2025/2026 Season Trade Rumours and Speculation Thread

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by ComixZone

Are they?

What we’ve kind of heard is that there will be interest should the Flames make players available.

What I will say, is that Steinberg did say last week that he has heard that in the last little while that there is more internal chatter regarding possibly moving veteran players…so yeah, reason for hope on that front.

Conversation then circles back to interpretations of what a guy like Friedman means when he says the Flames are not interested in “tearing it down”. In my eyes, trading Andersson + Coleman + Kadri does not mean “tearing it down”, but until we see any level of action from the organization, there’s nothing to point to that says the organization actually has interest in moving any of these guys other than Conroy’s stance (and carry through) on not losing free agents for nothing.

We know the trade market is there, and we know the Flames haven’t done anything other than send Maloney out for the best interview of his career.

As a fan, I see what Vancouver did as bold…and I’m excited to see Conroy do something bold, as it’s been very quiet on his front for sometime now.

Honesty I get the concern about what they may not do.

My assumption has always been that they will continue to do what they've done for the last two years and manage assets. To me that means assessing the high point in value and acting accordingly.

Andersson is a clear trade for asset management as he can walk.

The other two have to be assessed at today, the deadline, the summer and next deadline.

If they sit on one of the two even though they think the value will drop then I'd be puzzled.

But a comment as a throwaway from a Toronto based media guy on a Vancouver radio show without much support or actual factual evidence isn't going to get me upset and panicking over the whole thing.

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Honesty I get the concern about what they may not do.

My assumption has always been that they will continue to do what they've done for the last two years and manage assets. To me that means assessing the high point in value and acting accordingly.

Andersson is a clear trade for asset management as he can walk.

The other two have to be assessed at today, the deadline, the summer and next deadline.

If they sit on one of the two even though they think the value will drop then I'd be puzzled.

But a comment as a throwaway from a Toronto based media guy on a Vancouver radio show without much support or actual factual evidence isn't going to get me upset and panicking over the whole thing.

My worry a bit is how they assess the value of these things.

I don't think they assess the value purely as what the best trade return is.

I think they assess the value of the delta of the trade return minus the value of what it means to have them on the roster.

So I think they are willing to take a little bit less trade return, if it means keeping these players on the roster longer.

Which is a fine equation to have and something they should consider - but I also think they put way too much value on the benefit of keeping these players on the roster, so it throws that value equation off.

[Toonage]

Also worth noting Elliotte said this exact same thing on his podcast a month or so back, garnering the same reaction. This isn't new. He's just reiterating a stance from weeks ago.

[ColossusXIII]

It's not so much that failing to trade Kadri and Coleman is some world-ending catastrophe, there just doesn't seem to be a reason to keep them at this stage in our life cycle, even if they still have term.

While it's rumored he could fetch considerably more (and I have total confidence in Conroy to find the best deal), let's assume the very low end and say that the most Kadri could get is a late 1st. Is that an amazing return? Not at all.

But let's flip it around...

If Kadri was on another team and the asking price was the Vegas 1st would the Flames have even a drop of interest? I should hope not. A 1st is simply worth more to us right now given where we sit in the standings than a great 35 year old centre who wouldn't push us over the top but could hurt our draft position.

If the actual offers out there are much stronger as reported that only amplifies this point.

When nearly all media is reporting the team has a hesitancy to trade these players because they still have term it doesn't feel like a rational stance but instead a position reached either through pure sentiment or an unrealistic hope for a lucky playoff run. Either way it just feels like an unforced error, not sewering the franchise for eternity, but whiffing on what could be easy win to bolster our team a few seasons down the road when each win will matter so much more.

Just my 2 cents.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by Rhett44

If you don't trade Kadri and Coleman while they are older players who value will likely never be higher. Because you are trying to make the playoffs instead. That means you are not actively rebuilding, sorry.

Nothing in the last 2 years has suggested we are rebuilding.

I honestly don't know what to say to you.

Sometimes if it walks like a duck and quacks it's a damn duck.

