2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

It's like we are playing PlayStation when people suggest that we do this.

Kadri is not going to be happy with 15 a night and his value will plummet as his production does.

Huska is the coach, and he is trying to win games. He is not sitting Backlund against McDavid types in a close game. Only thing he can do is take Backlund off the PP. The rest of his ice he deserves.

Young players are not committing long term deals with this franchise for 15 minutes a night. Frost lost minutes coming here, signed 2 years. Zary has not signed, and his minutes dropped after the Frost trade. It is possible that Zary does not want to commit long term with the Flames this off season due to concerns over his ice time.

The log jam at forward looks good on paper, but with no top end and too many quality players. Odds are the flames struggle to win with the lack of top end and at the same time players will be unhappy due to lack of opportunity.

Deep teams have more even distributions of 5v5 ice time.

The highest centers in the NHL (McDavid, Mackinnon) get about 17 minutes a night at 5v5. The Flames don't have one of those guys.

Kadri was actually 12th among centers at 15:06 at 5v5.

The deeper teams tend to distribute the ice time more equally at 5v5.

Florida tends to lean on their top 9. Barkov played 13:57 for the Panthers. Bennett was 13:50, Lundell was 12:33, and Nosek played 8:37.

Dallas went with way more of a balance. Johnston - 13:22, Hintz - 11:56, Steel: 11:40, Seguin - 12:25.

I don't see any reason this Flames team couldn't be distributed more like the Stars ice time where at 5v5 all 4 lines are getting 12-14 minutes of ice time.

If guys like Kopitar (13:58), Barkov (13:57), Stamkos (13:38), Aho (13:35), Johnston (13:22), Miller (13:05), Hintz (11:56), etc can play under 14 minutes a night at 5v5 then there is no reason it should be an issue for anybody on this Flames roster.

[Tbull8]

Any updates on the beacons or Ocean Spray, Sec and Royle?

[shutout]

Originally Posted by Hackey

Sounds like the perfect time to sell high on him.

With his contract changing to modified no trade he might be more interested in picking his spots for where he is moved to. But Flames will only move him if he asks to be moved and/or if they get a deal they can't say no to. The second option might not be until next summer, but more likely trade deadline 2027.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

It's like we are playing PlayStation when people suggest that we do this.

Kadri is not going to be happy with 15 a night and his value will plummet as his production does.

Huska is the coach, and he is trying to win games. He is not sitting Backlund against McDavid types in a close game. Only thing he can do is take Backlund off the PP. The rest of his ice he deserves.

Young players are not committing long term deals with this franchise for 15 minutes a night. Frost lost minutes coming here, signed 2 years. Zary has not signed, and his minutes dropped after the Frost trade. It is possible that Zary does not want to commit long term with the Flames this off season due to concerns over his ice time.

The log jam at forward looks good on paper, but with no top end and too many quality players. Odds are the flames struggle to win with the lack of top end and at the same time players will be unhappy due to lack of opportunity.

Good teams are forced to move players due to cap issues, but if they draft well, they often gain. The Stars were brought up having guys like Bourque and Bischel. The are forced to play them more with Marchment, Granlund, Dadonov, Dumba out. They are forced due to lack of cap. But if you draft well and trust your farm system, you will gain in the long run trusting these kids.

Just because the Flames aren't forced into this situation due to cap, doesn't mean there is no issues. If they don't address the forward situation and stay healthy as a team, someone will get lost in the shuffle due to lack of ice or lack of deserved call ups. This impacts contract talks in the future.

I think this is why Conroy is looking at defense as Ras out and forwards out for a younger replacement evens out the ice time issues. The Flames have some D that deserve to be in the NHL over AHL, but year 1 those guys usually will take a spot on the team even if it is 3rd pair with games in the press box. They are gaining valuable experience and a much better pay cheque.

Flames have too many forwards that just don't deserve a 4th line role and are proven enough to be upset if they are the player that gets lost in the shuffle.

Minor tidbit you may be missing. They are specifically calling out 5v5 time and trying to have more balanced 5v5 time.

