Had the Calgary Flames finished at the bottom of the Pacific and with a top-five draft pick last year, it may have been viewed as a success by some. A chunk of veterans have moved on in recent years, opportunities are coming to the next generation, and hopefully, the team is ready to be in the playoffs by the time their new arena opens for the 2027-28 season. So would some fans have been OK landing a top prospect in the 2025 draft? Sure.
But the Flames exceeded expectations and only missed out on the playoffs by a tiebreaker — in fact, they had a point total that was greater than two playoff teams from the East. GM Craig Conroy wasn’t trying to blow up this roster in the same scorched-earth way as the Chicago Blackhawks. That risks a rebuild that goes on for an uncomfortable amount of time and forces youth into a losing environment where good habits are harder to learn.
Conroy is still not folding on this year’s team, but the best version of his Flames is hopefully still years in the future. He faces one big challenge this year, the seemingly inevitable trade of Rasmus Andersson before his contract expires next summer. The defenceman’s departure will be another blow to this roster, but the return should give more hope and promise for what’s ahead.
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32 Thoughts: The Podcast
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The Flames could be competitive and overachieve again, but playoffs? Those somehow still seem out of reach. Maybe we’ll be eating those words come April, but Vancouver, Utah and even Anaheim, who all finished behind the Flames, have every reason to believe they can be even better this season.
Continuing our look at the 32 NHL teams over 32 days, today’s focus is on the Calgary Flames.
We’re going to cheat a little on this answer because Farabee was a mid-season addition to the roster in 2024-25, but the Flames really didn’t add an NHL player of note over the summer. Calgary will be hoping Farabee becomes a 20-goal, 50-ish point player again. Split between Calgary and Philadelphia last season, he mustered only 11 goals — his lowest output since his 52-game rookie season — and it’s a bit of a mystery where he’ll wind up fitting into this lineup. Farabee is making $5 million against the cap for another three seasons yet, and he’s only 25 years old, so there’s plenty of opportunity for him to end up being a productive member of this team when it begins to emerge again. But those stats have to bounce back first, so this is a big season for him and the Flames.
While Justin Kirkland got more attention overall as the nice call-up story from last season, Kerins’ contributions were also impressive in a smaller sample size. Injury opened the door to his call-up, and in four games Kerins posted four points. He was sent down to participate in the AHL All-Star Game, but never reappeared in the NHL. His path back isn’t very clear either. Morgan Frost and Farabee were picked up via trade last season and occupy spots on the third line, so Kerins would need an injury to get called up, or to replace Ryan Lomberg on the fourth line — and Lomberg is an energetic fit there. Still, Kerins was nearly a point per game player for the AHL Wranglers and has earned another look at the NHL. He’ll surely be a call-up at some point at least, and if he leaves his mark again, it’ll get harder to look away.
The ninth overall pick from the 2024 draft will be one of Calgary’s more interesting players to monitor when training camp opens. No major junior defenceman scored more points than Parekh’s 107 last year and in the one NHL game he did get into at the end of the season, he scored a goal. Parekh is dynamic offensively and will be given every opportunity to make this roster out of training camp and then hang around past the first nine games. At that point, Calgary will either keep him, or send him back to a junior league he’s already dominated. This is favourable for Parekh’s chances at becoming a full-time NHLer this season. Dustin Wolf was a Calder Trophy finalist a year ago and Parekh also figures to be in the running for rookie of the year in 2025-26.
1. When will Rasmus Andersson be traded?
It’s not a well-kept secret. Captain Mikael Backlund told the media recently that it was “obvious” Andersson was going to be traded at some point this season. It’s just a matter of when, though there’s no indication at this point that it will happen before the real games begin in October. Andersson, a right-shot blueliner, will be one of the most valued, attainable assets via trade this season. He’s playing for a new contract somewhere, as his current deal expires in 2026, which times perfectly with a salary cap that will rise over $100 million by the time his next deal kicks in. The Flames were surprisingly competitive last season, but focus is squarely on the longer-term future here. It’s in Andersson’s interests to have a great season to maximize his earnings, and if he pulls through, it would also ensure Calgary gets what it needs: a home run return for a top-four blueliner who will be only 29 by the end of the season.
2. Will Nazem Kadri play his way into the Team Canada Olympic conversation?
When Team Canada announced its long list of invitees to the summer orientation camp in Calgary, Nazem Kadri was vocal about his omission. “I feel like I deserve a chance,” he told The Athletic. Can he earn consideration through his play with the Flames this season? Kadri scored 35 goals in 2024-25, a career high, and the 67 points he scored were the third-most in his career. He adds a sort of grit that would be welcomed and that was very much present at the 4 Nations, which can be used as a preview, given the Olympics will be played on NHL-sized ice. The last time Kadri played Stanley Cup playoff hockey, he was a key part of Colorado’s championship, but that was four years ago now. Turning 35 in October and playing on a team in the NHL’s mushy middle, it will be a tough case for Kadri to make, but he’s determined and starts off with a chip on his shoulder, which should at least be a good thing for the Flames.
3. How high will Dustin Wolf be placed in NHL goalie rankings by the end of this season?
The runner-up to Lane Hutson for the Calder Trophy in 2025, Dustin Wolf faced the 11th-most high-danger shots against last season and finished with the sixth-best high-danger save percentage among all NHL starters. The 24-year-old, who won goalie of the year honours at the major junior and AHL levels before, had been a highly anticipated Flames prospect for years and absolutely delivered in his first go as a starter. So what now? If anyone can help Calgary to a better-than-anticipated season again, it’s the goalie, who will be challenged with a heavy workload. Earning a place on Team USA’s Olympic team is a lot to ask, but a repeat or improvement from last year will at least see Wolf move up goalie rankings in the league. Could he end up being a top-tier netminder faster than we think?
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