The Calgary Flames are set to open development camp on Wednesday, July 1st, and this year’s group looks loaded with more upside than Calgary fans are used to seeing in one place.
That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. Over the past two years, a lot of the conversation around the Flames has centered on the prospects and the future Craig Conroy has been piecing together.
Some of those players are already on track to be in the NHL next season, with Dustin Wolf, Zayne Parekh and others leading that wave. But in a rebuild, patience is part of the deal, and plenty of the names fans are excited about now will be elsewhere in 2026/27.
Still, this is a chance to see a huge chunk of that future up close.
All nine picks from the 2026 NHL Draft class will be at camp, including star blue liner Carson Carels, who is viewed as a long-term addition to the organization. The Flames will also have Cole Reschny, Cullen Potter and Ethan Wyttenbach on the ice, the three biggest names from the 2025 draft class. All three are headed back to the NCAA this season, but the expectation is they’ll return to Calgary after their year is done, this time for good.
Henry Mews will also be there after an injury cut short his 2025/26 season, though he won’t be taking part in on-ice work as he continues pushing to get back to 100%. Even without him skating, he remains one of the more important defensive prospects in the system.
And then there are the wildcards - the players who haven’t gotten much attention yet, but could force their way into the conversation with a strong 2026/27 season.
A total of 25 players will go through on-ice activities at WinSport on July 1st, 2nd and 3rd, giving the Flames a packed three-day look at a group that could shape what comes next.
In Other News...
Flames Blue-Line Vision Just Took A Massive Step Forward
Craig Conroys effort to reshape the Flames blue line has been years in the making, and it is starting to look less like a theory and more like a real organizational identity. Since taking over as general manager in 2023, Conroy has leaned hard into stocking the pipeline with right-handed defenders through trades and drafts, giving Calgary a different kind of depth chart than it has carried for most of the cap era.
Carson Carels is the latest and loudest sign of that shift. The highly regarded defense prospect came off the board at No. 6 in the 2026 NHL Draft, a startling jump for a franchise that has long struggled to land elite blue-liners early, and his arrival only adds to the sense that Calgary is trying to build something sturdier from the back end forward. With other young defense pieces also beginning to take shape, the Flames suddenly have a real chance to compare favorably with a lot of the league if this group develops the way the organization believes it can. [Read more 🡒]
Wranglers Could Be Headed For Another Major Leadership Shakeup
The Calgary Wranglers are heading into the summer with the kind of roster uncertainty that usually comes with a new AHL season, but this one carries a little more weight than most. Several players are either up for new deals or may end up elsewhere depending on how the Flames sort out their own lineup, which means the Wranglers could look noticeably different when camp opens for 2025-26.
A few familiar names are at the center of that turnover, and the ripple effects go beyond simple depth-chart shuffling. Calgary already knows it may need to absorb some losses and replace offense from the wings, while also sorting out how much room there is for younger pieces to push in from above or earn bigger roles below. If the summer breaks a certain way, the Wranglers will not just be tweaking the roster - they could be resetting the tone of the room, too. [Read more 🡒]