2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by btimbit

What makes you think they haven't been asked? There's been a ton of insiders mentioning how he doesn't want to move

Clearly if the Flames asked him to move then he would be traded. There is no way he would say no! lol

[My2Cents]

I am pretty comfortable going into the season already. Prefer to have Andersson traded, but not the biggest issue if he’s not. As the season goes things will be more clear. If they aren’t winning then it’s less fun for the veterans which makes it easier to be traded near the deadline.

So I hope we have a fun season but clearly aren’t a playoff team. Veterans decide to move on at the deadline and we trade Coleman, Kadri and even Backlund depending on his long term thoughts. Then draft high this year (and next). Then start the charge up the rankings.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

Let's just keep Kadri and the gang. Happy to stay in the mushy middle and draft 15th every year.

And players are asked to waive their NTC all the time. But people are acting like we are trying to force him into retirement. But let's keep doing what we always do!

Maybe we dig just a little deeper and understand that in one year Kadri goes from a full NMC to a 13 team no trade list. Why should the Flames deal him now to the 1-2 markets he would go to at a reduced price when next year he could be dealt to more than half the league?

Conroy got rid of the UFA’s one year with Lindholm, Hanifin, Tanev, Toffoli, Zadorov. The next year he ships out Markstrom and Mangiapane. This year he is likely moving on from Andersson at minimum but as the years go more vets will be replaced with younger players. Why deal Kadri when he wants to be here, is a great player, great role model for the younger players, and has 100% of the leverage in a trade? It is obvious to keep him until the team has more control over a deal. You roll the dice he keeps up the high level of play and if he does 7x3 in a rising cap brings a lot of value.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

Let's just keep Kadri and the gang. Happy to stay in the mushy middle and draft 15th every year.

And players are asked to waive their NTC all the time. But people are acting like we are trying to force him into retirement. But let's keep doing what we always do!

The Flames in their entire 45 year history in Calgary have never had a 12 month period where they have traded 7 roster players (Toffoli, Hanifin, Tanev, Lindholm, Zadorov, Mangiapane, Markstrom) for futures. So that inconvenient truth kinda demonstrates the utter fallacy of your entire post.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Maybe we dig just a little deeper and understand that in one year Kadri goes from a full NMC to a 13 team no trade list. Why should the Flames deal him now to the 1-2 markets he would go to at a reduced price when next year he could be dealt to more than half the league?

Conroy got rid of the UFA’s one year with Lindholm, Hanifin, Tanev, Toffoli, Zadorov. The next year he ships out Markstrom and Mangiapane. This year he is likely moving on from Andersson at minimum but as the years go more vets will be replaced with younger players. Why deal Kadri when he wants to be here, is a great player, great role model for the younger players, and has 100% of the leverage in a trade? It is obvious to keep him until the team has more control over a deal. You roll the dice he keeps up the high level of play and if he does 7x3 in a rising cap brings a lot of value.

A 13 team NTL still gives Kadri a lot of control. All he has to do is sit down with his agent and work on a list that eliminates the most likely trade partners for his services.

Teams he does not need to worry about being traded to because they do not need a center and do not have cap space:
- Panthers, Stars, Mammoth, Senators, VGK, Oilers, Lightning, Rangers, Bruins, Leafs

Teams that have cap space but do not need to add C:
- Kraken, Hurricane, Red Wings, Blue Jackets, Jets, Devils

Teams that are unlikely to want to add:
- Penguins, Predators

Then he can build his 13 team no trade list around team that need a center, have the cap space, and/or assets to acquire him:
- Sabres, Sharks, Canadiens, Flyers, Capitals, Ducks, Blackhawks, Avalanche, Kings, Wild, Blues, Canucks, Islanders

At that point he can really eliminate most of the good trade partner and make it so that he essentially has a NMC.

[All In Good Time]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

The Flames in their entire 45 year history in Calgary have never had a 12 month period where they have traded 7 roster players (Toffoli, Hanifin, Tanev, Lindholm, Zadorov, Mangiapane, Markstrom) for futures. So that inconvenient truth kinda demonstrates the utter fallacy of your entire post.

But
But, but……
Trade Kadri

And

Stop picking on me!

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by My2Cents

I am pretty comfortable going into the season already. Prefer to have Andersson traded, but not the biggest issue if he’s not. As the season goes things will be more clear. If they aren’t winning then it’s less fun for the veterans which makes it easier to be traded near the deadline.

