2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[really?]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

I think all people want is the team to just lean harder into being bad in a season where they started off horrendously.

Right now the plans seems to be "We aren't really winning, but we don't want to fully suck either, we will trade players as they approach the end of their contract or if we have a clear path for replacement (Markstrom > Wolf)"

Trading pending UFAs for picks is great, but it's also a no brainer if you aren't going to sign the player, especially for a team that was no where near the playoffs in the season they traded those UFAs.

Toffoli and Mangiapane were traded before the deadline but both only had 1 year left on their deals, and it was clear they would be dealt - so wasn't like they were traded super early. And the org had and still has a backlog of wingers.

The only trade they have made with a player with multiple years of term left on his deal was Markstrom. And I think a big part of that was Wolf being so damn inevitable that they had to make space for him to be able to play at least 40 games and Markstrom wouldn't have been happy with sharing the net.

Andersson will be traded. He should have been traded at the draft in 2024. And there is no doubt in my mind that his value was much higher at that time than it is now...what did waiting gain the Flames?

It's same situation with Kadri and Coleman now. I'm not saying they have to trade those two tomorrow, but it should happen before the Olympic break and at the deadline at the latest.

What does waiting until the offseason to trade Coleman really gain you...now you have a pending UFA with one year left on his deal.

Same with Kadri - right now he's 35 coming off a career high in goals and a 35 goal and 67 point season.

Wait until next offseason and he's probably 36 year old coming off a 20 goal and 60 points season based on his production this year - I doubt his value is ever higher than it is between now and the deadline - especially with such a need for centers around the league right now.

People just want the team to be a bit more honest, and a bit more pro-active - without waiting until players are pending UFAs to trade them.



Sure...I'm sure they do eventually trade Coleman and Kadri.

But the argument is don't drag your feet on it. Don't wait until the 2026 draft. Don't make the same mistakes you made with Hanifin and Andersson. Be pro-active.

At the 2023 trade deadline there was a group of us banging on the table to shop at least a couple of Hanifin, Tanev, Lindholm, Zadorov, Toffoli, etc then. Because it seemed clear the team wouldn't make the playoffs and it didn't make sense to have so many pending UFAs going into the next season. I think for most except maybe Lindholm you probably would have gotten a bigger return had you shopped them then.

I largely agree with your sentiments, but do we know they aren’t leaning into a bad season? Just because they haven’t put a for sale sign on the side of the Saddledome doesn’t mean they aren’t planning a carve out. If anything this team has historically taken great strides to avoid giving off the air of desperation, and it is likely that is what we’re seeing now.

Maybe the team is set on retaining guys like Kadri and Coleman, but i trust Conroy enough to believe he understands this season will require some hard decisions which will define his tenure. If they have made the decision to truly reconstruct it won’t be done without getting close to what he wants for that reconstruction. I share your frustration with this team seemingly being slow to acknowledge that they not playoff relevant in the near term, but maybe what some of us on the outside see as a resistance to, or unwillingness to change, is actually part of a reasoned approach to rebuild without leaving everyone covered in soot.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

I'd love someone to make a list of top 6 players being traded with term.

Part of it is NHL teams just don't make enough trades to start with, all GMs seem very risk averse in the NHL.

Debrincat traded with 2 years left on his deal and was a pending RFA.

Mittelstadt was traded with 1 year left but was a pending RFA.

JT Miller was traded with 5.5 years left on his deal (another Kadri trade return comp that we don't talk about enough)

Kreider was just traded with 2 years left on his deal this offseason.

Laine was traded with 2 years left on his deal.

Coleman was traded to New Jersey with 1.5 years left (Flames should be trying to replicate that trade which returned a top prospect and a 1st. Especially since he hasn't really lost a step at all in that time and his last 3 seasons are career highs)

Pierre Luc Dubois was traded to Washington with 7 years left on his deal.

Nothing of those are earth shattering, but it happens.

In the end Kadri and Coleman have really awarded the Flames by aging gracefully on these deals and having career seasons, Flames need to take advantage of that by selling high now.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by really?

