The Calgary Flames are already drawing plenty of gloom with the season still two months out, and the buzz around the Saddledome is leaning heavily toward another rough finish. With the franchise heading into its final year in the building, plenty of people are pegging the Flames as a team that could end up near the bottom of the NHL standings again.
That outlook isn’t built on nothing. Craig Conroy has loaded up on first-round draft picks by moving out valuable veterans, and the list of exits has been significant.
Nazem Kadri and Mackenzie Weegar were among the departures last season, while Blake Coleman left in the summer. That approach has its benefits, but it also strips away experience, and young players usually need time before they can carry a team.
Calgary’s scoring issues were already obvious last year, when no one finished with more than 50 points.
Matt Coronato is one of the names that keeps coming up as part of the brighter future. He’s only twenty-three, and plenty still see real upside there, but the production hasn’t quite matched the optimism yet.
His season totals have been 42, 47, and 45 points. That’s not nothing, but it’s also not the kind of output that screams top-line driver.
And if your leading scorer topped out at 45 points last season, that doesn’t exactly point to an offense ready to take off.
The veteran group doesn’t offer a huge safety net either. Mikael Backlund has only gone over 50 points twice in his long run with the Flames.
Jonathan Huberdeau has reached at least 50 points in three of his four seasons, though many still view him as a flop and the expectation around his contract remains that the numbers should be much better. Yegor Sharangovich, meanwhile, has been trending downward in points since arriving from New Jersey.
Still, there is a real reason to think Calgary might not be quite as doomed as the noise suggests: the goaltending. Dustin Wolf had a quieter 2025-26, but he’s still seen as someone with elite potential.
The 25-year-old posted a .910 save percentage in 2024-25 before slipping to .899 last season, and some of that can be tied to the unstable defensive pairings in front of him. That situation may now be settling.
The back end is not loaded with trade pieces outside of the young players, whose departure has already been ruled out, but there is at least a chance for more stability. The addition of Simon Nemec should help with mobility and puck movement on the blue line.
And then there’s Devin Cooley. As Wolf’s backup, he turned heads in his first season with the Flames, putting up a .909 in 31 games.
That was a strong return, and there were stretches where he arguably outplayed Wolf, enough that some Flames fans online joked he was ruining the tank. Even if Wolf dips again or misses time, Calgary has what looks like a very dependable option behind him.
In Other News...
One Saddledome Night Still Defines The Flames For A Generation
On May 29, 2004, the Saddledome felt like the center of the hockey world again, hosting a Stanley Cup Final game for the first time in 15 years as the Flames welcomed Tampa Bay. Calgary made the night matter, skating away with a 3-0 win in Game 3 behind a disciplined effort, timely scoring and strong goaltending in front of a crowd that had waited a long time for that stage to return.
The game became one of those franchise touchstones that still hangs over the building years later, a reminder of how close the Flames came to turning that run into something even bigger. The series went all seven games, and Tampa Bay ended up lifting the Cup, but for one Saddledome night the Flames had the league exactly where they wanted it and gave their fans a memory that still defines an era. [Read more 🡒]
Sharangovich Knows He Must Deliver More For A Scoring-Starved Flames Team
Yegor Sharangovich spent the offseason taking a hard look at his game, and the Calgary Flames are hoping that self-assessment leads to a much-needed bounce-back. After a low-scoring season from the club, Sharangovich knows he has to be better, especially in the areas that can help him hold onto pucks and drive play when the offense dries up.
He said his focus has been on improving his performance in puck battles and in his own zone, part of a broader effort to get back to the scoring form he has shown before. The work has not just been mental, either, with changes to his training approach designed to help him rebuild his all-around game and give a thin Flames attack another reliable option. [Read more 🡒]
Flames Have Another Center Prospect Worth Watching Closely
Jonathan Castagna is becoming an interesting name to track in the Flames system, especially after the organization brought him in as part of the MacKenzie Weegar deal and later signed him to an entry-level contract that begins in 2026-27. After a strong junior season at Cornell, the center got a look at Flames rookie camp and now looks headed for the Calgary Wranglers next season, where the club will get a better sense of how his game translates against pro competition.
For Calgary, the appeal goes beyond just another center body in the pipeline. Castagnas faceoff work and leadership have stood out, traits that can help a young player carve out a real role quickly if the rest of his game keeps coming along. The Wranglers should give him a chance to compete for top-line center duty, and for a prospect still early in his development, that is a meaningful opportunity to watch closely. [Read more 🡒]