2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

That’s interesting. Did the insiders really say that about Ras? I scanned through the threads and didn’t find these posts. .

I’d expect more chatter about this.

There was a bunch of chatter largely blaming Andersson’s attitude and Conroy for not trading him in the summer (contributing to the broken room) in the game thread which seemed to be walked back/reframed a little bit once questioned, so not sure how true it actually was.

Personally I think general rumours about moves is cool but when it starts to get into high school drama stuff that makes a player look bad the source should be revealed on that and there should be a clear separation between what what actually said and what the “insider” is just assuming.

[Badgers Nose]

OK, here is what I found. I've left out any poster directed comments, and just quoted the relevant newsy bits.

No surprises really.

It all starts with a comment about culture.

Originally Posted by TheScorpion

What if the culture isn't good, either?

Originally Posted by Sec214

You don’t say…

Originally Posted by Royle9

The cultures been broken since the summer.
They chose not to address the elephant in the room, said it wouldn’t be a distraction.

It’s only gotten worse, more than I think they imagined.
Bad play is one thing.
Bad attitudes spread like wildfire.
Huge divide in the room, not even sure how you fix it at this point.

Originally Posted by Sec214

Ras “Can’t get a Minus if I’m in the box”

Originally Posted by Sec214

“Hahaha at least I’m not stuck here next year”

(I assume that's attributed to Ras, probably not a quote but a summary of his attitude - at least I hope so!)

Originally Posted by Royle9

Have you ever worked with someone who gave 0 ####s about the job, publicly claiming they were looking elsewhere so didn’t really care how well you did?

Originally Posted by Royle9

He declined CGY’s offer, he said he was comfortable going to free agency and wanted to do what’s best for his family as that was more important but thanked CGY for drafting him.
He’s blocked trade(s)

These are “code” for thanks but no thanks…

Originally Posted by Royle9

Oh it’s more than just one guy, of course.
It would be very weak to use him as the excuse.

But that smoke didn’t go away like they claimed it would.
The bad start.
The accountability between veterans and rookies
The lineup decisions and constant changes

I’m interested to see how much is shown on the YouTube series, the amount of closed door “meetings” should be fun to see.

Originally Posted by Royle9

I’m not saying he’s a terrible person or someone who doesn’t care about the game of hockey. Last year I’d say he may have been the most dialled in, in terms of wanting to win.

But if you think the level of care in how the team does this season is the same as it’s been, then I won’t convince you.

He’s playing for a new contract with a new team, he knows he’s not coming back because he chose not to. This is why he should have been traded in the off-season and they did try, but he wouldn’t extend for one and the other he blocked.

Originally Posted by Royle9

Who said this is all Andersson’s fault? I surely didn’t.
It’s a number of things combined, all feeding off each other.
Just not a fun place to be, which I think we all know is the case during seasons like this so that’s not anything special news wise.

Originally Posted by Royle9

But they knew the Rasmus situation was going to be a distraction.
Craig tried to play it off being asked about it directly.
The media knew he blocked a trade + extension.
The media knew he wasn’t happy in Calgary.

So much so that literally the day of the annual golf tournament kick off the Flames chose to release the news of the Wolf extension to purposely take away from any media pressure from Rasmus. (Smart move btw)

[ResAlien]

Dang if that's all to be believed no wonder Conroy doesn't have an extension. Sounds like he completely f'd this Anderson situation and by extension the team and season

[Vinny01]

If Conroy took the best offer for Andersson from a team he wanted to play with in the summer and got fleeced on the value fans would livid stating “why didn’t we just wait until the deadline a team would have paid more”

Now we have the team tanking (which probably the majority of this board wanted) so to me this is all going according to plan if the goal is to pick high before moving to the new rink

[Roko]

Anyone have any actual trade rumours or anything

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

OK, here is what I found. I've left out any poster directed comments, and just quoted the relevant newsy bits.

No surprises really.

It all starts with a comment about culture.

(I assume that's attributed to Ras, probably not a quote but a summary of his attitude - at least I hope so!)

Yeah we all read it in the game thread man.

[TheIronMaiden]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Yeah we all read it in the game thread man.

speak for yourself, game threads are too toxic for half of us.

[Muta]

Thanks Badger! Some of us don't read or visit the game threads or have time to read the entire thing (during or after), so this is a super helpful recap.

[Badgers Nose]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

speak for yourself, game threads are too toxic for half of us.

Trust me, ignore button is your friend.

