The Calgary Flames enter the 2025-26 season as one of the NHL’s great enigmas. Fresh off a campaign where they defied expectations only to fall short of the playoffs on a tiebreaker, the team presents a fascinating case study in contrasts. They boast a Vezina-caliber goaltender and a rock-solid blue line, yet are saddled with an offense that struggled to find the back of the net. They have a potential superstar defenseman in the pipeline, but face the imminent departure of a veteran stalwart.
Internally, the goal is the postseason. Externally, projections range from a respectable middle-of-the-pack finish to a nosedive into the league’s basement. For the Flames faithful, the coming season will be a tightrope walk between hope and harsh reality. The foundation is strong in their own end, but the burning question remains: can they score enough to matter?
Can Calgary’s Anemic Offense Find its Spark?
Let’s not mince words: the Flames’ offense was a problem last season. Finishing with just 220 goals in 82 games and lugging around the league’s second-worst team shooting percentage (9.1%) is a recipe for frustration. It’s a reality that limited offseason moves, save for depth signings, did little to address on paper.
The burden falls on a familiar but aging core. Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri, the only two players to crack the 50-point plateau last year, are both above the age of 30 and carry heavy contracts. In an ideal world, they’re elite second-line drivers, not the primary offensive engines of an entire franchise. The current setup miscasts them, placing immense pressure on their shoulders to produce at a rate that may no longer be realistic.
Hope, however, springs from the youth. The organization showed its faith in Matt Coronato, locking him up with a seven-year, $6.5 million AAV extension after a breakout 24-goal, 47-point season. He looks primed to take the next step and become a legitimate top-six threat.
Beyond Coronato, the Flames are banking on a series of bounce-back performances. Yegor Sharangovich saw his production dip to 17 goals, a far cry from his 31-goal peak, as he battled through injury. Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, acquired mid-season from Philadelphia, never quite found their footing and will need to prove they can produce in a new environment. Then there’s Connor Zary. Zary was snakebitten for much of his injury-plagued season (missing 28 games), but still managed a respectable 13 goals and 27 points in 54 games. A healthy, confident Zary could be a significant X-factor.
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The supporting cast features reliable veterans in Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund, but the real wild card could be the colossal Adam Klapka. At 6’8″ and 235 pounds, the man is a giant on skates. He showed flashes of potential last season, potting 6 goals in 31 games while occasionally seeing top-line duty. If he can leverage that massive frame into consistent middle-six production, he could solve a lot of problems for Calgary.
Fortress Calgary: The Wolf and Weegar Show
If the Flames’ offense is a question mark, their defense and goaltending are a resounding exclamation point. This is the bedrock of the team, the reason they were in the playoff hunt at all.
It all starts with Dustin Wolf. “The man of the moment” is no exaggeration. His Calder-worthy performance in 2024-25 (29-16-8, .910 save percentage) single-handedly stole games and made the team far better than the sum of its parts. He is the undisputed franchise goalie, and with a new contract on the horizon after this season, he’ll be motivated to prove last year was no fluke. Backing him up will be a competition between Ivan Prosvetov and Devin Cooley, both on one-way deals.
Patrolling the blue line in front of him is MacKenzie Weegar, who has quietly become one of the premier shutdown defensemen in the entire league. Since arriving in the Matthew Tkachuk trade, he has been an anchor for this team, consistently taking on the toughest assignments and excelling.
The excitement, however, is palpable for the arrival of Zayne Parekh. Hailed as the best defensive prospect the Flames have seen in decades, the 2024 first-rounder has the ceiling of a true game-breaking offensive defenseman. The plan is for him to spend most of the year in the NHL, learning the ropes under the tutelage of Weegar, who will handle the heavy defensive lifting. This sheltering should allow Parekh’s elite offensive instincts to flourish without the pressure of being “the guy” from day one.
This strength is also a source of uncertainty. Rasmus Andersson is a pending UFA and appears to be the next veteran on the trade block. With reports suggesting he won’t sign an extension with certain teams, the market is limited, but a move seems inevitable, whether it’s before the season or at the trade deadline. His departure would open a significant hole, likely to be filled by the promising AHL pairing of Hunter Brzustewicz and Yan Kuznetsov. The rest of the defensive corps, including the steady Kevin Bahl and a collection of waiver claims and “tweeners,” provides depth but underscores the importance of the top-end talent.
The Questions That Will Define the Season
As training camp gives way to the regular season, a couple of critical subplots will dominate the narrative in Calgary. How these questions are answered will likely determine the team’s trajectory.
- The Andersson Situation: It’s not a matter of if, but when and for what. A trade is coming. Will GM Craig Conroy pull the trigger early to set the roster for the season, or will he wait until the deadline to maximize the return from a contender? The timing and the assets acquired will have a major impact on both the current season and the long-term build.
- Is Klapka for Real? Can the towering forward make the leap from intriguing depth piece to a legitimate, consistent middle-six force? A productive Klapka would add a dimension of size and net-front presence the Flames desperately need, diversifying their attack and making them a much harder team to play against.
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Expectation vs. Reality: What Does 2025-26 Really Hold?
This is where the rubber meets the road. The analytics community and the optimistic fan base see two very different teams.
Analyst JFresh, for one, is predicting doom and gloom. His model projects the Flames to finish with the worst point total in the NHL, arguing that their success last year was a mirage built on unsustainable success in one-goal games and heroic goaltending. He labels the roster “anemic,” pointing to the lack of a true, clear-cut first-line forward.
A more moderate projection from The Athletic paints a picture of mediocrity, placing the Flames around 80 points and 25th in the league standings. This scenario sees the goaltending regress slightly and the offense continue to sputter.
The optimist’s case, however, isn’t without merit. It’s hard to imagine the team’s shooting percentage not improving. Simple law of averages suggests that players like Zary, Sharangovich, Frost, and Farabee are due for positive regression. If Wolf remains merely competent—let alone spectacular—and the team can get five players to the 20-goal mark, a finish around 17th in the league isn’t out of the question.
The most likely outcome probably lies somewhere in the middle. The message for Flames fans should be one of patience. This team has found its franchise cornerstones in Wolf and Parekh. The prospect pool is brimming with offensive talent that is still a year or two away. The logical path forward involves a slight step back this season. Look for the team to be competitive but ultimately move a valuable piece like Andersson at the deadline for future assets.
This season is about building for a brighter future, not necessarily about winning today. It’s about developing Parekh, empowering Coronato, and figuring out which of the bounce-back candidates are part of the long-term solution. There will be frustrating nights, but the path forward is finally starting to clear.
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