So I hope we have a fun season but clearly aren’t a playoff team. Veterans decide to move on at the deadline and we trade Coleman, Kadri and even Backlund depending on his long term thoughts. Then draft high this year (and next). Then start the charge up the rankings.

Hard to trade players who are not in their final year at the trade deadline, as contending teams cannot fit them into their cap long term.

[Rhett44]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

The Flames in their entire 45 year history in Calgary have never had a 12 month period where they have traded 7 roster players (Toffoli, Hanifin, Tanev, Lindholm, Zadorov, Mangiapane, Markstrom) for futures. So that inconvenient truth kinda demonstrates the utter fallacy of your entire post.

Most of those players we tried to re sign. Just because everyone said no to us, does it make it some elaborate plan.

We got lucky with some of these, but we need more drastic changes. Picking 15th isn't going to make us a contender, we need to tank.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

Most of those players we tried to re sign. Just because everyone said no to us, does it make it some elaborate plan.

We got lucky with some of these, but we need more drastic changes. Picking 15th isn't going to make us a contender, we need to tank.

Again, stubborn facts betray your argument. There is no evidence the Flames tried to re-sign Toffoli, Zadorov, Tanev, Markstrom or Mangiapane. That would be the mathematical definition of the word “most” in your post above.

[Sandman]

I do believe we are in a certain stage of a “rebuild on the fly” because ownership would like to limit the amount of years we are out of the playoffs, but I do think it would be nice to have one year with a bottom-5 finish to grab a franchise C. That’s all we need- we have youth and quality in every position in our pipeline, and some vets to bring them along.

[Inferno]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Again, stubborn facts betray your argument. There is no evidence the Flames tried to re-sign Toffoli, Zadorov, Tanev, Markstrom or Mangiapane. That would be the mathematical definition of the word “most” in your post above.

Markstrom couldn't even be re-signed and Mangiapane was traded 1 day after he could be re-signed and had already asked to be traded.

Both Toffoli and Zadorov asked to be traded because of lack of contract extention talk.

[PepsiFree]

Feels like we didn’t even make it a full week without the Kadri/NMC conversation again. I get that it’s summer and it’s easy bait but there’s gotta be something a little more interesting.

[My2Cents]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Hard to trade players who are not in their final year at the trade deadline, as contending teams cannot fit them into their cap long term.

It can be, but at the same time you can provide cost certainty (especially if you retain), for the next 2 seasons. Coleman at 50% for two playoff runs should fetch a fair bit.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Inferno

Markstrom couldn't even be re-signed and Mangiapane was traded 1 day after he could be re-signed and had already asked to be traded.

Both Toffoli and Zadorov asked to be traded because of lack of contract extention talk.

Exactly, they asked to be traded AFTER the Flames wouldn't commit to them long term...exactly his point these players were all players the Flames decided not to commit to long term

[Jay Random]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

Hard to trade players who are not in their final year at the trade deadline, as contending teams cannot fit them into their cap long term.

That was an issue for several years, with the cap being artificially kept flat. Now that the cap is being allowed to rise, virtually any team can fit in Coleman's salary for '26-27. The cap is projected to go from $95.5m this year to $104m next year. Unless a team has already spent that increase on contract extensions that go into effect in 2026, there will at minimum be tagging room for the last year of Coleman's contract. With retention, of course, it becomes even easier.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Sandman

I do believe we are in a certain stage of a “rebuild on the fly” because ownership would like to limit the amount of years we are out of the playoffs, but I do think it would be nice to have one year with a bottom-5 finish to grab a franchise C. That’s all we need- we have youth and quality in every position in our pipeline, and some vets to bring them along.

Eventually we can get hit with some kind of lottery luck. The Isles and Mammoth just got it.

[stemit14]

Originally Posted by Sandman

I do believe we are in a certain stage of a “rebuild on the fly” because ownership would like to limit the amount of years we are out of the playoffs, but I do think it would be nice to have one year with a bottom-5 finish to grab a franchise C. That’s all we need- we have youth and quality in every position in our pipeline, and some vets to bring them along.

Yeah. Just imagine how different the discussions would be if the flames had Celebrini in the system instead of Parekh. That’s not a knock on Parekh - I’m very excited to have him as a prospect and I think he could end up being one of the top 2-3 players from that 2024 draft. Just that the franchise has been clamouring for a legit franchise center for decades and it still remains the biggest missing piece in the system. Even without Parekh, the flames have a really good crop of defencemen.

