Calgary Flames Coach Indefinitely Walks Away From Hockey for Family Reasons
A coach in the Calgary Flames organization suddenly left the team on Sunday, according to an official statement.
A few hours before their game against the Dallas Stars, the Calgary Flames organization announced in a post on X that their assistant coach Brad Larsen is taking an indefinite leave of absence from the team to attend to a family matter.
As of now, no other details have been released regarding the reason for his leave.
Larsen was hired in Calgary in the last offseason. In his coaching career, he worked for the Columbus Blue Jackets for nine seasons, including two as head coach.
Between 1997 and 2008, Larsen played for the Colorado Avalanche and the Atlanta Thrashers. In 294 games, he scored 19 goals and 29 assists.
The Flames are likely to play with a lot of heart tonight against the Dallas Stars.
Whenever a member of the team steps away for family reasons, the others want to compete harder for him.
It won't be an easy task tonight, but if they win, the Flames will take the third spot in the Pacific Division. The Flames have 31 points and could pass the Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks tied at 32 points in the rankings.
As for the Dallas Stars, they are currently 3rd in the Central Division with a 16-10-0 record, eight points behind the red-hot Minnesota Wild and Winnipeg Jets.
Even if they lost their last two games against the Vegas Golden Knights and Los Angeles Kings, the Stars are always a tough team to play against, with many talented young players leading the charge and key veterans bringing their experience.
It hasn't been an easy week for Calgary coaches. On Friday, the Rapid City Rush, the Flames' ECHL affiliate, announced that their head coach Scott Burt would leave the team for health issues.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Drake Batherson | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Adam Fox | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Owen Power | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brady Tkachuk | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Tim Stutzle | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Cutter Gauthier | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Noah Gregor | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Reilly Smith | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Tage Thompson | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mika Zibanejad | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Bowen Byram | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Sam Carrick | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Nick Jensen | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Peyton Krebs | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mason McTavish | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Norris | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Zack Ostapchuk | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Artemi Panarin | - | 1 | 1 | |
| John-Jason Peterka | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Jake Sanderson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Wild | 28 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 42 | |
Jets | 30 | 21 | 9 | - | 42 | |
Capitals | 27 | 19 | 6 | 2 | 40 | |
Golden Knights | 28 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 39 | |
Devils | 31 | 18 | 10 | 3 | 39 | |
Panthers | 29 | 18 | 9 | 2 | 38 | |
Hurricanes | 28 | 18 | 9 | 1 | 37 | |
Kings | 28 | 17 | 8 | 3 | 37 | |
Maple Leafs | 28 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 36 | |
Stars | 27 | 17 | 10 | - | 34 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||