2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[Teroy]

Originally Posted by JTech780

In their last 20 games:

Sharangovich: 4G-1A-5P -8 16:51TOI (14:16EV, 1:26PP, 1:09PK)
Zary: 3G-2A-5P -8 14:59TOI (13:24EV, 1:33PP, 0:01PK)

I wouldn't consider Zary a young player anymore, and he is getting the same opportunities as Sharangovich minus the PK time. Zary just isn't that good of a player.

Totally disagree!

[stemit14]

Zary is such a tough call. I like his game when he is confident and I would have liked to see him tried more at center over the last two seasons. I think with his linemates over the years, his utilization and the coaching style… it’s still difficult to determine his ceiling. I do think he is a player who, with the right linemates and utilization, could be a top six forward.

There are a few young players that I think won’t be able to be properly assessed as to their potential until they play under a different system. I think Huska is a good coach overall but his system does seem to limit the flow of the game and limit aggressive, fast attacks up the ice. While I think he has no problem with defencemen joining rushes and creating offence… I also think his defensive system in the flames’ end tends to lead to long shifts where players are in their own end. When this happens, it’s difficult for defencemen to join the rush and create offence as the late player joining the rush because they are tired and need to change. This can also be true of forwards as well so I don’t think the flames generate as much off the rush… which could play into Zary maybe not reaching his potential as a player who creates chance off the rush. I think this is also true for Huberdeau in some ways - pretty sure there a great breakdown last year of Huberdeau’s best production coming from a system in which defenseman consistently join the rush and he has not played a system that consistently does that since he left Florida.

I’m not saying the coach needs to change right now but I do agree that players like Zary, Parekh and (hopefully) McKenna may need a different system to reach their full offensive potential. Whether or not that system will lead to being a contending team is debatable. We’ve seen teams that have free-flowing styles that let their skilled players put up lots of points but at the cost of defensive play.

[Psytic]

Originally Posted by Ba'alzamon

^ So basically AI told you what you wanted to hear, without a great deal of attention to accuracy.

A ZSR of 50% does not constitute "getting buried" lol. Backlund's is 31% and Coleman's is 35.5%. That is getting buried.

Zary is not, and never has been, "the Flames' most used defensive-utility winger". That is Coleman.



That sentence is hilarious. You should see the problems with it on your own.



Transition is literally the ability to move the puck into the offensive zone (or out of the defensive zone). By definition, you cannot use transition ability in the offensive zone. This sentence is nonsense. (basically, if Zary is primarily a transition forward than using him in a way where he spends most of his time transitioning the puck through the neutral zone would constitute using him correctly, wouldn't it?)

Also, citation needed on that 92nd percentile remark.

I don't recall saying I have a position one way or the other. I asked it to compare Zary to Mctavish using NHL Edge and Natural stat Stick (24 different inputs) . Here is what it says to your points:


The reason the "bust" talk feels premature is that his micro-stats show he is working hard in the wrong areas of the ice. Citation's Per NHL Edge data for March 2026:

1. The Neutral Zone Trap: Zary is in the 92nd percentile for time spent in the Neutral Zone (18.7%). The rebuttal there is that while transition is moving the puck through the NZ, he is currently spending significantly more time there than in the Offensive Zone, where he is in the bottom 50th percentile (40.8%). He is effectively the team's designated carrier, but the plays are dying before they reach high-danger areas.
2. The Deployment Gap: Look at a guy like Mason McTavish for contrast. He has 64th percentile O-Zone time and 84th percentile NZ time. He gets to stay in the zone because his system sustains pressure. Zary is in the 74th percentile for skating distance (155.9 miles) because he’s constantly having to reload and carry the puck back through the middle because the O-zone possession isn't sticking.
3. The Finish Problem: The "nonsense" comment on transition misses the point of the bottleneck. Transition gets you to the dance; the system has to let you dance. The Flames currently rank 32nd in the NHL in goals per game (2.44) and 32nd in high-danger conversion (13.8%). Zary is successfully transitioning the puck (hence the 92nd percentile volume), but he’s entering an offensive system that is statistically the worst in the league at finishing.

