Inside look at Calgary Flames

NHL.com is providing in-depth roster, prospect and fantasy analysis for each of its 32 teams from Aug. 1-Sept. 1. Today, the Calgary Flames.

The Calgary Flames are staying the course and pressing on with their youth movement. 

They are banking on their talented young players this season to take another step in the rebuilding process, hoping to build the foundation for a winning team to go along with their new arena that will open for the 2027-28 season.  

It’s one of the main reasons Calgary was not very active in free agency this offseason. 

“We’ve had a plan the whole time, and it’s still the same,” general manager Craig Conroy said. “If something made sense or if there was an opportunity (in free agency), but to be honest, we have to stick with the plan. 

“I told you we wouldn’t be doing much with free agency, lots of teams have jumped in, but with us and who we have on the roster, the opportunity we want to give those guys, it just made more sense to go with what we have right now.”

Calgary (34-39-9) finished seventh in the Pacific Division last season after just missing out on the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 2024-25 with a young lineup. The Flames were hoping to take another step forward but struggled offensively and were unable to keep pace with the rest of their division. 

Undaunted, Calgary leaned even harder into the rebuild.

The Flames traded veteran forward Nazem Kadri, and defensemen Rasmus Andersson and MacKenzie Weegar during the season, then sent forward Blake Coleman to the Minnesota Wild, along with defenseman Olli Maatta, for defenseman Jake Middleton and three draft picks on July 2. 

“We think with him coming in, he’ll be able calm things down physically and he’s going to be able to kill penalties for us and play power-play minutes and be a big part of this moving forward,” Conroy said. “Obviously Blake is going to be a huge loss (given) what he’s like in the locker room, but I’ve heard the same things about Middleton. So, one locker room guy for another locker room guy, it was very important to us.”

The Flames also acquired defenseman Simon Nemec, 22, and forward Maxim Tsyplakov, 27, from the New Jersey Devils on June 23 to add to their core. 

Nemec signed a five-year, $36.25 million contract ($7.25 million average annual value) on July 6 as a restricted free agent.  

Nemec will anchor a blue line featuring Kevin Bahl, 26, Middleton, 30, Zach Whitecloud, 29, Joel Hanley, 35, Brayden Pachal, 26 and Zayne Parekh, 20.

Middleton, Whitecloud and Hanley are expected to provide veteran leadership to a young defensive group, while Mikael Backlund, 37, Jonathan Huberdeau, 33, and Ryan Strome, 33, will bear that responsibility among a young group of forwards.

“You need good leaders too,” Conroy said. “You have a lot of young players, and you’re going to see even more young players at the end of the year, and we need the right people that can support this young group and grow together and just show them what it’s all about to be an NHL player and have success and it goes a long ways.”

Forwards Matt Coronato, 23, Yegor Sharangovich, 28, Joel Farabee, 26, Morgan Frost, 27, Connor Zary, 24, Martin Pospisil, 26, Adam Klapka, 25, Matvei Gridin, 20, and Samuel Honzek, 21, will be asked to take on bigger roles this season.  

Calgary was the lowest-scoring team in the NHL last season, averaging 2.54 goals per game. It did not have a single player get more than 45 points. 

“One of the things we talked about is to give those other guys, the younger guys those minutes that Coleman won’t be getting now and the situations, because he played power play, penalty kill, and even strength,” Conroy said. “So, someone is going to get those minutes and that’s what it’s all about, giving opportunities to those young guys to see if they can do, and hopefully, they all can. And I know they’re going to be hungry to try and steal that ice time too.”

Despite the struggles last season, the outlook is bright for the Flames with an abundance of young talent in their system. 

Along with the younger players already on the roster, Calgary has talented forwards Jonathan Castagna, 21, Theo Stockselius, 19, Tyson Gross, 23, and defensemen Axel Hurtig, 21, Abram Wiebe, 22, and Hunter Brzustewicz, 21, knocking on the door. 

The Flames are also excited about goalie Tobias Trejbal, who was selected in the second round (No. 42) of the 2026 NHL Draft. The 18-year-old will have plenty of time to develop behind franchise goalie Dustin Wolf, who is entering his third full season. 

“I think to see the skill and the skating and just the amount of prospects we have, even the guys that we drafted last year and the growth they’ve already taken, and where we’re going to be in another year with those guys, it’s going to be exciting,” Conroy said.