Guys like Kadri will earn their extra time on the PP.
Guys like Backlund will earn their extra time on the PK.
Huberdeau seems to be getting time on both PP and PK.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Deep teams have more even distributions of 5v5 ice time.

The highest centers in the NHL (McDavid, Mackinnon) get about 17 minutes a night at 5v5. The Flames don't have one of those guys.

Kadri was actually 12th among centers at 15:06 at 5v5.

The deeper teams tend to distribute the ice time more equally at 5v5.

Florida tends to lean on their top 9. Barkov played 13:57 for the Panthers. Bennett was 13:50, Lundell was 12:33, and Nosek played 8:37.

Dallas went with way more of a balance. Johnston - 13:22, Hintz - 11:56, Steel: 11:40, Seguin - 12:25.

I don't see any reason this Flames team couldn't be distributed more like the Stars ice time where at 5v5 all 4 lines are getting 12-14 minutes of ice time.

If guys like Kopitar (13:58), Barkov (13:57), Stamkos (13:38), Aho (13:35), Johnston (13:22), Miller (13:05), Hintz (11:56), etc can play under 14 minutes a night at 5v5 then there is no reason it should be an issue for anybody on this Flames roster.

The average team gets over 3 pps a game and close to 6 minutes a night on the PP. You would also get around the same on the PK. I'll round to 12 minutes, that is high though. That is 20% of the game you are completely disregarding.

If there is around 48 minutes a night at 5 on 5, 12 minutes for 4 lines isn't too bad. Problem is the PP and PK.

Most teams got with 2 units on both, 3rd unit on PK gets a bit of ice for the forwards at least.

If you went with even splits on the PP and PK and went with 4 forwards and 1 d on the PP. 8 forwards are getting PP time. If Ras is back, I predict 7 will get regular time.

4 forwards and 4 d get PK time.

PP:

If you keep it even in an attempt to keep everyone happy, that is 3 mins max for any 1 player.

Kadri - +3
Huberdeau - +3
Coronato - +3
Frost - +3
Zary - +3
Sharangovich - +3
Coleman/Backlund/Farabee/Pospisil/Klapka

Weegar +3
Parekh +3
Ras +3

PK:

Backlund +3
Coleman +3
Huberdeau +3
Sharangovich/Farabee?

Ras +3
Weegar +3
Bahl +3
Pachal +3

The guys I picked are based on who played the most last year. Based on this Huberdeau gets 18 mins and if you keep Sharky on the PK, he gets 18 mins.

This situation will never happen as no matter how your team is constructed, guys like Kirkland and Lomberg aren't getting even ice with the rest. You can give some of their time to others, but at the end of the day the following will be unhappy with their ice time and production will slip

Kadri
Coronato
Zary
Frost
Backlund
Coleman
Farabee
Pospisil

8 forwards will be unhappy and if you give them more time, others have to lose.

Aho - 20 a night - over 5 on special teams
Barkov - 20 a night - almost 5 a night on special teams
Bennett - 17 a night - 2.5 mins a night on special teams
Stamkos - 18 a night - 3.25 a night on special teams
Kopitar - 19 a night - over 4 a night on special teams
Johnston - 19 a night - 4.5 a night on special teams
Hintz - 17 a night - 4 a night on special teams.

Any player who is elite on both ends and is on the PP and PK, typically gets less 5 on 5 than other star players. All the guys that you listed that are over 4 a night on special teams, play on both the PP and PK and their fair share of 5 on 5.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Wolven

Minor tidbit you may be missing. They are specifically calling out 5v5 time and trying to have more balanced 5v5 time.

Guys like Kadri will earn their extra time on the PP.
Guys like Backlund will earn their extra time on the PK.
Huberdeau seems to be getting time on both PP and PK.

I'm not talking 5 on 5 only, I'm talking overall ice. Someone will get lost in teh shuffle with this forward group, not enough ice to keep everyone happy. Zary isn't looking at just his 5 on 5 ice, he wants more ice so he can earn a big pay day. Opportunities at center, PP, PK could all be important to him. It won't work for everyone if you put good players on the 4th line. Maybe if they are 1st year guys that just are happy to get their crack.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Deep teams have more even distributions of 5v5 ice time.

