The Calgary Flames are done adding through the draft, and now the real work starts.
After using the 2026 NHL draft to bring in nine players and keep building out an already deep prospect pool, the next step is much less about accumulation and much more about subtraction. The Flames have too many bodies on the NHL side of the roster, and the pressure point now is clear: move out players on NHL contracts so the young group can actually get room to breathe.
That need is most obvious up front. As of June 30, the Flames have 20 forwards who are either established NHLers or pushing to become them, and that simply leaves too little space for the organization to give its younger players a real look. In a rebuild, that’s the wrong kind of traffic jam.
Some names stand out as obvious trade candidates. Blake Coleman has one year left on his deal at $4.9 million, and once the first wave of free agency passes, there will be teams that failed to improve their forward group the way they wanted. Coleman fits that kind of market: a player a contender would be happy to add.
Connor Zary is another name circulating in trade rumblings, with the Flames reportedly seeking a second-round pick in return. He could make sense for a team thin on forward depth, with the Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs mentioned as possible fits.
Martin Pospisil no longer has an everyday role in the lineup and doesn’t have an obvious landing spot on the current roster. He profiles as the kind of hard-working fourth-line piece a playoff team could use.
Ryan Strome is also a name to watch. The veteran forward is entering the final year of his $5 million contract and could help a team’s third or fourth line. Maxim Tsyplakov, acquired in the Simon Nemec trade, is another possible move after a season that started well - 35 points in 77 games with the New York Islanders in 2014-25 - before his production dropped off last season.
Then there’s Yegor Sharangovich, who has not found much consistency over the last two years. Even so, he still scored 17 and 15 goals in back-to-back down seasons, and his remaining four years of contract could appeal to a club with cap space and an opening in its top nine.
The expectation is that Conroy will need to move at least two of those forwards this summer, then another two by or before the trade deadline. If that happens, it would open the door for players like Rory Kerins, Sam Morton, Aydar Suniev, and William Stromgren to get serious NHL looks.
Coleman, Zary, Strome, and Tsyplakov feel like the likeliest forwards to be moved.
The blue line needs the same kind of trimming. Brayden Pachal and Joel Hanley are both in the group of defensemen the Flames should try to move between now and training camp, since each has fallen out of the lineup. Even a late-round pick or a defenseman on a two-way deal would be a reasonable return.
Hunter Brzustewicz is the tougher call. The 21-year-old played 38 games for the Flames last season and showed enough to suggest he can become a reliable second- or third-pairing NHL defenseman over time. But with Zayne Parekh and Simon Nemec ahead of him at 5-on-5 and on the power play, the path gets crowded fast.
Parekh is expected to get a look on the left side, though that may not be the best long-term fit for him. That leaves Calgary weighing difficult choices: move Brzustewicz, or move Zach Whitecloud?
However they sort it out, the first step is obvious. Hanley and Pachal need to go.
For a rebuilding team, the priority has to be simple: give as many young players as possible a chance to play meaningful NHL minutes next season. Right now, the Flames do not have enough roster space to make that happen. The only way to create it is by moving out NHL contracts, and with the market favoring sellers, Conroy needs to lean into it.
In Other News...
Flames Linked To Two Trade Targets Fans Did Not Expect
The Flames are already being talked about as a team to watch in the 2026 offseason, and the early buzz is a little different than expected. A report from David Pagnotta tied Calgary to two names that do not fit the usual rebuild shorthand, with one profile suggesting a player who could grow into a long-term top-line piece and the other looking far less likely to match what the roster has become after recent changes.
Boston also lingers in the background here because of the failed trade-deadline framework that once had Rasmus Andersson heading there before it unraveled, and that history adds another layer to Calgary's offseason intrigue. For now, none of this is close to turning into action, and the bigger point is simply that the Flames are being linked to options that say a lot about how they may want to shape the next stage of the roster, even if a deal is not expected anytime soon. [Read more 🡒]
Why Are The Flames Being Linked To This Veteran Idea
The Flames are heading into free agency with a fairly clear message from Craig Conroy: this is not shaping up as a summer for aggressive shopping. Calgary has already created two retention slots through recent contract expirations and trades, but the clubs bigger priority still appears to be keeping its roster flexible while the youth movement takes hold. Around the league, that naturally leaves room for speculation about whether the Flames could still find a short-term veteran fit if the price and the role line up.
TSN floated one such idea, but the fit looks imperfect on paper. The player in question is a wing, and that is already one of Calgarys deeper areas, which makes the match harder to justify for a team trying to sort out its long-term roster balance. Even with a solid recent season behind him, the more realistic path for the Flames may be to wait out the market unless a much cleaner opening develops. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Just Sent A Clear Message About Which Young Players Matter
The Flames made one of those quiet but telling roster-management moves that can shape the summer, issuing qualifying offers to Simon Nemec, Brennan Othmann and William Stromgren as the organization sorts out which young pieces it wants to keep under contract. At the same time, Calgary laid out its 25-man prospect development camp roster, a mix of recent draft picks and undrafted invites that gives a fresh look at the pipeline before the real business of free agency and offseason add-ons heats up.
Development camp runs this week at WinSport, with young players getting an early chance to show where they fit in the organizations plans. The larger picture is still fluid, and theres plenty of speculation about what Calgary might do next in free agency, but the list of who got a qualifying offer, and who didnt, already says plenty about which players the club views as part of the conversation going forward. [Read more 🡒]