The Calgary Flames head into 2026-27 still stuck in the middle of a rebuild that has moved slowly enough to test anyone’s patience. Three seasons after general manager Craig Conroy sent Elias Lindholm to the Canucks at the 2024 All-Star break, Calgary has made progress, but not nearly enough to suggest the turnaround is close.
Last season ended with 39 losses and 77 points, a total that would normally leave a team buried at the bottom of the Pacific. Instead, the Flames were merely seventh because the Canucks turned in a generational run and finished 19 points ahead of them.
Calgary opened the year with a 4-3 shootout win over the Edmonton Oilers, then got punched in the mouth the next night when Vancouver rolled to a 5-1 win. That loss started an eight-game skid the Flames never climbed out of.
There are still reasons to watch this group, even if the ceiling looks limited for now. Matt Coronato led the team with 45 points, though that was two fewer than he posted the year before.
Dustin Wolf still looks capable of becoming a solid starting goaltender, but his numbers dropped sharply after he lost a league-leading 29 games last season. And then there’s Jonathan Huberdeau, whose fall from 100-point star to middle-six cast-off will be studied for years.
Calgary did give bigger roles to some of its younger players, including Coronato, Zayne Parekh and Connor Zary. Former Canucks draft pick Hunter Brzustewicz also made his NHL debut and got into 34 games. Even so, the pipeline doesn’t exactly scream immediate help, which helps explain why the biggest offseason move was trading for 22-year-old defenseman Simon Nemec from the New Jersey Devils and signing him quickly to a five-year, $36.25 million contract.
The front office has kept the rebuild moving in a deliberate, almost painstaking way. Nazem Kadri, MacKenzie Weegar, Rasmus Andersson and Blake Coleman have all been moved for futures in the past few months, while veterans like Huberdeau and captain Mikael Backlund are still around.
There’s also the arena situation looming over everything. The Flames have one season left at the Saddledome before their planned move to Scotia Place for 2027-28.
Ideally, they’d be trending back toward contention right as they step into the new building and the $1 billion construction bill comes due. Right now, though, they don’t look close to that point.
That’s why this could be the year Calgary finally hits the true bottom it has managed to avoid so far. The roster left after the offseason may be the one that pushes them there, even if the organization still hasn’t fully embraced a tank. If things go well, the Flames may not be climbing the standings at all.
One thing the source projects is a finish behind the Canucks, largely because fewer Vancouver players will have career-worst seasons. Another is a bounce-back year for Wolf strong enough to earn Vezina Trophy votes.
The teams will meet four times: October 3 at Rogers Arena in the Canucks’ home opener, December 26 at Scotiabank Saddledome, February 27, 2027 at Rogers Arena, and April 10, 2027 at Scotiabank Saddledome in the final game at the Saddledome.
One more note from the season series: on November 23, a former Canucks captain scored one of Vancouver’s two goals in a 5-2 loss to Calgary, and that turned out to be Quinn Hughes’ last goal in a Canucks uniform.
In Other News...
Canucks Have One Demko Concern They Can't Rush Into Camp
Aiden Celebrinis situation is one of the more intriguing little side stories around Vancouver as camp nears, with the sixth-round pick heading into his fourth college season and still leaving open the possibility of eventually signing with the club. For a Canucks team still working through a rebuild, those longer-view decisions matter, but they sit alongside a much more immediate question in net.
Thatcher Demko remains the biggest variable for Vancouver, and the organization has little incentive to force the issue with its starting goaltender after hip surgery. The Canucks know they have to handle his recovery carefully, even if that means opening camp without a clean answer on when he will be ready, while the rest of the goaltending picture keeps moving in the background. [Read more 🡒]
Canucks Fans May Not See Much Of Their Top Young Talent In Camp
The Canucks are about to open training camp in Penticton from Sept. 17-20, but the early days of evaluation wont feature much of the organizations top young talent. A sizeable group of prospects is tied up with NCAA programs or overseas teams, which means the club will be sorting through camp with a thinner pool of future players than fans might expect this time of year.
Caleb Malhotra is among the names unlikely to be there, as he is set to begin classes at Boston University before camp starts. In all, 14 prospects are expected to miss the event because of those college and international commitments, leaving Vancouver with a reminder that some of its most intriguing young pieces are already spread across different paths. [Read more 🡒]