2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

He would be a decent stopgap while we wait for Reschny to make the NHL. That would put the Flames in DuPont 2027 and Schultz 2028 conversation. Canes would need to use (2) 1sts and a top prospect for Kadri, imo. JK has a lot of term and is a cup dump at this point.

Reschny better not take 4 more years to hit the NHL.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

Reschny better not take 4 more years to hit the NHL.

Stopgap as a C in the top 6. JK gets moved down when Reschny takes his spot, which is probably within a few games. That kind of goes without saying.

[Beninho]

One Andrew Cristall would do if trading with the Caps

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by Wolven

I would definitely prefer the Flames retain on Kadri's contract to get a bigger return than take back a bad contract and add a struggling player to an already full roster.

One of the perks of moving out Kadri is that it will force the team to slot Zary into C and then hopefully give more time to a player like Stromgren to get more minutes. Similarly, moving out Coleman could make room to bring Gridin back up. Or Kerins or Morton.

Giving any one of these guys a bigger chance at the NHL is better than bringing a bad contract back to logjam the system.

Retention slots are valuable and very limited. Would rather keep those for shorter term contracts.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by Beninho

One Andrew Cristall would do of trading with the Caps

I've a hard time seeing him dealt with Ovi soon retiring. Maybe TVR + 1st + Parascak would be a solid deal for one of Andersson/Kadri. I value Andersson and Kadri the same, with age and term cancelling each other out to make the valuation the same.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

Stopgap as a C in the top 6. JK gets moved down when Reschny takes his spot, which is probably within a few games. That kind of goes without saying.

Well, he's not a top 6 centre even on Calgary. If Kadri is traded then maybe, but this guy sucks. I think people are still fascinated by the fact he was a third overall pick. He's not a great skater, and that's what the Flames really need, even on the 4th line.

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

You don't know who is coming back though. So why have a strong position on it at all?

Also, it is possible some of our log jam of mediocre players will get shipped. Zary, Sharky, Lombo, Popsicle (when back), Kerins, Kirkland, Beecher. There is often a movement of fringe players in these types of deals. There's no accounting for what some GMs covet. Surprises abound.

lol - strong position? Aren't we just speculating? Why do you have a strong position to bring a guy like Kotkaniemi in to the organization? Who cares about a minor upgrade to our 4th line after trading away 2-3 of our best players?

If it is just about increasing the value of a Kadri trade, do you really think taking back Kotkaniemi has more value than 50% retention? I think the return would be close to the same or retention may bring back more value.

If retention brings back more value in picks/prospects than a Kotkaniemi cap dump, which would you do?

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by Badgers Nose

JK will end up a useful player somewhere else and we’ll lament Flames didn’t pay the modest price. That’s my guess.

This is a side quest for Conroy. The main quest is trade Ras. He probably can’t spare the cycles.

He might end up as a useful player somewhere, but not here. I mean which players have improved offensively since coming to Calgary in the last 5 years? Sharangovich for the 1 year?

[Bert]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

I actually think KK could be a beauty Backlund linemate, who could learn from what Backlund does, helping turn him into a beauty defensive player (because that’s what Backs does), eventually transitioning back to centre (maybe).

Tbh that’s what i was thinking. Have backs take him under his wing and see if we can develop him into a third line shutdown centre for when backs retires. Give him a defined role and mentorship and who knows? If he buys in that’s one less thing we need to find in the system.

[Heavy Jack]

The flames will need warm bodies filling roles while we wait for the prospect pool to catch up especially at center and especially if we move Kadri. While some might be over rating the player in question because of his draft stock I think some are overlooking the fact that he is still a big bodied center that has taken loads of faceoffs the past 5 seasons with a respectable 51 percent winning percentage across that time frame.

Backlund
Frost
Kotkanieme


With Kads traded separately I would look at those 3 as our top centres on the big club going forward. Obviously lots to be desired but it’s not like we are going to win with this roster and bottoming out should be the general goal. Worst case scenario JK becomes buyout candidate down the line, best case scenario we can flip him down the line if he regains some of his draft pedigree. Remember when we landed Lindy? JK is a little further along in development than when we landed Elias but he’s locked up already at a pretty low cap, likely much lower percentage of cap than when we extended Lindy. It’s definitely something to consider, I’d do a 1 for 1 sharky trade for him simply because we covet the position JK plays much more than sharky.

[WickerChicken]

Originally Posted by Bert

Tbh that’s what i was thinking. Have backs take him under his wing and see if we can develop him into a third line shutdown centre for when backs retires. Give him a defined role and mentorship and who knows? If he buys in that’s one less thing we need to find in the system.

