If the Calgary Flames spend the 2026-27 season looking like sellers, the trade deadline should bring familiar noise around a handful of names. The team isn’t expected to strip things down quite as aggressively as it did a year ago, when Rasmus Andersson, MacKenzie Weegar, and Nazem Kadri were moved out, but there are still players on the roster who could wind up in the rumor mill.
Some of those names are obvious because of their contracts. Others stand out because of their production. And one or two are there simply because the league always has room for a useful piece when the price is right.
Morgan Frost sits near the top of that list. At 27, he’s the most talented centreman in the organization, which makes him a tough player to part with.
But the Flames also have several promising centre prospects in the pipeline, and that could make them more open to dealing him if the right offer lands. Frost is on a $4.375 million deal and is a pending UFA, and his 2025-26 line of 22 goals, 21 assists, and 43 points shows why he’d draw attention.
He may not fit the mold of a classic first-line centre, but if another team comes in with a strong enough package, he could be wearing a different jersey next season.
Connor Zary is another name worth watching, even after a quiet stretch on the trade front. Earlier in the offseason, TSN’s Darren Dreger reported that the Flames were shopping him, though no deal materialized.
That doesn’t close the door on a move. Zary is signed through 2027-28 at $3.775 million, and after two straight disappointing seasons, he needs to convince management he still belongs in the long-term picture.
His 2025-26 numbers - 74 games, 12 goals, 13 assists, 25 points - leave plenty of room for a strong start to swing the conversation back in the other direction, or push him right back into trade speculation.
Ryan Strome also looks like a strong candidate to be moved if he gets going. The Flames picked him up at the trade deadline, and he seemed to find some life in Calgary, posting five goals and 12 points in 19 games after the deal.
He’s a pending UFA at $5 million, and his 2025-26 totals stood at 52 games, eight goals, 13 assists, and 21 points. If he opens 2026-27 with the same kind of secondary scoring he flashed after the move, playoff teams will come calling.
He might not bring back a massive return, but he checks the box as one of the most likely trade candidates on the roster.
Joel Hanley fits the deadline-depth-add profile to a tee. Claimed off waivers late in the 2023-24 season, the 35-year-old has shown he can handle an everyday role and has earned the trust of Ryan Huska and his staff with a steady, mistake-free game.
Hanley’s contract is a pending UFA deal worth $1.75 million, and his 2025-26 stat line was 68 games, no goals, seven assists, and seven points. On a contender, he’d probably be viewed as a depth piece, so Flames fans shouldn’t expect a major haul.
Still, there should be interest, and something is better than nothing.
Zach Whitecloud is a little different. The Flames don’t sound eager to move him after how well he fit in on and off the ice following his arrival from the Vegas Golden Knights last season.
Even so, the kind of player Whitecloud is tends to attract attention. He showed quickly that he can handle top-four minutes, he’s under contract through 2027-28 at a very manageable $2.75 million, and he shoots right.
That combination is exactly the sort of thing teams hunt for. His 2025-26 season ended with 78 games, two goals, 15 assists, and 17 points, and if offers get strong enough, Calgary may have a hard time turning them away.
Then there’s Maxim Tsyplakov, who first has to earn a spot on the opening night roster before any trade talk really matters. The 27-year-old came to the Flames as a throw-in from the New Jersey Devils in the Simon Nemec trade earlier this offseason, and his 2025-26 season was rough.
But he did show some offensive touch in his rookie year in 2024-25, when he put up 35 points in 77 games. If he can rediscover anything close to that production, he could become a deadline piece as well.
In Other News...
Flames Face A Real Morgan Frost Decision Before His Price Climbs
Morgan Frost has quickly become one of the more interesting pieces in the Flames center picture, and not just because of how he fits on the ice. Calgary is staring at some real uncertainty down the middle, with Ryan Strome likely to be traded and Mikael Backlund protected by a no-movement clause, which makes every decision around Frost feel a little bigger than it would otherwise. Even before the season is over, the question is already whether the Flames should lock him in now or keep weighing their options as the market around him develops.
There is a practical urgency to it, too, because a player who can help solve a roster problem tends to draw attention from other teams as well. If Calgary waits too long, the cost can rise, and the organization would be left trying to replace a useful center while also sorting out the rest of its depth chart. In a league where movement never really stops, Frost may end up being one of those names that forces a team to decide whether it wants certainty now or the risk of chasing it later. [Read more 🡒]
Calgary Native Gets A Real Chance To Climb In The Flames System
A Calgary native who has spent recent seasons working his way through the pro ranks is getting a new opportunity close to home. The Wranglers have added Alex Young on a two-way AHL/ECHL contract, giving the former AJHL standout and college player a chance to keep climbing in the Flames organization after proving himself in the ECHL.
Young heads into the season with a real path to minutes at either level, depending on where the Wranglers need help and how the roster shakes out. For a player who has bounced around the minor-league ladder, the chance to compete for ice time in Calgarys system gives him both a fresh platform and a familiar hockey market to make an impression. [Read more 🡒]
Connor Zary Faces A Defining Flames Season For His Future
Connor Zary has reached the point in his Flames career where upside is no longer the only conversation. After flashes of skill and stretches of useful play, the next season is shaping up as the one that will tell Calgary whether he can stick in a more prominent role or remain a player still searching for the right fit and the right lineup runway.
The projection work on Zary points to a meaningful window ahead, with his age and past production weighed against the role uncertainty that has followed him. For the Flames, the question is less about whether there is talent here and more about whether the coming season finally gives him enough consistency to make a real claim on a top-six spot and power-play duty. [Read more 🡒]