2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Yeah, and Sutter's not nearly the Neanderthal about players some people think he is.

He picked 10 Europeans out of 59 picks (17%). Don’t know what the average was for that span of time across the league, probably a lower percentage than the average but not grossly out of whack.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

I mean, it might happen. Silly to say it won’t.

I don’t know where Kirkland got this sudden reputation as an NHL untouchable that couldn’t possibly go through waivers but he’s a 29 year old with 30 NHL games to his name battling for the 12th forward spot with Adam Klapka.

I’m quite sure we’d be plenty happy with a 4th line of Honzek, Pospisil, Klapka if it came to it.

Maybe it’s time to rethink what the role of the 4th line is on this team and think a little bigger than NHL tweeners.

Backlund will not be our 4th line center and anyone who says it could happen this year is silly.

I don't care about Kirkland, but his role with the team is what a 4th line role should be. Lomberg played the whole year and played 8:39 per game.

Pospisil and Klapka will not be happy playing 10 mins or less per game.

Honzek will take it for now, but is it the best for his development? No, and the Flames will not put him in that role for extended periods of the season.

Kirkland, Lomberg, Morton, Hunt, Ciona and maybe a few kids with potential will rotate in and out with these types of players on the 4th line.

Conroy needs to make a trade. He has 11 top 9 guys and a bunch of young players that can sub into this role.

Pre-season is going to put more pressure on the log jam when young players push to make the team and there is no spot for them.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Sandman

With the way he tilts the ice and makes his linemates better, Backs is much more than just the run-of-the-mill 3rd-line C. I wish he were a bit younger to be able to mentor our youth for years to come.

Backlund has been labelled a 3rd line center for years in Calgary and across the league, but he is a 2nd line center and always has been.

At his age, he might be our 3rd line center now. But until someone steps up against the best players in the league, he will be out there more minutes than everyone but Kadri.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Again he had a full nmc
It’s not accommodating him. It’s him exercising the control he had in his contract

And if the best player to ever wear the Jersey says he wants to stay, he stays. You don't run Iginla out of town.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Iginla would probably be on that list. We got next to nothing back for him trying to accommodate his wishes

Even if Iginla had agreed to the Boston deal, it would have resulted in the same.

The Flames picked badly with the late first. It often happens with late firsts.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Backlund will not be our 4th line center and anyone who says it could happen this year is silly.

I don't care about Kirkland, but his role with the team is what a 4th line role should be. Lomberg played the whole year and played 8:39 per game.

Pospisil and Klapka will not be happy playing 10 mins or less per game.

Honzek will take it for now, but is it the best for his development? No, and the Flames will not put him in that role for extended periods of the season.

Kirkland, Lomberg, Morton, Hunt, Ciona and maybe a few kids with potential will rotate in and out with these types of players on the 4th line.

Conroy needs to make a trade. He has 11 top 9 guys and a bunch of young players that can sub into this role.

Pre-season is going to put more pressure on the log jam when young players push to make the team and there is no spot for them.

Well, no, some people who think Backlund could be the 4th line centre are thinking about the line deployments differently than you do. Assuming that the 4th line has to be filled with tweeners that play under 10 minutes a night doesn’t really jive with the reality of good teams with depth.

Go look at Dallas. Nobody who played more than 7 games played less than 10 minutes even strength. And only one of those guys played less than 11:30. Virtually every regular forward on that team played nearly 12 minutes or more at even strength. Dallas is a much better team currently with better high end talent, and you’re pretending it’s impossible for the Flames to find a spot for a young player and that there’s a “log jam”? lol.

Conroy has 11 top 12 guys, maybe. He does not have 11 top 9 guys. No playoff contender is looking at this team and marvelling at the top 9 depth.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

Not really, no. There were also a couple other people in this same thread who said he looked awful last year as well, despite the advanced stats.

The stats only show so much. Some players simply get graded higher or lower because of their play style.

That's just not true.

Play driving stats (defensive stats) come from counting instances of shot attempts (location and type).

Nobody gets a higher grade based on anything.

You're either on the ice for bad stuff or you're not.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Well, no, some people who think Backlund could be the 4th line centre are thinking about the line deployments differently than you do. Assuming that the 4th line has to be filled with tweeners that play under 10 minutes a night doesn’t really jive with the reality of good teams with depth.