Agreed. I think this is a low risk move, especially if the acquisition cost is low.

Do we know if he is a good locker room guy / mentor?

[Wolven]

Originally Posted by Strange Brew

Retention slots are valuable and very limited. Would rather keep those for shorter term contracts.

That is fair, but the data is available for you to game it out.

2025-26: Markstrom, Kadri?, Coleman?
2026-27: Kadri?, Coleman?, Hanley?
2027-28: Kadri?, Farabee?, _______
2028-29: Kadri?, _______, _______

Retaining on Kadri probably gives you bigger value back than any smaller assets that you try to retain on in the next 4 seasons. Also, the dead cap will help the team stay above the floor while playing young, cheap players.

Of course, if the team trading for Kadri does not want to pay an appropriate price for 4 retention slots then they can have him at $7M per year. I do think a number of GMs would jump at the chance to have Kadri for $3.5M because that is an amazing price for a #2C and a good price for a #3C... but Conroy's price for that should be in the blue chip to A+ prospect realm.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by gvitaly

He might end up as a useful player somewhere, but not here. I mean which players have improved offensively since coming to Calgary in the last 5 years? Sharangovich for the 1 year?

Coleman, Kadri (outside of his big year in Colorado), Weegar, Bahl, Kirkland, Pachal.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by ForeverFlameFan

I've a hard time seeing him dealt with Ovi soon retiring. Maybe TVR + 1st + Parascak would be a solid deal for one of Andersson/Kadri. I value Andersson and Kadri the same, with age and term cancelling each other out to make the valuation the same.

If Andersson and Kadri have the same value I am in favor of keeping Kadri.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by WickerChicken

Agreed. I think this is a low risk move, especially if the acquisition cost is low.

Do we know if he is a good locker room guy / mentor?

I doubt at 25 and on his second team (and being a healthy scratch) he's a mentor. No idea about what he's like in the room.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

From 2011-2014: HALL, RNH first 3-4 seasons the Oilers had.

Ryan Smyth - 35
Ales Hemsky - 28
Shawn Horcoff - 32
Ryan Whitney - 28
Eric Belanger - 33
Darcy Hordichuk - 31
Andy Sutton - 36
Nikolai Khabibulin - 38
Nick Schultz - 31
Andrew Ference - 34
Matt Hendricks - 32

The Oilers actually did have some veterans around to try to help those guys when they were young. None of them were stars but they were respected NHL veterans.

The narrative that the Oilers just left these guys with absolutely no veteran presence is a bit false TBH.

The problem was they drafted terrible beyond the first round and they failed at actually building a deep core to support those players from a talent perspective, not from a leadership perspective.

It is about the right vets. Ference himself said the culture was really bad up there. The inmates ran the asylum and there was no accountability. Most of the players on the list were products of that system.

[SuperMatt18]

Part of Kotkaniemi's problem is the expectations in Montreal (high pick) and then Carolina (ridiculous offer sheet) were always too high.

The guy does have a career high 43 points and has averaged 33 points per 82 games for his career.

If acquiring him allows you to get the best return for an asset, while also getting additional assets for taking on his contract, it's a good move.

Plus you also get a body that still has potential as a strong defensive bottom 6 forward, maybe you can turn him into a valuable asset, and hopefully be able to flip him later after the cap goes up and $5M isn't as much of an issue.

That's exactly how you weaponize the cap space.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Robbob

It is about the right vets. Ference himself said the culture was really bad up there. The inmates ran the asylum and there was no accountability. Most of the players on the list were products of that system.

It's also just more drafting the right types of personalities and management can't give all the power to the players.

The Oilers brought in veterans, but gave the kids the captaincy, all the power, and didn't bring in the right coaches.

Guys like Smyth, Belanger, Ference, Hordichuk, Sutton were respected leaders around the NHL, but it doesn't matter if coaching and management actually don't drive the right behaviours.

And in the end I think the truth is Hall, Eberle, and RNH just weren't good enough players either. Outside of a couple seasons from Hall All of them ended up being more nice supporting pieces than true superstars.

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by Robbob

It is about the right vets. Ference himself said the culture was really bad up there. The inmates ran the asylum and there was no accountability. Most of the players on the list were products of that system.

I also think the culture rot in Edmonton came from the top. Lowe, nepotism in the hockey ops and coaching staffs. It wasn’t just the wrong mix of vets.

[ComixZone]

https://twitter.com/user/status/2009684216917963024

There. We’ve got the best insider in the business telling the Flames to give their balls a tug.

This is our opportunity to cash in, he likely knows what the chatter is behind the scenes and is saying this is a real chance to cash in.

Do the work Connie. Get it done.

All 3, you’re goin’.