The Bennett comparison stands because it's a player with high-end transition metrics and elite skating volume spinning his wheels in a system that can't score. If he is a bust, it is because he can't finish. If he is a breakout candidate, it is because he is an elite puck mover on a team with no finish. So one or the other, hard to say.


That's what it thinks. I have to meet some colleagues for dinner so I wont be able to provide more of its analysis but its interesting if accurate.

[FlamesAddiction]

Maybe a stupid question, but do Beniers and Johnson both play center at the NHL level? During their draft year, I watched highlights of them at university and a lot of them had them playing together, and playing very well at that. It could be a sample size issue of course because I didn't watch full games. It got me thinking that Seattle might want to make a pitch for Johnson, that is if one of them plays on the wing.

[Jiri Hrdina]

Remember Whitecloud said the Flames play essentially the same system as Vegas
It’s not a system issue

[gvitaly]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Maybe a stupid question, but do Beniers and Johnson both play center at the NHL level? During their draft year, I watched highlights of them at university and a lot of them had them playing together, and playing very well at that. It could be a sample size issue of course because I didn't watch full games. It go me thinking that Seattle might want to make a pitch for Johnson though, that is if one of them plays on the wing.

Matty Beniers played only center this year, which is consistent with the rest of his career.

Kent Johnson spent the entire season on the wing. Playing RW for ~75% of the time. I'm pretty sure he played around half of his first full season in the NHL at center, and that was that.

[PaperBagger'14]

Trent Frederic is out for the foreseeable future, it will take roughly 0.5 Tobias Reiders to replace his 6 points (Reider had 11 with the oilers).

Edit: Wow totally wrong thread lol

[Circa89]

Never the wrong thread to trash the oilers

[UKflames]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Zary is good at transitional play, that's true. And that's why he used to be on PP1, because he is good at zone entries.

The problem is that, after he enters the offensive zone, he is prone to turnovers or being checked off the puck. That's why his offensive zone time is low - he can get into the zone, he just isn't very good at staying there.

If you hadn't put Zary's name at the beginning of that sentence I would have thought you were talking about Kadri

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Remember Whitecloud said the Flames play essentially the same system as Vegas
It’s not a system issue

If the defensive zone sure but I'm not buying they are doing the same thing at forward or else our forwards are not listening to the coach. I have pointed out before in GT when we have played Vegas how Vegas plays pucks from down low by the side of the net to find guys in the slot. That is the exact opposite of the Flames who try to push everything from the point. They couldn't play more opposite systems in the offensive zone.

[Enoch Root]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

If the defensive zone sure but I'm not buying they are doing the same thing at forward or else our forwards are not listening to the coach. I have pointed out before in GT when we have played Vegas how Vegas plays pucks from down low by the side of the net to find guys in the slot. That is the exact opposite of the Flames who try to push everything from the point. They couldn't play more opposite systems in the offensive zone.

The Flames have been making a lot more plays down low recently, driven mostly by Zary, Frost and Gridin.

That isn't coaching, it's guys making plays.

And the Flames don't have an Eichel (who drives the majority of their down low play)

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

If the defensive zone sure but I'm not buying they are doing the same thing at forward or else our forwards are not listening to the coach. I have pointed out before in GT when we have played Vegas how Vegas plays pucks from down low by the side of the net to find guys in the slot. That is the exact opposite of the Flames who try to push everything from the point. They couldn't play more opposite systems in the offensive zone.

Offensive zones aren't coached to the same degree.

It's strict in your own zone, and on transition, but inside the offensive zone it's the skill of the players and their chemistry and creativity.

The Flames lack of talent likely plays out in players keeping it safe (outside), and isn't coach directed.