I largely agree with your sentiments, but do we know they aren’t leaning into a bad season? .

Playing the wheels off of Wolf and some of the coaching decisions do not seem like a real whole lot of has decided to lean into a bad season

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

It's funny is it?

I'm not pretending to not know anything. The relevance is that Conroy has not shown a proclivity to move guys in the middle of their contract. Players that have been traded has generally been because they were approaching an inflection point. I don't see how that is doing things against their will.

I get that your thing is to be condescending and try to belittle others rather than actually engaging in hockey conversation but I will try anyway.

IMO the question at hand is whether Flames would entertain moving Kadri at this time. Based on history and the reports we have thus far, I'm guessing they're not.

My POV is that Kadri is far more valuable to the championship aspirations of this organization as a trade asset than anything else. And I suspect his highest value will be this year.

It is funny. Is that OK?

Toffoli is a good example is Conroy deciding to move on before any “inflection point,” Markstrom is a better one. It’s not a lot of examples but given that the history we’re talking about is 2-3 years and a situation where a bunch of guys were expiring all at the same time anyway, I think a couple examples are plenty.

But I also think history isn’t that important. Conroy is still a fairly new GM. Why are we trying to predict what he’ll do based on different situations, when the one that was anywhere close is the only one that suggests a totally opposite narrative to what you’ve landed on?

Will Kadri be the next Markstrom? or the next Hanifin? or Backlund?

I don’t know. I would feel silly making any predictions based on “history” one way or another. Will he trade Kadri? It wouldn’t surprise me. I also see possibilities where he doesn’t.

At the end of the day though, there aren’t many GMs who trade players in the middle of their contracts or with term left. There aren’t a ton of those trades in general compared to the alternative. So if that is a critique, I’m not sure it’s unique to Conroy.

And you can save the personal shots about what my “thing” is. We’re talking hockey, try not to take yourself and the conversation too seriously.

[saillias]

Well Dreger is live on Barn Burner right now to clarify / offer more insight

[really?]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

Playing the wheels off of Wolf and some of the coaching decisions do not seem like a real whole lot of has decided to lean into a bad season

So they shouldn’t be developing their emerging star goaltender?

Yeah, Wolf’s skills have the ability to cause his future self some regret, but putting detriments in the team’s path is a good way to sap motivation. If leaning into a bad season means you actively work against your player’s efforts it would be hard to imagine guys fully developing in such an environment. I trust at some point guys who are intending to move on will be moved (Anderson, maybe others). Further, there will come a point where some more difficult decisions will have to be made, but these won’t be made to simply undermine the efforts of those who remain as a part of the team. That’s the point where I diverge from the tank mentality.

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

Strange! So NHL contracts are different from normal contracts?

Not a surprise. I always thought a few of the complaints Jim Balsillie made against the league were right back in his ‘sue my way to a franchise in Hamilton’ phase. NHL does have some mafia-like rules for sure.

I agree, it's a bit of a strange dynamic, but it also prevents players from asking for and getting a full NMC/NTC added to their contract after a good season mid-contract. I think it's just easier for the league to set things in stone.

It used to be even worse before, because when a player actually agreed to waive his NTC/NMC and was traded, it was up to his new team whether to honor the NTC/NMC that was waived. I believe that was changed around 2020?

I think the league should come up with some sort of compensation written into no-trade/no-move clauses. Any time a player agrees to give up something he has negotiated, he should be compensated.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by saillias

Well Dreger is live on Barn Burner right now to clarify / offer more insight

I'm a bit behind.

Dreger says that's as of today. Yes, he (Dreger) did say that the Owner and Company love the core.

There's time between now and the trade deadline, and if the team flounders and the Flames do want to go "R" word, Kadri may change his mind.

<this largely seems to be speculation from Dreger>

Goes on to say he considers Andersson part, but that the core may be smaller than we think (as in, Andersson may not be if an extension can't be done before the deadline).