And you make so many assumptions ... you don't know when the value will be higher, and you don't know that not trading them means they are trying to make the playoffs.

One is a guess. The other pretty much proven to not be the case.

Why do you want to stew in your own stomach acid on a daily basis?

[Calgary4LIfe]

This will blow people's minds. Are you ready?

The 2012-13 Calgary Flames rebuild was not even close to this rebuild in terms of players traded out. NOT EVEN CLOSE. If Conroy was to make the same moves so far in the last couple of seasons that Feaster made - but without declaring a 'rebuild' - people's heads would explode. Let me illustrate this:

Towards the deadline 2013:
Iginla, Bouwmeester and Comeau for futures (yes, 5th round pick for Comeau).

2013 off-season deals:
Calgary Corban Knight - Florida 4th round pick
Calgary Jones and O'Brien - Colorado Tanguay and Sarich
Calgary TJ Galiardi - Sharks 4th round pick
Calgary Kris Russell - St. Louis 5th round pick
Calgary Joe Colborne - Leafs conditional 4th round pick

Feaster went out and bought a bunch of players for futures. Some were young-ish, some were vets. Instead of just selling Tanguay and Sarich for picks, he sells them for useless junk.

During the 2013-14 season:
Calgary Smid and Roy - Edmonton Horak and Brossoit
Calgary 6th round pick - Anaheim Jackman
Calgary MacDermid - Dallas 6th round pick
Calgary Westgarth - Carolina Nemisz
Calgary 3rd round pick - Pittsburgh Stempniak
Calgary 2nd round pick - Colorado Berra

Feaster basically bought and sold players. Brought in more vets and traded young players out, traded a low pick for a vet, and recouped some picks sending out players too. Really a mixed-bag.

2014 Off-season: (Treliving's first - still supposed to be rebuilding)
Calgary Bollig - Chicago 3rd round pick

2014 - 15 season:
Calgary Shore - Florida Knight
Calgary 2nd and 3rd - Washington Glencross
Calgary 2nd round pick - Vancouver Baertschi
Calgary Hamilton - Boston 1st + 2 2nd round picks
Calgary cond 4th - Nashville Reinhart
Calgary F. Hamilton - Colorado 7th
Calgary Shinkaruk - Vancouver Grandlund
Calgary 2nd and 4th - Florida Hudler
Calgary Backstrom and 6th - Minnesota Jones

Mixed bag, but did more selling than buying. Doing some 'change of scenery trades' on young failed prospects,.

Contrast that to Conroy. He has made exactly 2 trades in 3 seasons to 'improve the team':
Okhotyiuk - 5th round pick
Frost Farabee - 2nd round pick + Pelletier

These were just the trades. Conroy has essentially continued to trade guys out for futures. In the last "This is definitely a rebuild because the GM said so and NOBODY questions it", there was a LOT of trades involving sending futures OUT in exchange for vets.

If you look at the comparative signings, it would blow your mind wide open too. Flames have barely made UFA signings. Treliving in his first off-season made more UFA signings than Conroy has in his first 3 seasons so far.

But under Conroy, the Flames are not rebuilding because no rebuild has been declared, but there was definitely a rebuild because Feaster declared it. Let's just ignore the actual differences in moves made, right? Let's ignore the fact that the Flames so far - unlike the 2014 Flames - did not go out and spend to the cap. Conroy still has a lot of cap room. He hasn't traded youth for vets (unlike Feaster). I bet that Conroy can flip Frost for more assets than he spent so far on players, and maybe he ends up doing that next season.



I just don't really get it any longer. "Flames need to pivot and rebuild", "I wish this team would rebuild, but they won't.", Vancouver is proactive and started their rebuild right away, but Calgary hasn't."


The Flames are doing a MUCH MORE COMPREHENSIVE REBUILD then they did last time kicking off in the 2012-13 season. Way more players were traded out (and counting), way more futures were brought in, way more picks were made at the draft (including at the top), and no real vets were brought in through trades or even much in the way of UFA signings. I guess the Flames never did rebuild at all in their history then, if we can't definitively state that Calgary is firmly in the midst of a rebuild today.

