2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Has there ever been a team that was in last place but everyone was feeling great about things in the room?
Again this is what being bad is. None of this should be a surprise

No kidding. If there wasn't discord in the room, some posters would have the same criticisms of the leadership of the team.

[iloveicedhockey]

"Why are they enjoying losing? Trade them all!"

[Royle9]

Is anyone surprised by Weegars comments?
Just about every game we’re all on here saying the same thing:

XYZ showed up but everyone else didn’t.
He’s not wrong, but he needs to hold himself accountable as well.

Honestly at this point the only guy in the room that deserves the “C” in my mind is Kadri, but he’s likely on his way out. There’s all types of captains in the NHL but hard working teams with no skill need a captain that drags you into the fight every game (Tkachuk style) not a soft aging captain who’s only vocal from time to time.

This team is soft as puppy poo.
No identify
No effort most nights
Lack of accountability across the entire roster not just young guys
Lack of skill is more and more evident when you’re losing and not scoring
Lack of top end forwards
12 bottom 6 forwards and one still needs to come back

I’ll echo they should have cleaned up the forward group going into the season, just too many bottom 6 wingers and now they have no identity.

Team really needs to find their direction fast, and that needs to be planning for the future not trying to save this season.

[Finger Cookin]

So a very specific type of captain would have a soft team with no identity, effort, accountability, or skill play that much better night in and night out? The same group ran back from a year ago that did play with identity, effort, and accountability last year and that had no change in leadership in between seasons?

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Is anyone surprised by Weegars comments?
Just about every game we’re all on here saying the same thing:

XYZ showed up but everyone else didn’t.
He’s not wrong, but he needs to hold himself accountable as well.

Honestly at this point the only guy in the room that deserves the “C” in my mind is Kadri, but he’s likely on his way out. There’s all types of captains in the NHL but hard working teams with no skill need a captain that drags you into the fight every game (Tkachuk style) not a soft aging captain who’s only vocal from time to time.

This team is soft as puppy poo.
No identify
No effort most nights
Lack of accountability across the entire roster not just young guys
Lack of skill is more and more evident when you’re losing and not scoring
Lack of top end forwards
12 bottom 6 forwards and one still needs to come back

I’ll echo they should have cleaned up the forward group going into the season, just too many bottom 6 wingers and now they have no identity.

Team really needs to find their direction fast, and that needs to be planning for the future not trying to save this season.

So what changed identity , culture and effort wise from last year when we effectively have the exact same roster in your opinion?

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

So a very specific type of captain would have a soft team with no identity, effort, accountability, or skill play that much better night in and night out? The same group ran back from a year ago that did play with identity, effort, and accountability last year and that had no change in leadership in between seasons?

Originally Posted by Jason14h

So what changed identity , culture and effort wise from last year when we effectively have the exact same roster in your opinion?

They were lucky last year, everyone’s confirmed they played well above their skill level and rode a hot goalie and a good start.

Winning masks mistakes and issues, everyone’s happy when you’re winning.
It’s when you’re at the lowest point that the true leaders rise up and the guys that want to be here speak up and out against the bull#### efforts.

Nobody is saying Backlund carried us with his leadership last year either, we just weren’t losing thanks to Wolf’s vezina/calder calibre year. Theres no denying that.

Their identity is the exact same, the sum of all parts is not skilled enough but this time Wolf isn’t hiding it.

[MacFlame]

What happened to Zary? Based on his play pre-injury last year, I thought he deserved a spot in the top 6 to start the season. Instead, the coaches had him slotted on every line and between wing and centre. I highly disagreed with that approach because I though last year, pre-injury, he was sometimes the flames best player and a real driver of the offense.

This year? He has two points.

Two.

Regardless of what line he's playing on, I expected significantly more than 2 points at this junction of the season. Has the injury impacted him?

[Finger Cookin]

Agreed on all counts. Just not a fan of singling out Backlund when there's a litany of problems with this roster composition. Problems which are to be expected in year 2 of a rebuild, quite frankly.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by ST20

I’d hope that my captain and coach would have an impact on what it is like day to day coming to work…

So does losing 75% of your games.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Agreed on all counts. Just not a fan of singling out Backlund when there's a litany of problems with this roster composition. Problems which are to be expected in year 2 of a rebuild, quite frankly.

Fair, I’m not trying to place the blame all on him either.
Just simply pointing out I wouldn’t have him as the captain on this team.
Leadership group in general doesn’t seem very strong, but that’s just lack of personnel more so than anything.

[cam_calderon]

Originally Posted by Finger Cookin

Agreed on all counts. Just not a fan of singling out Backlund when there's a litany of problems with this roster composition. Problems which are to be expected in year 2 of a rebuild, quite frankly.

He's the captain, he inherently carries more responsibility than other players. So when there's a perceived (whether it's real or not) issue with culture the buck really should stop with him.

[Rhett44]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Fair, I’m not trying to place the blame all on him either.
Just simply pointing out I wouldn’t have him as the captain on this team.
Leadership group in general doesn’t seem very strong, but that’s just lack of personnel more so than anything.

In your opinion being around the team, who are the best leaders?

Based on watching the drive, it came across that Lomberg was a really good leader. Backlund isn't the most vocal, but I also don't know how much it matters if your assistant captains speak up more than your captain.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

So what changed identity , culture and effort wise from last year when we effectively have the exact same roster in your opinion?

