2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[5abi]

What if no moves are made?

[This post is terrible]

Originally Posted by 5abi

What if no moves are made?

Then I hope you’re prepared for the most annoying era of Calgary Puck

[Samonadreau]

Well, we are at 1000 (@20) pages, soon to be 20000 posts with no trades. Thats something.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

I honestly think it’s one of the reasons Vegas has been as strong as they have been. They’re the most aggressive, no-nonsense teams in the league.

Winning is everything, and they know top players drive success. So they’re in on the best player available, always. Yeah, the market makes them attractive to UFAs, but in trades? If a top tier player becomes available - Vegas is in on it and they generally outbid the others. They don’t follow the traditional passive/risk-averse approach that almost everyone else does. I think it’s great, and I wish more teams in the league would stop being so damn scared of transactions.

Easier to trade for players when you know they will extend with you at a reasonable rate. Stone, Hanifin, apparently Ras

Stone would have been a Flame if he was that eager to sign here

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

That would mean likely 2 to 8 weeks depending on how severe it is.

Shouldn't you be happy with this? You wanted him moved for whatever because he is helping them win games...now he won't be helping them win and will also be available for trade at a later date.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by This post is terrible

Then I hope you’re prepared for the most annoying era of Calgary Puck

[Sec214]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

Well, we are at 1000 (@20) pages, soon to be 20000 posts with no trades. Thats something.

[ComixZone]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

Well, we are at 1000 (@20) pages, soon to be 20000 posts with no trades. Thats something.

I recommend doomscrolling Flames Twitter to anyone, yeah
I recommend believing every insider whisper, yeah
Swallow it down (what a jagged little standstill)
It feels so rough (watching rivals reload)
Wait until the deadline settles

You wait, you learn
You hope, you learn
You rage, you learn
You lose, you learn
You cope, you learn
You scream… you learn

I recommend biting off more patience than you can chew to anyone, yeah
I recommend trusting “we like our group” at any time, feel free
Throw it down (the frustration in the group chat)
Hold it up (that season-ticket renewal)
You wait and see when the rumours fade

You wait, you learn
You hope, you learn
You rage, you learn
You lose, you learn
You cope, you learn
You scream… you learn

You grieve (the trades that never came), you learn
You choke (on another quiet summer), you learn
You laugh (at the absurdity), you learn
You choose (to stay anyway), you learn
You pray (for just one move), you learn
You ask (Conroy “are we there yet?”), you learn
You live… you learn
Outro (repeat fading)
Almost two years, no deals on the board
Still wearing the red, still cheering the sword
You wait, you learn
You bleed C of Red, you learn
You Flames fan… you learn

(Grok)

[browntrout]

The NHL just sucks in entertainment value for trades and quality player movement.

Free agency is horrible
Too many NTC-NMC clauses
Salary cap

Going to look this up, compare player movement in the 80's/90 to now

[browntrout]

Surprisly I looked this up on Wikipedia, transactions are probably down a bit, and then if you factor in there are more teams, it definitely is down, but not as much as I thought.

It seems to be that the bigger blockbuster trades are alot less common now, but who knows, maybe wrong on that front as well

[Ped]

Trades are more complicated with the cap and players having more of a say, but GMs are also far more risk adverse than they used to be as a whole as well.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by 5abi

What if no moves are made?

Probably the most likely outcome.

[442scotty]

Sigh…. Another morning and no trades. Then suddenly a trade appears! Calgary puck comes alive! All is right in the world again! All the positive and negative energy is released! Within a few days, or is it hours, the waters calm and the cycle begins anew….

Such is life as a member of Calgary Puck. Good morning to you all! New day. New hopes.

[Spurly]

Originally Posted by 442scotty

Sigh…. Another morning and no trades. Then suddenly a trade appears! Calgary puck comes alive! All is right in the world again! All the positive and negative energy is released! Within a few days, or is it hours, the waters calm and the cycle begins anew….

Such is life as a member of Calgary Puck. Good morning to you all! New day. New hopes.

The waters will never calm for some on this forum. Somebody is going to complain, that it isn’t good enough. Or for that price we should have done it sooner. Some people were just born to complain.

[TOfan]

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

This whole notion of demands being met is odd. There’s a fluid marketplace for NHL players, just like there is for anything else. And as my old economics teacher explained, the only way we have to determine the value of something is how much someone is willing to actually pay for it. A number you have in your head of the valuation of a player (or an exercise bike, or a hockey card, or a car) is just an imaginary number.