Go look at Dallas. Nobody who played more than 7 games played less than 10 minutes even strength. And only one of those guys played less than 11:30. Virtually every regular forward on that team played nearly 12 minutes or more at even strength. Dallas is a much better team currently with better high end talent, and you’re pretending it’s impossible for the Flames to find a spot for a young player and that there’s a “log jam”? lol.

Conroy has 11 top 12 guys, maybe. He does not have 11 top 9 guys. No playoff contender is looking at this team and marvelling at the top 9 depth.

The stars do have a more balanced distribution of ice, but of the 5 bottom forwards in ice time per minute...Bourque is the only one that has potential.

Blackwell - 32 years old career 4th liner
Faksa - 31 years old 3rd/4th liner
Steel - 27 years old 4th liner
Back - 25 years old, 3rd/4th liner
Dadonov - 36 years old nearly a decade removed from big minutes.

The stars might trust the 4th line more than we do, but they put players in that role that have accepted that this is who they are and the role they need to play to stay in the league.

Backlund was just under 19 mins a game last year. 17:07 is the lowest he has had since 2012. He is not dropping 8 minutes a game and playing the Colin Blackwell 4th line role.

[Goriders]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

Backlund will not be our 4th line center and anyone who says it could happen this year is silly.

I don't care about Kirkland, but his role with the team is what a 4th line role should be. Lomberg played the whole year and played 8:39 per game.

Pospisil and Klapka will not be happy playing 10 mins or less per game.

Honzek will take it for now, but is it the best for his development? No, and the Flames will not put him in that role for extended periods of the season.

Kirkland, Lomberg, Morton, Hunt, Ciona and maybe a few kids with potential will rotate in and out with these types of players on the 4th line.

Conroy needs to make a trade. He has 11 top 9 guys and a bunch of young players that can sub into this role.

Pre-season is going to put more pressure on the log jam when young players push to make the team and there is no spot for them.

Conroy has a similar problem on D. Not sure why he resigned Hanley. If Parekh is making the team there’s a pretty big logjam with Andersson kicking around.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Goriders

Conroy has a similar problem on D. Not sure why he resigned Hanley. If Parekh is making the team there’s a pretty big logjam with Andersson kicking around.

I agree. I thought Hanley was signed to play with Weegar and Parekh takes Ras spot with Bahl.

Parekh IMO should play a more sheltered role, but Quinn Hughes was 19 when his rookie year began and played 21 mins a night.\


Parekh needs 20 a night, sheltered or not he should play at least 20 a night.

If Ras is going to have a good year, we can't bump his minutes 3 a night. Maybe some, but he needs 22 a night at minimum

Weegar seems like he should be a 23-24 mins a night dman

Bahl should get 22.

That leaves Bean, Hanley, Pachal and Miromanov. I think Kuznetsov or Soloyov should get a chance this year. Miromanov is the only guy that I see going on waivers. But even he was a player that lots were excited to see going into last year. There still is a chance that maybe he just struggled in his first full year and he gets better.

It is really hard to know if you have something with some of these guys if they don't play.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

The stars do have a more balanced distribution of ice, but of the 5 bottom forwards in ice time per minute...Bourque is the only one that has potential.

Blackwell - 32 years old career 4th liner
Faksa - 31 years old 3rd/4th liner
Steel - 27 years old 4th liner
Back - 25 years old, 3rd/4th liner
Dadonov - 36 years old nearly a decade removed from big minutes.

The stars might trust the 4th line more than we do, but they put players in that role that have accepted that this is who they are and the role they need to play to stay in the league.

Backlund was just under 19 mins a game last year. 17:07 is the lowest he has had since 2012. He is not dropping 8 minutes a game and playing the Colin Blackwell 4th line role.

14:39 is what he averaged at even strength, actually. Oscar Back was 11:59.

That’s not much of a leap. I’d still expect that line to get matched against top players with the third line functioning as a 2B scoring line.

Again, being so closed minded, “this is not happening, that is not happening, this 25 year old is who they are and will never be more than that” etc is just silly. You don’t know. I don’t know. So no point in pretending otherwise.

