On Sunday, many expected to see Kevin Bahl back in the lineup in the Flames tilt vs. the San Jose Sharks.
The blueliner had missed the eight prior games with a lower-body injury but was unable to play due to illness.
It was Ilya Solovyov's time to step into the lineup.
Paired with Rasmus Andersson in the 3-2 victory over the Sharks, the 24-year-old logged a healthy 19:24 of ice time and impressed the coaching staff, earning him another skate in the Flaming C.
On Tuesday, kicking off the Flames' longest road trip of the year, Solovyov found himself squaring off against Alex Ovechkin and the high-flying Washington Capitals.
No small task.
But like he did in Calgary on the weekend, Solovyov turned in a strong performance. Paired with Brayden Pachal, the duo provided a physical presence by the net, denying the Capitals any real estate in front of Dan Vladar. Solovyov ended the evening a plus-one with one assist and four hits in his 11:51 of ice time in his third NHL game of the season.
"What both (he and Pachal) bring is that physicality aspect of the game," Flames assistant coach Dan Lambert said of the pair's performance against Washington. "I thought they both brought that. The one thing that maybe surprised me a little bit was their puck-moving ability. It was better than what I anticipated. I thought they got out of trouble and moved the puck quickly. They kept it simple."
Solovyov's first three games with the Flames this season are indicative of what the coaching staff had asked of him following his 10-game stint in the NHL last year. Given he had a taste of what it would take to play regularly at the highest level, he took those lessons into this season and turned in a strong performance with the Wranglers in the AHL.
In 43 games in the AHL in 2024-25, he logged top-pair minutes and put up a new career-high in goals with six and points with 21, which speaks to the puck-moving ability Lambert saw in Washington.
When the Flames looked to call up a defenceman while Bahl was injured, he made it an easy choice.
"Defencemen take a little bit longer, typically, to develop," Lambert said. "He went down to the minors this year and played really solid hockey. As a young defenceman, getting an opportunity in the NHL, often you have couple good games and then (your) game slips a little bit as soon as you get off what the important things are.
So, going back, spending some time getting your game back in order and then improving on it ... I think Solo has done a fantastic job with that. Obviously he's a big body, he's got an unbelievable shot, he's got all the elements you'd want in a third-pairing NHL defenceman. I think last night just a glimpse of what he has the ability to do.
"Becoming consistent is going to be the challenge for him, just like it is for any young defenceman. But so far, he's handled things very well. He's a really good young man and he's willing to work, willing to learn. Those are things you need to have to become an NHL defenceman."
Lambert, who works with Calgary's defence corps, sees a ton of potential in Solovyov and what he can bring to the lineup. Moving forward, the message is to continue to hone in on a few of the basics of his game and develop that level of consistency on a shift-to-shift basis that will allow him to thrive at this level.
"I think the things he needs to continually work on at this level is try to take away the opposition's time and space - you have to trust your skating to do that against guys that are typically a little bit faster, a little bit bigger than what you face at the American League level. You can talk about a defenceman that's played ten years in the league or ten games in the league and I think that's always going to be the repetition of that's what you need to do to continue to grow your game.
"His stick detail has got to continue to grow as well. It's gotten better and it needs to continue as far as going into corners, eliminating that time and space, going in stick on puck first and then eliminating the body. He is a strong man and that is always another asset he has. We need to continue to see him use that to his advantage."