[Bingo]

Originally Posted by RedHawk12

The Flames make trades when players force their hands. The Flames learned from Johnny leaving for nothing. Now they trade expiring deals if it looks like a reasonable extension can't be reached. They also trade disgruntled players with term, like Markstrom. However, nothing they've done suggest they want to trade vets with term who want to be here. In fact, everything from the Maloney interview to the Friedman reports back this up.

My issue with this is that it's a very reactionary approach. We're not proactively rebuilding, and as a result, our vets who want to be here will remain here and prevent us from truly embracing a rebuild. We might suck for a year and draft high, then it's right back to the mush.

I anticipate Andersson getting traded only because he's not re-signing. I don't anticipate Kadri or Coleman being traded this year. And because we still have all of these decent vets on the team, I think we end the season as a bottom 10 team rather than a bottom 3 team, and we'll never get the McKennas and the Stenbergs

I think this is the biggest fear for the tank crowd and I think it's a valid fear based on historically what this team has done. Time will tell.

Who's forcing them to hold on to their draft capital, not add free agents and sit on mountains of cap space?

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

This will blow people's minds. Are you ready?

The 2012-13 Calgary Flames rebuild was not even close to this rebuild in terms of players traded out. NOT EVEN CLOSE. If Conroy was to make the same moves so far in the last couple of seasons that Feaster made - but without declaring a 'rebuild' - people's heads would explode. Let me illustrate this:

Towards the deadline 2013:
Iginla, Bouwmeester and Comeau for futures (yes, 5th round pick for Comeau).

2013 off-season deals:
Calgary Corban Knight - Florida 4th round pick
Calgary Jones and O'Brien - Colorado Tanguay and Sarich
Calgary TJ Galiardi - Sharks 4th round pick
Calgary Kris Russell - St. Louis 5th round pick
Calgary Joe Colborne - Leafs conditional 4th round pick

Feaster went out and bought a bunch of players for futures. Some were young-ish, some were vets. Instead of just selling Tanguay and Sarich for picks, he sells them for useless junk.

During the 2013-14 season:
Calgary Smid and Roy - Edmonton Horak and Brossoit
Calgary 6th round pick - Anaheim Jackman
Calgary MacDermid - Dallas 6th round pick
Calgary Westgarth - Carolina Nemisz
Calgary 3rd round pick - Pittsburgh Stempniak
Calgary 2nd round pick - Colorado Berra

Feaster basically bought and sold players. Brought in more vets and traded young players out, traded a low pick for a vet, and recouped some picks sending out players too. Really a mixed-bag.

2014 Off-season: (Treliving's first - still supposed to be rebuilding)
Calgary Bollig - Chicago 3rd round pick

2014 - 15 season:
Calgary Shore - Florida Knight
Calgary 2nd and 3rd - Washington Glencross
Calgary 2nd round pick - Vancouver Baertschi
Calgary Hamilton - Boston 1st + 2 2nd round picks
Calgary cond 4th - Nashville Reinhart
Calgary F. Hamilton - Colorado 7th
Calgary Shinkaruk - Vancouver Grandlund
Calgary 2nd and 4th - Florida Hudler
Calgary Backstrom and 6th - Minnesota Jones

Mixed bag, but did more selling than buying. Doing some 'change of scenery trades' on young failed prospects,.

Contrast that to Conroy. He has made exactly 2 trades in 3 seasons to 'improve the team':
Okhotyiuk - 5th round pick
Frost Farabee - 2nd round pick + Pelletier

These were just the trades. Conroy has essentially continued to trade guys out for futures. In the last "This is definitely a rebuild because the GM said so and NOBODY questions it", there was a LOT of trades involving sending futures OUT in exchange for vets.

If you look at the comparative signings, it would blow your mind wide open too. Flames have barely made UFA signings. Treliving in his first off-season made more UFA signings than Conroy has in his first 3 seasons so far.