Murray Edwards, "they're not dumb dumbs", if they can't get a deal (extension) done - of course Andersson becomes a trade pieces.

So far, yeah...Dreger is walking the line the Flames love their 'core' and that yeah, the Flames aren't interested in a long rebuild.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, we're coming to 4 years out of the playoffs...if we weren't dumb dumbs, we'd be half done.

A lot of what Deger says seems to be fairly disconnected from the happenings of the Flames on the ice - which...I mean, if he's talked to sources/ownership lately, that disconnect wouldn't surprise me, because ownership/management seems disconnected from reality at times.

[Poe969]

Never go full R-word

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Ashes

Toxic positivity won't build a contender guys.. trading vets for assets, making good picks in the draft, and developing young players.. that's the way all the other contending teams have done it.

35 years of near futility/mediocrity is impossible to argue against when you look at the numbers (draft pick order/wins/championships/playoff appearences). What are you even arguing against?

It's time for change, pretty sure that was the whole point of the tweet.. it wasn't hyperbolic, it was just facts... seriously I cringe when I see you/dino/pepsi and other's defending this org. from most criticism and shutting down posters who are sick of this 35 year cycle of

Isn't that what they are doing?
And how am I shutting down posters? I'm challenging people to be more thoughtful in their critiques.

"But 35 years!!!!" isn't thoughtful. We all know about the 35 years.

I guess you either believe there has been a change or you don't. I think there is ample evidence that the current regime is managing differently. Perhaps folks want them to go even further with it. But they are not operating in the same way and it seems ignoring the facts to say they are.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Scroopy Noopers

^ saying playoffs is the only benefit to keeping seasoned veterans around is quite the spin.

How about introducing our boatloads of rookies into the league and mentoring them? Showing them what it takes to be a pro at that level, every day.

This is annoying because they will obviously move the veterans we are talking about for future assets. but saying that’s the only positive is just unnecessary and inaccurate.

I legit do not see value in overstacking your team with veterans for leadership roles. I don't.

2-4 guys in leadership roles? Gold. Everything else? Young, hungry, teachable players are needed.

Backlund, Weegar and Huberdeau aren't going anywhere. There's your good veterans to mentor. Then there's also the coaching the staff.

I think this idea that you can't load your team with youth because you need a balance of veterans to teach them is rubbish.

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

I'm a bit behind.

Dreger says that's as of today. Yes, he (Dreger) did say that the Owner and Company love the core.

There's time between now and the trade deadline, and if the team flounders and the Flames do want to go "R" word, Kadri may change his mind.

<this largely seems to be speculation from Dreger>

Goes on to say he considers Andersson part, but that the core may be smaller than we think (as in, Andersson may not be if an extension can't be done before the deadline).

Murray Edwards, "they're not dumb dumbs", if they can't get a deal (extension) done - of course Andersson becomes a trade pieces.

So far, yeah...Dreger is walking the line the Flames love their 'core' and that yeah, the Flames aren't interested in a long rebuild.


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Well, we're coming to 4 years out of the playoffs...if we weren't dumb dumbs, we'd be half done.

A lot of what Deger says seems to be fairly disconnected from the happenings of the Flames on the ice - which...I mean, if he's talked to sources/ownership lately, that disconnect wouldn't surprise me, because ownership/management seems disconnected from reality at times.

They will be making two selections in the first round for the third straight year. And possibly next year as well. You have no patience. They're not doing it your way, that's all.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

I legit do not see value in overstacking your team with veterans for leadership roles. I don't.

2-4 guys in leadership roles? Gold. Everything else? Young, hungry, teachable players are needed.

Backlund, Weegar and Huberdeau aren't going anywhere. There's your good veterans to mentor. Then there's also the coaching the staff.

I think this idea that you can't load your team with youth because you need a balance of veterans to teach them is rubbish.

Well said.

