly and has been scoring at about a 0.5 points-per-game pace since the beginning of 2023. Listed at 6’7″ by the AHL and 6’8″ by the NHL, Klapka doesn’t throw his body around a ton but he uses his size and body positioning to create a lot of opportunities for his team. He has 10 goals and 21 points in 33 AHL games so far this season.

He’ll debut on the fourth line alongside A.J. Greer and Adam Ruzicka.

“It’s amazing,” said Klapka after morning skate. “You know, it’s probably couldn’t be the better first game that you can play, so I’m really excited that I can play my first game against Edmonton.”

“It’s going to be probably again my best day in my life, so I’m going to enjoy it but obviously you want to play good hockey so you’ve got to play your game, too. I’ll be ready.”

Klapka becomes the fifth Flames prospect to make his NHL debut this season, following Ilya Solovyov (Oct. 26), Connor Zary (Nov. 1), Martin Pospisil (Nov. 4) and Yan Kuznetsov (Jan. 5). Teammates Dustin Wolf and Matt Coronato made their debuts in the final game of the 2022-23 season.

Klapka has spent a few days with the Flames already. Speaking to the media after morning skate, head coach Ryan Huska reflected on the Flames having time to on-board Klapka and the benefit of having a lot of players make their NHL debuts.

“I think it is a benefit having familiar faces around the room for those guys,” said Huska. “So if there are questions or if they’re not sure of what time a meeting is or how we’re doing certain things, they’re not uneasy in regards to having people to go up and ask. So it is a good thing for us. And then it also gives us a chance to get to know them a little bit more as well, and we can make sure that they’re set and they’re prepared for their first opportunity like Klapka will get tonight.”

Klapka’s parents made the trip from Prague, leaving right after he was called up initially, and they’ll be in attendance for his first NHL game on Saturday against the Oilers.