No coach would ever suggest not making plays on the inside and to keep it perimeter.

[D as in David]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Offensive zones aren't coached to the same degree.

It's strict in your own zone, and on transition, but inside the offensive zone it's the skill of the players and their chemistry and creativity.

The Flames lack of talent likely plays out in players keeping it safe (outside), and isn't coach directed.

No coach would ever suggest not making plays on the inside and to keep it perimeter.

Wyttenbach essentially confirmed this openness to be creative in the offensive zone under Huska's system.

[dammage79]

Fro. What I could watch last night, it's amazing how much better they looked . Just a ton of smart puck movement. Led by Parekh. That guy makes the team better

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by D as in David

Wyttenbach essentially confirmed this openness to be creative in the offensive zone under Huska's system.

I mean I coached a high F3 as a mandate so the D could pinch with impunity.

Which creates more offence because you keep pucks in, but you don't have the F3 in the corners or behind the net overloading and winning forecheck puck battles.

But the creativity on offence isn't coached, and if it is to any degree it would never be coached to remain on the outside.

But you need the horses.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Bingo

I mean I coached a high F3 as a mandate so the D could pinch with impunity.

Which creates more offence because you keep pucks in, but you don't have the F3 in the corners or behind the net overloading and winning forecheck puck battles.

But the creativity on offence isn't coached, and if it is to any degree it would never be coached to remain on the outside.

But you need the horses.

If anything defensive coaches encourage players to crash the net.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Offensive zones aren't coached to the same degree.

It's strict in your own zone, and on transition, but inside the offensive zone it's the skill of the players and their chemistry and creativity.

The Flames lack of talent likely plays out in players keeping it safe (outside), and isn't coach directed.

No coach would ever suggest not making plays on the inside and to keep it perimeter.

Darryl Sutter made a coaching career of doing exactly that. Big bodied guys in front and everything comes from the point. He even accused the Gaudreau/Lindholm/Tkachuk line of trying to pad their stats because they wouldn't play that way. Lots of coaches in history have coached that way. Next you will tell me no coach would ever clog up the neutral zone and wait for one or two chances the whole game to do something offensively. Yet that happened too.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

Darryl Sutter made a coaching career of doing exactly that. Big bodied guys in front and everything comes from the point. He even accused the Gaudreau/Lindholm/Tkachuk line of trying to pad their stats because they wouldn't play that way. Lots of coaches in history have coached that way. Next you will tell me no coach would ever clog up the neutral zone and wait for one or two chances the whole game to do something offensively. Yet that happened too.

No I won't tell you that ... because it's the opposite of what I just said.

Teams have systems without the puck (in their own zone, playing the trap, and forecheck schemes).

Offensively it's about the player.

And from what I remember it was stretch passes and leaving the zone early that had Sutter angry at that line, and now what they did in the offensive zone.

[Aarongavey]

With the Vegas cap problems I think they should look at reacquiring Whitecloud

Whitecloud (50% retained) and the Flames 2028 3rd round pick
For
2028 Vegas 1st and 2027 Vegas 2nd.

Flames get a top 50 pick next year and a lottery pick in 2028 and Vegas gets a good dman they already know on a real good contract.

Flames end up with two firsts, two seconds and Wiebe out of the Rasmus trade

Vegas gets a 3rd and the rest of this season of Rasmus.

Makes sense for everyone.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

With the Vegas cap problems I think they should look at reacquiring Whitecloud

Whitecloud (50% retained) and the Flames 2028 3rd round pick
For
2028 Vegas 1st and 2027 Vegas 2nd.

Flames get a top 50 pick next year and a lottery pick in 2028 and Vegas gets a good dman they already know on a real good contract.

Flames end up with two firsts, two seconds and Wiebe out of the Rasmus trade

Vegas gets a 3rd and the rest of this season of Rasmus.

Makes sense for everyone.

Vegas can't re-acquire Whitecloud with retention for a calendar year.