November 5, 2026
November 5, 2026
Flames’ 2025-26 Season: Calgary Commits to the Reset
The Flames’ 2025-26 season was the year Calgary stopped chasing the margins and started building for something bigger. The club finished 34-39-9 with 77 points, 29th among 32 teams. It scored fewer goals than anyone in the league and missed the playoffs for a fourth straight spring. Along the way, the franchise traded three pillars of its veteran core and handed real minutes to the players who will define its next era.
Calgary entered the fall still stinging from the previous spring. The 2024-25 Flames had finished level on points with St. Louis for the final wild-card spot and lost the tiebreaker. Head coach Ryan Huska and general manager Craig Conroy believed a modest push could close that gap.
The summer reflected that belief. Dustin Wolf, a Calder Trophy finalist as a rookie, signed a seven-year extension on September 9. Captain Mikael Backlund agreed to a two-year deal eight days later. Kevin Bahl, Morgan Frost, and Connor Zary were also locked up, while Daniel Vladar and Anthony Mantha departed in free agency.
The pipeline kept growing too. Calgary drafted center Cole Reschny 18th overall and Cullen Potter 32nd at the 2025 draft. Defenseman Zayne Parekh, the ninth overall pick a year earlier, was ready for his first full professional season. The plan was to blend that youth with a veteran group led by Backlund, Nazem Kadri, and Rasmus Andersson.
The worst possible version of October arrived almost immediately. Calgary opened with a 4-3 shootout win in Edmonton on October 8, a result that briefly hinted at better things. The next night in Vancouver began an eight-game losing streak that stretched until October 24.
After seven games, the Flames sat at 1-6-0 with two points. No Calgary team had ever been that poor through seven games since the franchise arrived from Atlanta in 1980. The frustrating part was that the hockey often looked competitive. The Flames scored first in eight of their opening 12 games yet won only one of them.
The skid finally broke on October 26 with a 5-1 rout of the New York Rangers at the Scotiabank Saddledome. Still, Calgary closed the month at 2-8-2, buried at the bottom of the standings. Forward Justin Kirkland admitted it was not the position anyone had wanted to be in.
The recovery began quietly in November. A 5-1 win over Columbus on November 5 steadied the room, and a 6-2 victory in Buffalo on November 19 followed. Four nights later, Calgary clawed past Vancouver 5-2 on the road. The Flames went 7-6-2 in the month, respectable if not yet convincing.
December was where they seized the season back. Calgary beat Minnesota 4-1 on December 4 and outlasted Buffalo 7-4 four nights later. A 6-3 win over Vegas on December 20 showed what the group could do against a contender. The Flames closed the calendar year by drubbing Philadelphia 5-1 on December 31.
That 9-4 month pulled Calgary all the way to 18-18-4. After the historic October collapse, a playoff push suddenly looked plausible. It would prove to be the high-water mark.
The first domino fell after more than a year of speculation. Andersson played his farewell game on January 17, a 4-2 win over the New York Islanders. The next day, Conroy sent him to Vegas for defenseman Zach Whitecloud, prospect Abram Wiebe, a 2027 first-round pick, and a conditional second-rounder. TSN detailed the Andersson trade, including Calgary’s decision to retain half his salary.
The deal closed a significant chapter. Andersson had spent his entire career in Calgary, recording 261 points in 584 games. He left with 10 goals and 30 points in 48 games, third on the team in scoring. January ended with Calgary at 22-26-6, its momentum already fading.
Another blow landed on February 5. Jonathan Huberdeau had been playing through hip trouble all season, and the club announced he needed hip resurfacing surgery in March. TSN reported on Huberdeau’s season-ending injury, noting his 10 goals and 25 points in 50 games. Fittingly, he scored in his final appearance, a 4-3 win over Edmonton.
The real overhaul came in the span of three days. On March 4, with Calgary at 24-29-7, MacKenzie Weegar waived his no-trade clause to join Utah. The Flames received veteran defenseman Olli Maatta, Cornell center Jonathan Castagna, and three 2026 second-round picks. Weegar had led the team in ice time but was a minus-35.
Kadri followed on deadline day, March 6, returning to Colorado, where he had won the 2022 Stanley Cup. Calgary landed Victor Olofsson, prospect Max Curran, a conditional 2028 first-round pick, and a conditional 2027 second-rounder. Daily Hive covered the Kadri deal, noting he still led all Flames skaters with 41 points. Minutes earlier, Conroy acquired Ryan Strome from Anaheim to fill the gap down the middle and added Brennan Othmann from the Rangers.
The message was unmistakable. Calgary was no longer tinkering around the edges. It was clearing the runway for the next generation.
A lighter, younger roster responded with some of its most convincing hockey of the year. The Flames went 10-9-2 over the final 21 games, and the power play finally looked dangerous. Players who remained appeared freer once the trade speculation was gone.
The best stretch came in late March. Calgary edged St. Louis in a shootout on March 18, beat Florida 4-1, won in overtime against Tampa Bay, and took a shootout from Los Angeles. That four-game run was the club’s longest winning streak of the season. A 7-3 thumping of Vancouver on March 28 followed.
Mathematics caught up with the Flames anyway. Their playoff hopes ended on April 7 with a 4-3 overtime loss to Dallas. Calgary still finished with purpose, beating Utah 4-1 on April 12 and closing with a home win over Los Angeles. The full schedule is available through Hockey-Reference’s Flames game log.
Matt Coronato emerged as the clearest offensive engine of the Flames’ 2025-26 season. The young winger led the club with 45 points, including 18 goals and 27 assists. Huska suggested better puck luck could have added roughly 10 more goals to that total.
Frost delivered the finishing touch Calgary badly needed. He topped the team in goals, cleared the 20-goal mark, and was Calgary’s most dangerous finisher after the deadline. Backlund remained the heartbeat of the room with 17 goals and 43 points of steady two-way production. Blake Coleman, who stayed put despite deadline interest, posted a team-best plus-12.
The future showed up late but unmistakably. Parekh endured a difficult first pro season, but he finished on the top defensive pairing. He logged at least 22 minutes in each of the final four games. Matvei Gridin piled up 13 points in his last 19 games after the deadline.
Goaltending told a more complicated story. Wolf carried the heaviest load with 57 appearances, a 3.01 goals-against average, and a .899 save percentage. Devin Cooley, extended in late December, offered strong support with a .909 save percentage in 31 games.
The Flames’ 2025-26 season will be remembered as the year Calgary finally chose a direction. Andersson, Weegar, and Kadri departed within seven weeks, bringing back a haul of prospects and picks. The club entered the summer holding six selections in the first two rounds of the 2026 draft.
The lottery offered no shortcut. Calgary held a 9.5 percent chance at the top pick but slid to sixth overall. Huska summed up the year bluntly: “We are where we’re at, but it isn’t where we want to be.” Conroy promised to leave no stone unturned, as the Flames’ end-of-season review recounted.
The losses stung, but the season left Calgary with something it had lacked for years. Coronato, Parekh, Gridin, and a deep cupboard of picks now carry a clear plan forward. With the franchise preparing for a final campaign at the Saddledome and a move to Scotia Place, that plan arrived at exactly the right moment.
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