This site is much better for me after I went Pepsi-free.

[Monahammer]

Shocking that things turned out this way. Truly, truly wild. Who could have predicted such things?!

Anyways, I liked the gumption behind the idea of acquiring Fantilli. I don't think he's a reasonable target necessarily, but exactly what we need to be thinking like. Kent Johnson seems to be less prioritized there for some reason. One of Johnson or Fantilli would be huge. The problem is that Lindstrom's major injury and really slow college start probably have them focused on Fantilli as their only real 1C candidate.

I think they would be highly interested in Coronato. They lack RHS forwards. I would want a bit more than Johnson for Coronato, but would add to Coronato for Fantilli.

I also really like the idea of acquiring Jack Quinn. RHS and totally underused in Buffalo. Zary+Pospisil+whatever else... Don't have a good read on if that's enough for Buffalo.

[Royle9]

I don't disagree with Craig not moving Rasmus for spare change.
You have to do what's right for the team long term.

The lack of movement thus far comes down to 2 very key/important timelines:

Scenario 1: Deadline Day

• Significant interest in Rasmus at the deadline
• Significant interest in Kadri at the deadline
• Teams kicking tires on Coleman and Backlund at the deadline
• Calgary had a number of offers, good and bad for both Rasmus and Kadri but nothing so good you would risk blowing up what you had at that point
• I'd argue the Nelson deal would have looked good, but at the time Kadri also had a NTC and blocked any move
• Calgary chooses to keep both guys
• Calgary chose not to go out and acquire anything else and simply ride it out with the team that got them to that point

Calgary was in the hunt for the playoffs at that point and Craig chose to reward the players by letting them choose their own destiny with their play, didnt trade anyone away nor did they trade away any sort of futures to try and push a little more.

Status quo.

Scenario 2: Summer

The season ends, Calgary misses by 1 point sadly but had a historical run from the deadline on with the guys that got them there. Hard to argue Craig did anything wrong, they probably should have made the playoffs, never know what happens when you get in but unlikely they make a deep run just based on skill.

Garbage bag day starts, players speak to media and a few key guys are highlighted as they were targets previously.

1. Kadri confirms he wants to win in Calgary, moved his family out here and wants to re-tool and do something special here next year
2. Rasmus thanks the city for drafting him, loved every minute of it they had some good runs but acknowledges he didnt sign an extension because he wants to talk to his family and do whats best for them
3. Rasmus looking to win now, not too much interest in any sort of rebuild depending on how the team chooses to go, acknowledges he's respectful of Craig and his decision and will do what's best for Calgary

UFA period comes and goes, Calgary doesn't sign any big UFA's though had interest in a few to see if they could retool faster.
Talks continue between teams and Calgary on what they plan to do with guys like Rasmus, Kadri and Backlund potentially.

News breaks that Calgary had a "lucritive" trade by Dredger for Rasmus that he blocked by not agreeing to extension
News continues to swirl around his desire to only play in Vegas
Rasmus because the most talked about player for Calgary the back half of the summer leading up to both Golf Tournament day and then training camp.

Morning of Golf Tournament

• Media swirling about the blocked trade
• What team was it?
• What was the return?
• Why wouldn't Rasmus agree to an extension?
• Does this mean he's not coming back to Calgary?
• What type of distraction will this cause the team going into next season?

Plethora of questions waiting for Rasmus the minute he hits the links at Country Hills... hang on!

• Flames announce Wolf Extension
• Wolf front and center for the start of golf day
• Team focused on talking about how great it is to get him locked up long term
• Talk about how well he did, what this means for the future of the team
• Conveniently timed (Hanlon is a very smart guy) and takes away from significant questions and pressure on Rasmus

And now we sit here almost mid-November:

4-12-2 - 10 pts
32nd place
-20 goal differential (worst in league)
38 goals for (worst in the league)

Rasmus situation still in the background
Kadri NTC shifts to modified no-move - agrees to do whatever is best for Calgary
Multiple closed door meetings
Uninspired play
Wolf calls out lack of scoring as big problem
Weegar calls out "half the team" not showing up
Media/Fans questioning player usage from game 1
Lineup decisions very questionable
Accountability is questioned (vets vs rookies)

The last thing I will add is that yes, rebuilds are never great and I speak for myself when I say that I know there's going to be significant pain before there's any success. But this team has turned on each other, which likely means they've turned on the coach as well (remains to be seen) but they've questioned choices he's made directly.

