1. Mammoth Deal
The Flames practiced Wednesday in advance of tonight's clash with the Senators, but the big news of the day came closer to the supper hour. Calgary acquired defenceman Olli Määttä, prospect centre Jonathan Castagna and a trio of second-round picks from Utah in exchange for veteran d-man MacKenzie Weegar.
General Manager Craig Conroy said he and Mammoth GM Bill Armstrong had been in contact on the concept of a deal for some time, but the action really picked up around lunchtime Wednesday.
"It just sets us up moving forward with the Draft capital that we’re getting back, with a young player and a player like Olli Määttä," Conroy told Flames TV Wednesday. "We kind of checked all the little boxes along the way."
Määttä, 31, has more than 860 NHL regular season and playoff games to his credit. The two-time Cup winner immediately becomes the elder statesman - NHL appearance-wise - on a Calgary blue-line that looks markedly different than it did two months ago.
But with change comes opportunity, and for Conroy, one area of focus going forward will be on the young defenders in his stable, including 19-year-old Zayne Parekh.
With Rasmus Andersson - and now Weegar - gone from the Flames' blue line's right side, the time is nigh for Parekh to seize a bigger role.
"I think the one thing that really does is (with) Zayne on the powerplay," Conroy explained. "Zayne’s going to see a bigger role moving forward, and it gives opportunities to guys on that right side to maybe come up and show what they can do."
That bigger role could start manifesting itself as early as this evening, in Calgary's final game before Friday's NHL Trade Deadline.
And as we reach the three-quarter pole of the 2025-26 regular season, this new-look blue line will get plenty of time in the kitchen, to see what they can cook up.
