Flames name Dusty Nickel emergency backup goaltender

We don’t know exactly how far and wide the Calgary Flames searched, but in the end, they reached into their proverbial couch cushions to find their emergency backup goaltender (EBUG).

According to Eric Francis, the Flames will be announcing Dusty Nickel as their EBUG for the 2026-27 season.

As per the mandates of the NHL’s updated Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), Nickel will attend all 84 of Calgary’s regular season games this upcoming season, ready to step in and man the Flames’ crease should both of their dressed goaltenders become unavailable in a given game.

Nickel, 35, had been the EBUG at Flames home games for the last several years, ready to take the ice in a pinch for either team under the rules of the old CBA. According to Francis, Nickel owns a construction company and is a well known character in Calgary, filling in at practice and helping the team in multiple ways.

The Calgary native may just sound like a chunk of change, but he has his fair share of competitive goaltending experience. He spent over a season with the Calgary Canucks of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL). In the 2009-10 season with the Canucks, he appeared in 41 games and posted a 17-15-2 record with a .883 save percentage and a 3.81 goals-against average. In the 2010-11 season, he appeared in 19 more games for the Canucks, going 3-9-0 with a .873 SV% and a 4.25 GAA. He also appeared in five games for the Kindersley Klippers of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) that season, going 1-3-0 with a .845 SV% and a 4.52 GAA.

At the University level, he appeared in just one game for Calgary’s Mount Royal College during the 2011-12 season, in which he allowed four goals on 35 shots in a loss.