You're going to lose when your team is built like we are, your going to have a ton of painful nights and it is what it is because you're hoping for long term success after drafting higher.

But you don't turn on each other, place blame in the room and see the toxicity and lack of effort on a nightly basis that we're seeing. It's okay to be unhappy, but hold each other accountable and show up for each other every night and give the fans something to cheer for.

A few highlights thus far for me:

Honzek great progress
Giridin showing us early he's got it
Coronato easily our best shooter since Iginla
Parekh looked good offensively the few times he was in
Kuznetsov doesnt look out of place at all
Huberdeau seems good most nights
Kadri continues to care even with his name out there constantly

[dissentowner]

Those saying he screwed up Andersson moving over the summer what exactly would you have him do? Take a lowball offer just so it isn't a distraction in the room? Maybe you do that if you are aiming to win the Cup this year but we are not so why would Conroy move a valuable asset for that reason? I am glad Conroy is not letting Andersson make demands on where he goes and taking a lesser return. His job is to maximize the asset and if Andersson wants to pout about it that's just too fn bad. Play better and drive your value up and you will get your wish.

[Badgers Nose]

Thanks Royle9, that might be the GOAT post on CP.

Seems like Flames are hitting bottom or will soon. This is good, part of the process. LOL

Craig Conroy seems to act fast and decisively when there are culture issues in the room, so I am optimistic the toxicity will decrease soon, one way or another.

[Psytic]

Team finally has a chance to draft an elite talent albiet the draft % still arent great... but any one in the top 5 is a good foundational peice. Plus they continue to move out players that dont want to be here and stick to their guns on value. Couldnt be any happier personally. Im glad Conny didnt fold like a cheap tent.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Royle9

Calgary was in the hunt for the playoffs at that point and Craig chose to reward the players by letting them choose their own destiny with their play, didnt trade anyone away nor did they trade away any sort of futures to try and push a little more.

Which was the right thing to do. Some of the players are in this for the long haul and you don't want to give them the mindset that it doesn't matter how hard they try, management will pull the rug out from under them near the finish line.

I suppose one could blame the GM for not making a move before it ever got to that point, but literally no one expected the Flames to be anywhere but near the basement last season. The team showed moxy and nurturing that has value outside of straight up asset value especially if the offers coming in weren't worth much. Managing a team is so much more than just assets in, assets out.

[calf]

I look at the Andersson situation as having two scenarios that you have to work between and maximize.
1) With an extension in place (or likely to be in place). This would of course get the largest return, but with his NTC, he holds the cards and the value/return is diminished by the potential trading partners. It's not really a viable path, so CC has to pivot to 2.
2) Trading to a team as a pure rental. The value of the extension is gone, so you have to negotiate within a different dynamic, but an expanded set of teams. Right now, buyers aren't desperate to make that push, so, any return you get is going to be weaker than when teams are finally ready to get those pieces to add to their team, whether that's before the Olympic Break or closer to the TDL. The price should be well known, and there's time to get the right value, but if the offered packages start getting worse (say things shift to a buyers market), you cash out as fast as you can as a a stop-loss.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

If Conroy took the best offer for Andersson from a team he wanted to play with in the summer and got fleeced on the value fans would livid stating “why didn’t we just wait until the deadline a team would have paid more”

Now we have the team tanking (which probably the majority of this board wanted) so to me this is all going according to plan if the goal is to pick high before moving to the new rink

I said in the summer that Conroy should set a Sept 1 deadline to trade Ras for the best offer he can get. When I said that, I got fleeced too!

The good news is keeping him, and a few others looks to be the best way to get a top pick anyways.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by TheIronMaiden

speak for yourself, game threads are too toxic for half of us.

lol fair enough

[Erick Estrada]

Every year teams have pending UFA's that may or may not re-sign and this organization has been through that a lot over the past few seasons. I don't buy that it's causing a locker room issue. I wouldn't expect the locker room to be a merry place given the results but this is what losing looks like and while it may be uncharted territory for the Flames, it's part of the process of rebuilding so I'm not going to worry about anything outside of the draft lottery. The rest really doesn't matter just as Andersson will fetch the most near the deadline so I'm totally fine with the GM waiting this out.

[The Cobra]

Originally Posted by Macho0978

I said in the summer that Conroy should set a Sept 1 deadline to trade Ras for the best offer he can get.

It's never good to set a deadline. Trade values can vary, and Sept 1 is a particularly bad time to have a deadline set.