Authored By: Adrian Rosati

Photo Credits: Jenn G. used from Wikiemedia commons website. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Craig Conroy and the Flames front office have had a relatively uneventful offseason, signalling another seven months of dread for Flames fans. The only solace for Flames fans continues to be the excitement surrounding the new arena, which is scheduled to open for the 2027-28 regular season.

Woof. If you have a Calgary Flames fan in your circle of friends, they may be coming to you for some therapy sessions when it comes to their hockey team this winter. That Jonathan Huberdeau contract is getting worse as time goes on, and he is locked in until 2031. He has a season-high of 62 points in Calgary since being traded from the Florida Panthers in 2022-23 for Matthew Tkachuk. In all fairness to Brad Treliving, Tkatchuk’s trade request did tie his hands a bit, but Huberdeau was also coming off a 115-point season. He has yet to crack 100 points since.

Here’s a look at the key moves that occurred this summer:

Additions:

• D Simon Nemec — Traded from New Jersey
• D Jake Middleton — Traded from Minnesota

Subtractions:

• F Blake Coleman — Traded to Minnesota for Middleton
• D Olli Määttä — Traded to Minnesota for Middleton
• F Ryan Lomberg — Left as UFA
• F Viktor Olofsson — Left as UFA

So, What’s the Evaluation?

Long-term, the overall moves signal a good future core that could be competitive in the next two to three years. Nemec is a huge acquisition — a good right-shot defenseman who is strong in his own zone and provides some stability on the back end. The wild card with him is that he has yet to play a full 82-game season. It will be great for him to learn from veteran Zach Whitecloud and play alongside a more experienced Kevin Bahl for some minutes, which should help round out his game.

With Middleton, he was only in the first year of a four-year deal when he was traded from Minnesota. He’s a good defensive defenseman known for his physical play. Playing with Zayne Parekh, this seems like a perfect pairing. Parekh obviously has the offensive upside that he can play with, and it’s important to pair a player with that style of play alongside someone who is more defensively responsible and willing to anchor the net.

In net, Wolf is coming off a poor year. His 3.01 GAA was the worst of his career since his rookie year. His save percentage was .899, a .011 regression from the year prior. He is entering the first year of his massive seven-year, $7.5 million AAV extension. While it was certainly disappointing, the team in front of him really left him out to dry at times. As the team continues to improve, these numbers should naturally rise as well.

The biggest subtraction is up front. Losing Nazem Kadri via trade to Colorado and then failing to replace him is quite a significant miss. Albeit, with only $14.8 million to spend and a poor UFA class, there wasn’t much they could have done to save face. This is definitely shaping up to be a punt it to next year kind of team.

The Flames’ First 10 Games

The Flames will open their season against the Kraken on October 1, 2026, at 9 p.m ET. It will be their home opener. The Kraken aren’t much improved either, which may make this a coin-flip kind of game, but I would pick Seattle to win this matchup.

What helps the Flames in their first 10 games is that they have a lot of divisional opponents, and they’re playing in a division that is still the weakest of the four divisions in the NHL. I have six slated losses in their first 10 games: Colorado, Anaheim (2x), Vegas, Carolina and Minnesota.

If Dylan Larkin remains in Detroit, this could easily extend to seven. With this in mind, the first three games are crucial, with Vancouver being Game 2 and Seattle being Game 3 before a potential seven-game losing streak.

That said, I do think they are still better than Vancouver and good enough to split with Seattle. A tough 2-8 start to the season could normalize out to a record that finishes 10-15 games below .500 when it’s all said and done.

I have the Flames finishing 7th, but they could easily flip-flop with Seattle at 6th, and I wouldn’t be too surprised. A lot of the bottom of the Pacific Division has either stayed the same or gotten worse, with the Flames being in this category. I still think they have an edge over Vancouver, which will allow them to avoid the basement, but I am not too optimistic about them.

We will wait and see, and hopefully the lottery balls fall in their favour in May!