{"id":421682,"date":"2026-01-20T15:44:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421682\/"},"modified":"2026-01-20T15:44:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-20T15:44:08","slug":"whitecloud-surprised-by-trade-but-excited-to-join-flames-blue-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/421682\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitecloud surprised by trade, but excited to join Flames’ blue line"},"content":{"rendered":"

CALGARY \u2014 Despite having his world turned upside down on Sunday, Zach Whitecloud<\/a> packed, got on a plane in Las Vegas with his fianc\u00e9e Monday morning, and made his Flames debut on Monday night.<\/p>\n

In Calgary\u2019s 2-1 overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils<\/a>, the former Golden Knights defenceman finished second on his new team with 22:33 in ice time, registered two shots, threw one hit, and had three blocked shots.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel good, surprisingly,\u201d said the 29-year-old Whitecloud. \u201cI honestly went in with zero expectations on how I was going to feel. Obviously, busy transition for my fianc\u00e9e and I, so just hit the ground running.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitecloud was acquired by the Flames along with a first-round pick, a conditional second-round pick, and prospect defenceman Abram Wiebe, in a trade for longtime Flames defenceman Rasmus Andersson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got the call and Craig had asked me if I\u2019d be willing to play, right away I was like, yeah, if it\u2019s possible and they\u2019re willing to do it, just throw me in.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u2019t an easy 24 hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cI won\u2019t lie to you, it\u2019s tough,\u201d said Whitecloud, who admitted he was caught off-guard by the deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one\u2019s ever gonna say it\u2019s easy, and it definitely isn\u2019t. But at the same time, you\u2019re feeling all these emotions, and you got to let them hit you and experience them as they come,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just tell yourself, \u2018all right, let\u2019s go to Calgary. Let\u2019s just get on a plane and go.\u2019 You have to acknowledge those emotions and go through it. And that\u2019s part of playing in the league and that\u2019s part of the business.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Brandon, Man., Whitecloud is excited about being back in Canada.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you hear Calgary, you start thinking of Canadian market and hockey city, hockey people, people that care about their team, care about the way the team is playing, care about how the people are in the community, from the organization, and those are things that I pride myself on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Undrafted, Vegas signed Whitecloud in 2018 after his second NCAA season at Bemidji State University.<\/p>\n

In seven seasons with the Golden Knights, he played 368 regular-season games, scoring 23 goals and 55 assists. He also appeared in 78 playoff games including winning the Stanley Cup in 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is new for me,\u201d said Whitecloud. \u201cI don\u2019t know this process. I have old teammates that have gone through this, and they\u2019re always texting me. If you need support, we\u2019re here for you, and first and foremost, the guys on the coaching staff, management staff, medical staff, everyone\u2019s been really, really good at making me feel at home quick.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite going from the No. 1 team in the Pacific to a team near the bottom of the NHL\u2019s overall standings, Whitecloud is embracing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the exciting part. There\u2019s so many new things to go out and experience. Spent a lot of time in Vegas, and, you know, grateful for those times, grateful they happened. But excited to come here and have a fresh start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitecloud was inserted straight into Andersson\u2019s old spot alongside Kevin Bahl<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was good. Very vocal. I thought he had a good game,\u201d said Bahl. \u201cJust get out there and play a game. You start to learn the habits and the reads, like I learned a lot from him. Him going back for the puck, or him making certain plays. So I think the best thing is just get thrown into the fire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flames coach Ryan Huska<\/a> also came away impressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsidering the circumstances, I thought he skated well. I thought he made some smart plays with the puck. I was very impressed with this first one.\u201d<\/p>\n

He admitted he was more fleet on his feet than he expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes when you watch guys in the video room, when you watch guys on the opposing team, you don\u2019t really pay as much attention to them as you do your own players. I knew he moved well, but I thought tonight he looked really good on the ice. He\u2019s able to close gaps really quickly. I think he\u2019s going to be a really good player for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he\u2019s stepped right into Andersson\u2019s role in the top four, he\u2019s not here to be Andersson.<\/p>\n

\u201cBe yourself. I think that\u2019s the most important part,\u201d said Whitecloud. \u201cI\u2019m not going to come in here and change who I was from my time in Vegas, nor did I change myself when I was there.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am who I am, and I understand who I am as a player and as a person and part of a locker room. I know my place and know my voice and my impact, and I think my impact is valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 20, 2026.<\/p>\n

Darren Haynes, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CALGARY \u2014 Despite having his world turned upside down on Sunday, Zach Whitecloud packed, got on a plane…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":421683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-421682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=421682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/421682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/421683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=421682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=421682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=421682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}