[Yeah_Baby]

I've been away for a week, did I miss any good juicy rumors?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I've been away for a week, did I miss any good juicy rumors?

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

14:39 is what he averaged at even strength, actually. Oscar Back was 11:59.

That’s not much of a leap. I’d still expect that line to get matched against top players with the third line functioning as a 2B scoring line.

Again, being so closed minded, “this is not happening, that is not happening, this 25 year old is who they are and will never be more than that” etc is just silly. You don’t know. I don’t know. So no point in pretending otherwise.

But just because I can't prove it now doesn't mean I can't say it, why because it won't happen.

McDavid and MacKinnon won't be 3rd line centers this year either. Is that close minded too?

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by Toast_Man

This Backlund talk has got me thinking.... Say the Flames are out of Playoff spot in March, what would be his trade value? His NMC changes to a M-NMC 15 team no trade list January 1st 2026.

Backlund is exactly the type of pickup cup-winning teams make

[FBI]

Originally Posted by Yeah_Baby

I've been away for a week, did I miss any good juicy rumors?

Backlund wants to stay in Calgary and play in the new building..

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

But just because I can't prove it now doesn't mean I can't say it, why because it won't happen.

McDavid and MacKinnon won't be 3rd line centers this year either. Is that close minded too?

You think Backlund paying two less minutes per game is equivalent to suggesting MacKinnon gets relegated to the third line? lol

I mean they’re both likely to happen eventually, one of them is just going to happen within the next 1-2 years.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

You think Backlund paying two less minutes per game is equivalent to suggesting MacKinnon gets relegated to the third line? lol

I mean they’re both likely to happen eventually, one of them is just going to happen within the next 1-2 years.

I'm only talking this year. Way too much could happen in the next 2-3 years.

Klapka could be a surprise, but we might find out he isn't that good
Pospisil might end up being a 4th liner
Honzek may never make it

The Dallas stars is your example, but they are a contender to win it all.

Flames are still building, hard to know who can bring what to the table without playing. Isn't this what the conservation has been? rolling 4 lines equally and playing everyone less leads to a lot of players being unhappy with ice time? Then you add in, only Huska has control of that ice, he's coaching to win and push comes to shove Backlund is elite vs elite players and Frost and Kadri are awful. Close game and other team star is in the ice, Backlund will be option #1. So no, he will not be our 4th line center. We don't even have 4 true centers.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

I'm only talking this year. Way too much could happen in the next 2-3 years.

That’s why I really don’t get the rush. I don’t think there is much of an issue with player development getting blocked this year outside of an absolute shock in training camp.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

I'm only talking this year. Way too much could happen in the next 2-3 years.

Klapka could be a surprise, but we might find out he isn't that good
Pospisil might end up being a 4th liner
Honzek may never make it

The Dallas stars is your example, but they are a contender to win it all.

Flames are still building, hard to know who can bring what to the table without playing. Isn't this what the conservation has been? rolling 4 lines equally and playing everyone less leads to a lot of players being unhappy with ice time? Then you add in, only Huska has control of that ice, he's coaching to win and push comes to shove Backlund is elite vs elite players and Frost and Kadri are awful. Close game and other team star is in the ice, Backlund will be option #1. So no, he will not be our 4th line center. We don't even have 4 true centers.

Sure, as I said, you never know. And it sounds like you agree with me.

If Huska wants to win then having a 4th line full of tweeners an AHL guys like Kirkland really doesn’t move the needle, so if a rookie looks better why wouldn’t he put Pospisil or that rookie or whoever might be “above” 4th line minutes there and give the 4th line more minutes/take pressure off the other lines?

Dallas being a contender just backs my position. We don’t have the top end talent Dallas does and yet they still roll 4 lines and give their 4th line decent minutes and actual responsibility. If they can do it, surely the Calgary Flames top 10 players are not so incredible that a couple of them can’t play on the 4th line and make room for a rookie who outplays them. As you said, we don’t even have 4 true centers, so should one emerge from the rookies they’ll make room. Team wants to win after all.

If Backlund is your sticking point then keep him on the third line and make the 4th line a 3b scoring line. Problem solved, and just semantics for what I was proposing anyway.