If the price the Flames set for a player isn’t met by the market, it’s because the valuation the Flames place on him is too high. That’s just basic economics. And if you’d rather hang on to something rather than sell it for market price, then you aren’t a motivated seller in the first place.

Which is likely the case when it comes to Kadri and Coleman - the Flames seem happy to keep them. A lot of fans aren’t happy at that prospect, because they don’t value the 6 or 7 more wins over the next couples seasons that those players will provide as much as Flames braintrust seems to value it.

I suspect another reason for the reluctance to sell is Edwards and Maloney are extremely anxious about Calgary’s status as a small-market franchise, and they’re worried that if they trade away veterans who chose to sign here as UFAs that the Flames will be an even less attractive destination in the future.

I think this is a huge factor and can be linked directly to how this organization has gone about its business for at least the last two decades.

Rightly or wrongly, I think there’s real concern about what the long term impacts of a prolonged rebuild would mean for this team. I would hope the new arena would mitigate that somewhat and now is the time to rebuild, if there ever was one.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Easier to trade for players when you know they will extend with you at a reasonable rate. Stone, Hanifin, apparently Ras

Stone would have been a Flame if he was that eager to sign here

Chicken and the Egg though.

During expansion there was discussion about concerns from players about living in Vegas and wanting raise families there etc.

But then they joined the league, had instant success, a great ownership group that invested in top class facilities, and were very aggressive in their pursuit of players.

If Vegas came in and didn't have the on ice success they had, because of the aggressive moves they were willing to make, then they wouldn't be the attractive market they are.

Winning and ownership investing in strong facilities for the players is what makes markets attractive more than anything. Vegas, Tampa, and Florida are recent proof of that.

Tampa and Florida weren't attractive destinations for players until the on ice results came, Florida was a market people criticized for 20 years. Then Zito got aggressive, made them a winner, and now everyone wants to go there.

[ForeverFlameFan]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

NHL GMs are so risk averse to me still.

In past years with cap accrual I get waiting until the last minute, but this year if you're a team looking to make a splash why are you waiting.

Teams have ~15-17 games until the deadline, why not try to make the move now, get the guy into your organization, and let him get settled in your city during the Olympic break.

Not only that, but it's a tight race throughout the league with the super-spiked parity this season. It would be better to make a move now than later.

[Demetric]

Originally Posted by This post is terrible

Then I hope you’re prepared for the most annoying era of Calgary Puck

You are saying it can get MORE annoying?

[Strange Brew]

Originally Posted by browntrout

The NHL just sucks in entertainment value for trades and quality player movement.

Free agency is horrible
Too many NTC-NMC clauses
Salary cap

Going to look this up, compare player movement in the 80's/90 to now

There is some truth here. The mega long term contracts and the NTC's all make player movement harder.

Other sports seem to have shorter contracts, more things like player and team options that allow for player movement and you seem to be able to go from also ran to contender much quicker.

[ComixZone]

20,000.

Originally Posted by CliffFletcher

This whole notion of demands being met is odd. There’s a fluid marketplace for NHL players, just like there is for anything else. And as my old economics teacher explained, the only way we have to determine the value of something is how much someone is willing to actually pay for it. A number you have in your head of the valuation of a player (or an exercise bike, or a hockey card, or a car) is just an imaginary number.

If the price the Flames set for a player isn’t met by the market, it’s because the valuation the Flames place on him is too high. That’s just basic economics. And if you’d rather hang on to something rather than sell it for market price, then you aren’t a motivated seller in the first place.

Which is likely the case when it comes to Kadri and Coleman - the Flames seem happy to keep them. A lot of fans aren’t happy at that prospect, because they don’t value the 6 or 7 more wins over the next couples seasons that those players will provide as much as Flames braintrust seems to value it.

I suspect another reason for the reluctance to sell is Edwards and Maloney are extremely anxious about Calgary’s status as a small-market franchise, and they’re worried that if they trade away veterans who chose to sign here as UFAs that the Flames will be an even less attractive destination in the future.

If that's where they head is at, it'd be massively misguided. Players want to play where they can, and where they can win are with teams with stars. This team has no stars. The goal should be to acquire and build with stars. Getting rid of the veterans helps them do that.

I wonder if Flames management/ownership don't hate to lose, don't love to win, but rather that their driving force is that they're afraid to lose. Can't build anything worth sustaining if you're just a big scaredy-cat.