The highest centers in the NHL (McDavid, Mackinnon) get about 17 minutes a night at 5v5. The Flames don't have one of those guys.

Kadri was actually 12th among centers at 15:06 at 5v5.

The deeper teams tend to distribute the ice time more equally at 5v5.

Florida tends to lean on their top 9. Barkov played 13:57 for the Panthers. Bennett was 13:50, Lundell was 12:33, and Nosek played 8:37.

Dallas went with way more of a balance. Johnston - 13:22, Hintz - 11:56, Steel: 11:40, Seguin - 12:25.

I don't see any reason this Flames team couldn't be distributed more like the Stars ice time where at 5v5 all 4 lines are getting 12-14 minutes of ice time.

If guys like Kopitar (13:58), Barkov (13:57), Stamkos (13:38), Aho (13:35), Johnston (13:22), Miller (13:05), Hintz (11:56), etc can play under 14 minutes a night at 5v5 then there is no reason it should be an issue for anybody on this Flames roster.

The other issue with all these numbers is you should be looking at ES ice not 5 on 5. Why would someone who isn't getting ice time care about the overall opportunity minus any 4 on 4 play in the year...if you are on the bench for that you are on the bench and not getting a chance to succeed.

[SuperMatt18]

I was more worried about 5v5 because the conversation with Bingo was about rolling 4 lines and the ability to play the lines more evenly at 5v5, instead of a 4th line that's going to get under 10 minutes a game.

If you look at the Flames they averaged 48:52 of 5v5 ice time, 4:52 of PP time per game, and 4:40 of PK time per game. So that's 58:24 and then you probably have the remaining 1:36 as empty net / 4v4 etc.

If you split the 5v5 time pretty equally that's 10-14 minutes per forward (give or take) on any given night. So that's actually not too bad and if you are aiming for about 12 minutes each, but then adjust based on how they are playing and what lines are going each night.

Then the question is how you distribute special teams:

PP1 - 2:50 : Kadri, Huberdeau, Coronato, Frost
PP 2 - 2:00 : Zary, Sharangovich, Klapka, Farabee

PK1 - 2:20 : Backlund, Coleman
PK2 - 1:30 : Huberdeau, Frost
PK3 - 1:00 : Zary, Sharangovich/Farabee/Pospisil

So really the guys that aren't getting much special teams time would be like Pospisil, Lomberg, and whoever the young forward is that fills out the roster.

If I look at Kadri specifically - he played 19:21 in all situations last year which was actually the highest of his career. Most of his career he played in the 16-18 minutes range in all scenarios (averaging slightly above 17 minutes a game).

If he's getting 13 minutes of 5v5 time, 2:50 of PP time, and then a big chunk of that remaining 1:36 of empty net / 4v4 etc time that would put him at around 17 minutes a night.

Huberdeau also played the most of his career last year and generally plays more in that 18:30 range. If he got 13 minutes of 5v5, 2:50 of PP, and 1:30 of PK that would have him at 17:20 per game, and then he'd probably get right around 18 minutes when you factor in that other 1:36 that's remaining.

Personally I have no issue with those guys playing 17-18 minutes a night, with more of a balance at 5v5. I think you could say both guys playing over 19 minutes, which was above their prior career highs was maybe a necessity last year but shouldn't be this year.

Looking at it I could see something like this to distribute the 180 minutes available in a game:

Huberdeau: 18:00 (-1:30)
Kadri: 17:30 (-2:00)
Coronato: 17:00 (-0:30)
Frost: 16.30 (-)
Backlund: 15:30 (-3:44)
Coleman: 15:30 (-2:40)
Sharangovich: 15:00 (-1:30)
Zary: 15:00 (-1:00)
Farabee: 15:00 (+0.30)
Klapka: 12:00 (+2:20)
Pospisil: 12:00 (-1:48)
12th Forward: 11:00 (+2:20 - based on Lomberg ice time of 8:40 per game)

The acquisition of Frost / Farabee is going to take some ice away from guys like Kadri, Backlund, and Coleman with a fully healthy lineup.