I think most people (including myself) clamouring for a rebuild would be fine with getting better every year at this point if the team had Celebrini right now. There probably wouldn’t even be much appetite to trade players like Andersson or Kadri. The succession plan of players would be laid out pretty nicely. Kadri-Celebrini-Frost-Backlund-Zary-Reschny-Potter for center depth in the organization going forward would look pretty good. It even allows for one or two of Zary, Reschny or Potter to end up as wingers instead of centers at the NHL level.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Sandman

I do believe we are in a certain stage of a “rebuild on the fly” because ownership would like to limit the amount of years we are out of the playoffs, but I do think it would be nice to have one year with a bottom-5 finish to grab a franchise C. That’s all we need- we have youth and quality in every position in our pipeline, and some vets to bring them along.

I do not get the idea of blaming the ownership group for any of this. There was no path toward a rebuild with how Treliving left things. He had built a contender that was in the middle of a pivot from Gaudreau + Tkachuk to Huberdeau + Kadri. On paper that team was still a playoff team and would have been in the playoffs had Huberdeau only regressed to 70 points instead of 55.

But I do not see any kind of ownership meddling in the last 3 years. It really just looks like Treliving handed over a team to Conroy that lived and died based on the performance of Huberdeau. He was really bad the 2 years we wanted him to be good, which caused the retool to begin. Then he was relatively good the year we wanted to have him be bad and let the team bottom out.

I really just cannot think of a single move that looks like ownership is trying to tell Conroy to keep the team competitive. Sure, they could have traded Andersson a year ago, but that would have been pretty reckless to gut the D group to that extent, especially while bringing a rookie goalie online. I don't believe anyone could argue that keeping Backlund was ownership's way of staying competitive.... Or running the team $20M under the cap.

Even hiring Conroy as the GM or Huska as the head coach - neither of these moves say to me that being competitive quickly was the priority.

I do agree that the priority right now needs to be landing that #1C and I think the Andersson trade is the most likely path forward to making that happen considering we couldn't bottom out last season. Next season is another chance to bottom out but I wouldn't bet on it.

[Sandman]

Originally Posted by Wolven

I do not get the idea of blaming the ownership group for any of this. There was no path toward a rebuild with how Treliving left things. He had built a contender that was in the middle of a pivot from Gaudreau + Tkachuk to Huberdeau + Kadri. On paper that team was still a playoff team and would have been in the playoffs had Huberdeau only regressed to 70 points instead of 55.

But I do not see any kind of ownership meddling in the last 3 years. It really just looks like Treliving handed over a team to Conroy that lived and died based on the performance of Huberdeau. He was really bad the 2 years we wanted him to be good, which caused the retool to begin. Then he was relatively good the year we wanted to have him be bad and let the team bottom out.

I really just cannot think of a single move that looks like ownership is trying to tell Conroy to keep the team competitive. Sure, they could have traded Andersson a year ago, but that would have been pretty reckless to gut the D group to that extent, especially while bringing a rookie goalie online. I don't believe anyone could argue that keeping Backlund was ownership's way of staying competitive.... Or running the team $20M under the cap.

Even hiring Conroy as the GM or Huska as the head coach - neither of these moves say to me that being competitive quickly was the priority.

I do agree that the priority right now needs to be landing that #1C and I think the Andersson trade is the most likely path forward to making that happen considering we couldn't bottom out last season. Next season is another chance to bottom out but I wouldn't bet on it.

I don't necessarily think that Conny has been given the mandate to be competitive every year through the past couple of seasons, but I do believe that ownership will not support a long rebuild- thus, we have a "retool" in progress. Edwards wants his playoff revenue, and probably doesn't want too many years with no post-season, IMO.

[Rhett44]

Originally Posted by Sandman

I don't necessarily think that Conny has been given the mandate to be competitive every year through the past couple of seasons, but I do believe that ownership will not support a long rebuild- thus, we have a "retool" in progress. Edwards wants his playoff revenue, and probably doesn't want too many years with no post-season, IMO.

Yes, I believe this too. Murray Edwards would never allow a rebuild. And thus we started a retool around nothing other than a great young goaltender.

We got lucky with Parekh, but really we do not have enough to retool around at the moment. We still need a top center prospect and a winger.

Which is exactly why I don't believe we will ever be a contender. We are essentially retooling around a couple good young players, and a bunch of old players who will be retired or regressing rapidly in a few years. We need to get more players at the top of the draft and trade these old guys who are keeping us in the murky middle.