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

No GM has this "proclivity". Because the end of contracts are generally when players are easier to move, and when the best value is achieved. There are exceptions but they don't make the rule, and often reflect unhappiness with the player versus some sort of proactive rebuilding process. The Sharks only made one such deal that I can think of (Karlsson). The Flames have done more than that. I can't recall any by Chicago (in fact they acquired Seth Jones). I don't think the Ducks did.

Ok you can parse my words and that is fair. These kinds of tardes don't happen all the time. All the reports I have seen and heard indicate they are not currently interested in trading him.

But we are kind of dodging the question by arguing about details on things like the Toffoli trade.. I am curious why people are pushing back on the idea of trading Kadri this season. Is it truly because they think keeping him is the right approach or is it about aligning with what they think the team is doing?

I hope Conroy remembers the Iginla trade. I have a clear memory of him as AGM on the radio after the trade. More than once he stated that the return was what it was because this was not prime Iginla that was being traded.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I mean you're a fan right? Why believe anything good could ever come from what they are doing when you can just be miserable drag every conversation into chaotic oblivion!

Worst line on the site. You and Jiri try to wield and gatekeep fanhood somehow... no, some of us just aren't interested in being sycophants.

Gatekeep the site if you want/need, that's your right as the owner, but it's just yucky to keep trying to be the arbiter of what fanhood is for this franchise. You are not. Murray Edwards most certainly is not.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

They will be making two selections in the first round for the third straight year. And possibly next year as well. You have no patience. They're not doing it your way, that's all.

Not all 1st round picks are the same.

The further from the top, the low % of hits there are. I call that out. Conroy is building on low % picks, that's not a banger strategy.

It is good, don't get me wrong.

But show me that top-5 pick alongside those picks in the 20s/30s. That's what we need.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Ok you can parse my words and that is fair. These kinds of tardes don't happen all the time. All the reports I have seen and heard indicate they are not currently interested in trading him.

But we are kind of dodging the question by arguing about details on things like the Toffoli trade.. I am curious why people are pushing back on the idea of trading Kadri this season. Is it truly because they think keeping him is the right approach or is it about aligning with what they think the team is doing?

I hope Conroy remembers the Iginla trade. I have a clear memory of him as AGM on the radio after the trade. More than once he stated that the return was what it was because this was not prime Iginla that was being traded.

To be clear. I would like them to trade him.
All I was suggesting was that I can understand what that is easier said than done for the organization, for a variety of factors.

But my preference would be they trade him to capitalize on the fact it's moved from an "untradeable contract" to a "great bargain for a 2nd line center".

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

I legit do not see value in overstacking your team with veterans for leadership roles. I don't.

2-4 guys in leadership roles? Gold. Everything else? Young, hungry, teachable players are needed.

Backlund, Weegar and Huberdeau aren't going anywhere. There's your good veterans to mentor. Then there's also the coaching the staff.

I think this idea that you can't load your team with youth because you need a balance of veterans to teach them is rubbish.

10,000%

Who is the veteran leader on the Canadiens?? Gallagher, Josh Anderson, and Mike Matheson. And they will probably trade Anderson this season.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Worst line on the site. You and Jiri try to wield and gatekeep fanhood somehow... no, some of us just aren't interested in being sycophants.

Gatekeep the site if you want/need, that's your right as the owner, but it's just yucky to keep trying to be the arbiter of what fanhood is for this franchise. You are not. Murray Edwards most certainly is not.

yeah being misrable about a kids game is totally healthy

[Jiri Hrdina]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Worst line on the site. You and Jiri try to wield and gatekeep fanhood somehow... no, some of us just aren't interested in being sycophants.

Gatekeep the site if you want/need, that's your right as the owner, but it's just yucky to keep trying to be the arbiter of what fanhood is for this franchise. You are not. Murray Edwards most certainly is not.

I don't think we are sycophants, we just try to enjoy sports instead of wallowing in the muck of negativity.

I think one of the foundational pieces of being a fan is hope. If you don't have hope what do you have.

If I got to the point that I am as negative about this team as some of you, I would find other ways to spend my time.

You do you though. I'm not telling you not to be a fan. I just don't understand fans like you.