I wonder what it felt like for the veterans to have a season like that and see their team flush with draft picks and cap space make virtually zero adds to the roster in the offseason and also fail to move out a player who everyone knows is one foot out the door. Combine all that with a brutal opening schedule and tough start it probably has just snowballed.

Last season Conroy took care of getting rid of guys in the summer with the Markstrom and Mangiapane deals. In 2024 the uncertainty derailed that season and he moved away every UFA one by one.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Is anyone surprised by Weegars comments?
Just about every game we’re all on here saying the same thing:

XYZ showed up but everyone else didn’t.
He’s not wrong, but he needs to hold himself accountable as well.

Honestly at this point the only guy in the room that deserves the “C” in my mind is Kadri, but he’s likely on his way out. There’s all types of captains in the NHL but hard working teams with no skill need a captain that drags you into the fight every game (Tkachuk style) not a soft aging captain who’s only vocal from time to time.

This team is soft as puppy poo.
No identify
No effort most nights
Lack of accountability across the entire roster not just young guys
Lack of skill is more and more evident when you’re losing and not scoring
Lack of top end forwards
12 bottom 6 forwards and one still needs to come back

I’ll echo they should have cleaned up the forward group going into the season, just too many bottom 6 wingers and now they have no identity.

Team really needs to find their direction fast, and that needs to be planning for the future not trying to save this season.

That is the direction though. When you are tanking and tearing it to the ground you have a lot of ####ty players. That is the situation the Flames are in. They knew they did not have enough good players and they did not get any help on the UFA market. The ownership does not want to have a competitive team, the GM does not want to have a competitive team, they don’t have a competitive team.

They have traded away almost all good assets for returns that provide them no assistance in the near term. They will likely more or less complete this process with tradable assets/salary cap requirements being taken into account in the next 100 days. This is a team that has been trying to lose for at least 18 months. They are now succeeding at it.

[Royle9]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

In your opinion being around the team, who are the best leaders?

Based on watching the drive, it came across that Lomberg was a really good leader. Backlund isn't the most vocal, but I also don't know how much it matters if your assistant captains speak up more than your captain.

It’s tough to say because there’s all different styles of leaders and what works for one team doesn’t necessarily work for the next. In my experience and based on what I’ve heard and seen, CGY benefits more from the type that drags you into the fight (Which is why Sutter didn’t name one, nobody earned it in his mind)

Backlund certainly from a care factor and dedication to fitness and the team itself earned it on that merit, but he’s certainly not going to drag the guys into the fight every night and punish you with physicality or skill.

Iginla could do both, he demanded respect on and off the ice.
Gio was loud, played hard during his prime here and had the fitness and pulse of the room right up until he didn’t in the last few years.

Right now on the team, it’s very hard to say.

Kadri certainly has most of the qualities you’d want in a Captain, but he likely won’t be here long.
Weegar’s struggled this year, and I’d hope he’s the first to admit that but I’d say he’s definitely one of the few that deserves an “A”.
Same could be said about Rasmus, though he’s got one foot out the door at this point so I wouldn’t have him leading anything.
Lomberg certainly has the fight and fitness down, but he’s not dragging the guys into it every game by any stretch.

I honestly feel we lack in the leadership department, we’ve got a lot of veterans and guys who’ve put in the time, but does that automatically grant you leadership status? I guess it depends who you ask.

[Vinny01]

Based on the last 12 years of Flames hockey next years team is going to bounce back. Wolf will be in the Vezina conversation. Our 2026 1st will burst onto the scene, Parekh will be more comfortable. Huberdeau will have his best year yet (in Calgary) and the team gets all kinds of bounces and finds themselves in a wildcard spot.

We get all excited about an accelerated rebuild only to have the following years team fall completely flat and back out of the playoffs and the yo-yo continues

[memphusk]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Based on the last 12 years of Flames hockey next years team is going to bounce back. Wolf will be in the Vezina conversation. Our 2026 1st will burst onto the scene, Parekh will be more comfortable. Huberdeau will have his best year yet (in Calgary) and the team gets all kinds of bounces and finds themselves in a wildcard spot.

We get all excited about an accelerated rebuild only to have the following years team fall completely flat and back out of the playoffs and the yo-yo continues

You win most level headed post of the day. Its exactly what to expect.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Who cares what the current group of "pro nhlers" thinks? Tbh. They are working for the team and its not going well. Sorry but its on them too. Showing up with a ####ty attitude because they suck just makes them suck more. All the more reason to clear them out.

We only need to care about what 3-5 of the current roster players think (Wolf, Parekh, Kuznetsov, coronato, maybe Honzek.) Management should start meeting with them as a group and "core" and having them take active roles in seeing/understanding how the club will build around them. Foster the next group of club leaders and start now. The other guys dont matter to the club after the next 2-3 years at most, so why should we really care what they're feeling.

lol. The Flames need to care about what Kuznetzov thinks? Oh, okay.

Seems well thought out.

[Flames Fan, Ph.D.]

I'm just sad they chose to bring Miromanov back up.

[Matty81]

None of it is really surprising. You keep an aging veteran team together and hand out a bunch of long rich deals to players who are not stars and when the bottom falls out you have angry older players who aren't content to be on bad teams in their last productive years and a bunch of players you can't move out of the lineup or to the A.

I'm just glad their play is finally forcing a re evaluation of the strategy, it's a huge win for all of us long term even if it's gonna be a tire fire for a couple years. I think in 5 years we are going to have an exciting young core to watch for a decade or so if all goes well and button and crews get some hits