And to be clear I don't disagree with your point, but with how the roster is built I think you're going to get into that outcome no matter what. You have 9 forwards that probably deserve top 9 ice time, then you have Klapka and Pospisil that both played top 9 at times last year, and young guys that might surprise in camp too. Lomberg is the only clear "4th liner" on this roster.

There are going to be some players at forward unhappy with their ice time...mostly because we have a surplus of forwards that likely all want top 9 icetime after the acquisition of Frost and Farabee.

[GioforPM]

I'm not so worried about ice time. I'm worried about goalie protection, which will already suffer when Andersson is gone. I haven't seen much evidence that anyone aside from Backlund can face off against top centres with much effectiveness.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I was more worried about 5v5 because the conversation with Bingo was about rolling 4 lines and the ability to play the lines more evenly at 5v5, instead of a 4th line that's going to get under 10 minutes a game.

If you look at the Flames they averaged 48:52 of 5v5 ice time, 4:52 of PP time per game, and 4:40 of PK time per game. So that's 58:24 and then you probably have the remaining 1:36 as empty net / 4v4 etc.

If you split the 5v5 time pretty equally that's 10-14 minutes per forward (give or take) on any given night. So that's actually not too bad and if you are aiming for about 12 minutes each, but then adjust based on how they are playing and what lines are going each night.

Then the question is how you distribute special teams:

PP1 - 2:50 : Kadri, Huberdeau, Coronato, Frost
PP 2 - 2:00 : Zary, Sharangovich, Klapka, Farabee

PK1 - 2:20 : Backlund, Coleman
PK2 - 1:30 : Huberdeau, Frost
PK3 - 1:00 : Zary, Sharangovich/Farabee/Pospisil

So really the guys that aren't getting much special teams time would be like Pospisil, Lomberg, and whoever the young forward is that fills out the roster.

If I look at Kadri specifically - he played 19:21 in all situations last year which was actually the highest of his career. Most of his career he played in the 16-18 minutes range in all scenarios (averaging slightly above 17 minutes a game).

If he's getting 13 minutes of 5v5 time, 2:50 of PP time, and then a big chunk of that remaining 1:36 of empty net / 4v4 etc time that would put him at around 17 minutes a night.

Huberdeau also played the most of his career last year and generally plays more in that 18:30 range. If he got 13 minutes of 5v5, 2:50 of PP, and 1:30 of PK that would have him at 17:20 per game, and then he'd probably get right around 18 minutes when you factor in that other 1:36 that's remaining.

Personally I have no issue with those guys playing 17-18 minutes a night, with more of a balance at 5v5. I think you could say both guys playing over 19 minutes, which was above their prior career highs was maybe a necessity last year but shouldn't be this year.

It can work for most, but most players will have a threshold that if they go under, they won't be happy.

Based on this example, 1st guy that gets lost in the shuffle is Ras. You have 4 forwards on both PP units. If he is still on the team, are you completely removing him from the PP? That's 2 mins a game less and prime time minutes for him to have a bounce back year. Without the PP, his value is going down. Trade him now then, or send Parekh to the AHL until Ras is traded? Don't like that idea but IMO if Parekh is on the team, he needs PP time.

The Flames had 5 forwards over 14 mins ES last year.

Kadri 16:22
Huberdeau 15:24
Coronato 15:05
Backlund 14:39
Coleman 14:15

Taking Backlund and Coleman off the PP still leaves them at a respectable ice time.

I also think it would be ok for Huberdeau and Kadri to give up some ice too. This is your top 4 forwards in ice all giving up 1-2 mins a game. That is great and I think it works, but it will change the trade value of these players who are all veterans that could be on the block.

Backlund is getting less than 30 points
Kadri's 3 best season of his career he was 18-19 mins - the 16 mins a year seasons have him rolling back to a 50-point guy
Coleman will be hard pressed to get 30 points too
Huberdeau has no trade value so doesn't matter

Rooney and Lomberg average 7-8 minutes a night. Lomberg might be ok with it, but that's it as Rooney is gone. Unless Kirkland is in every night, he would be ok with those minutes. If these 2 play every night, who is out of the lineup and what young player will make the team from the AHL?

Klapka average 10 a night - has to get much more to have a chance to succeed.

As players establish themselves, who else will take less? Klapka is getting most of the minutes the top 4 are giving up. If Lomberg or Kirkland sit, it's hard to bench Kerins or Morton or Pospisil for a period and give them 7 minutes ice like you can a veteran like Rooney who is just happy to still be in the league. Someone else has to give up minutes or the top 4 have to give up more which eventually they will not be happy with or the production plummets and there goes any chance at a good trade involving these vets. Might as well trade 1 now while the value is still very high.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Hypothetically would any of you be interested in a Zary+ for Rossi swap? If so what + would you be willing to include? This assumes the Flames are willing to go 7x7 with Rossiso factor that into your decision

I would 100% do this and it would be even better if we could add a player back with Zary, not a pick. Even an AHL ready forward helps the log jam and improves the top end IMO.

[JTech780]

We can keep going back and forth on what we think will happen, but in reality unless management and the coaching staff feel that Zary or someone else is a better option as a top 9 center than Kadri, Backlund or Frost then those will be the top 9 centers going into the season.

I get that some people want to see if Zary can be a center, but if the Flames thought he could be a center I don't think they would have gone out and brought in Frost.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by JTech780

We can keep going back and forth on what we think will happen, but in reality unless management and the coaching staff feel that Zary or someone else is a better option as a top 9 center than Kadri, Backlund or Frost then those will be the top 9 centers going into the season.

I get that some people want to see if Zary can be a center, but if the Flames thought he could be a center I don't think they would have gone out and brought in Frost.

Finding lines that click is more valuable. Create the 3 best lines you can and go with it. Flames picked up Lindholm thinking he would be a great 2nd center. He clicked on the wing with Monahan and Gaudreau and they rolled with it for the year and won the conference.

I see 11 guys competing for 9 spots though, if all 11 are looking good to be in the top 9 and healthy, we need to look at moving someone.

This doesn't include any surprises from AHL players in camp too. Have to think someone will push for a spot, probably 2 guys

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Finding lines that click is more valuable. Create the 3 best lines you can and go with it. Flames picked up Lindholm thinking he would be a great 2nd center. He clicked on the wing with Monahan and Gaudreau and they rolled with it for the year and won the conference.

I see 11 guys competing for 9 spots though, if all 11 are looking good to be in the top 9 and healthy, we need to look at moving someone.

This doesn't include any surprises from AHL players in camp too. Have to think someone will push for a spot, probably 2 guys

See I think we agree on most of what we are saying.

I think we both identify 11 guys that would ideally play in your top 9, and potentially 2-3 prospects that also could push hard for a spot (at least one of Basha, Gridin, Stromgren, Kerins, Honzek, Battaglia, etc is going to have a great camp).

I also think in an ideal world at least one winger would have been moved this offseason to prepare for that.

But I'm not sure that's happening. So with that in mind I think the only other option is to try to roll a more even 4 lines even though it means some of the older veteran guys are going to have to play less.

[HighLifeMan]

You can very easily roll four lines and keep everyone happy, and I'd argue that's exactly how this roster is constructed.

The Capitals had Dowd, Duhaime and Raddysh eating all the defensive zone starts in a shutdown role as the de facto "4th line" last year and they found tremendous success. All 4 lines they had averaged between 11-14 minutes a game at five on five for them where as our discrepancy was between 8-15 minutes, and our 4th line sucked anyways.

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by JTech780

I get that some people want to see if Zary can be a center, but if the Flames thought he could be a center I don't think they would have gone out and brought in Frost.

They brought in Frost because Kadri is old and Backlund is ancient, and they were (contrary to what some CPers believe) planning more than 15 minutes ahead.