But under Conroy, the Flames are not rebuilding because no rebuild has been declared, but there was definitely a rebuild because Feaster declared it. Let's just ignore the actual differences in moves made, right? Let's ignore the fact that the Flames so far - unlike the 2014 Flames - did not go out and spend to the cap. Conroy still has a lot of cap room. He hasn't traded youth for vets (unlike Feaster). I bet that Conroy can flip Frost for more assets than he spent so far on players, and maybe he ends up doing that next season.



I just don't really get it any longer. "Flames need to pivot and rebuild", "I wish this team would rebuild, but they won't.", Vancouver is proactive and started their rebuild right away, but Calgary hasn't."


The Flames are doing a MUCH MORE COMPREHENSIVE REBUILD then they did last time kicking off in the 2012-13 season. Way more players were traded out (and counting), way more futures were brought in, way more picks were made at the draft (including at the top), and no real vets were brought in through trades or even much in the way of UFA signings. I guess the Flames never did rebuild at all in their history then, if we can't definitively state that Calgary is firmly in the midst of a rebuild today.

I know these actions indicate a rebuild but what did Frank Seravelli say? He says he is an insider so he would probably know more than just looking at what the team has done.

[Vinny01]

I don’t think anyone looks at the least rebuild as a model they want the team to follow. It was all about short cuts and running before they could walk. Other than a couple of division wins and making the playoffs every other year it wasn’t a successful build by any means.

[Calgary4LIfe]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I don’t think anyone looks at the least rebuild as a model they want the team to follow. It was all about short cuts and running before they could walk.

That wasn't the point of the post. The point was that NOBODY doubted that a rebuild was being undertaken back then. Now we see that there are a handful of people who bombard this board stating that there is no rebuild taking place.

[Monahammer]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

That wasn't the point of the post. The point was that NOBODY doubted that a rebuild was being undertaken back then. Now we see that there are a handful of people who bombard this board stating that there is no rebuild taking place.

Point of order:
Its not that nothing is taking place, its that management fails to commit to the degree necessary to properly rebuild the franchise.

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Point of order:
Its not that nothing is taking place, its that management fails to commit to the degree necessary to properly rebuild the franchise.

So the Flames are rebuilding but not the way some fans think they should rebuild, do I understand your position correctly? That would be good because for most of this year it was that they were not rebuilding.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Monahammer

Point of order:
Its not that nothing is taking place, its that management fails to commit to the degree necessary to properly rebuild the franchise.

*In your opinion and you deciding pre-emptively they won't because you don't like the timeline they are on.

[Vinny01]

Originally Posted by Calgary4LIfe

That wasn't the point of the post. The point was that NOBODY doubted that a rebuild was being undertaken back then. Now we see that there are a handful of people who bombard this board stating that there is no rebuild taking place.

I think it was because the team drafted in the top 6 in 3 of 4 years. This team has picked 9 and 16 with where they finished I think the lack of top picks has always been a point of contention for many on this board as what it takes to build a cup winner.

The team is rebuilding for sure but I can’t think of a team that rebuilt without high picks where it works in their favor?

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Bingo

Who's forcing them to hold on to their draft capital, not add free agents and sit on mountains of cap space?

This is so ignored.

If the assumption is that the Flames are no rebuilding, the corrolary is that they must be trying to get into the POs. If so, can enyone explain why they've sat pat on adding good players with all their cap space, using their ample draft capital to make trades with sellers, etc.

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I think it was because the team drafted in the top 6 in 3 of 4 years. This team has picked 9 and 16 with where they finished I think the lack of top picks has always been a point of contention for many on this board as what it takes to build a cup winner.

The team is rebuilding for sure but I can’t think of a team that rebuilt without high picks where it works in their favor?

Hockey is funny and the team way overachieved last season. The same roster is now fighting for last place and I’m guessing that’s closer to where they thought they’d be last season. The random pop last year has fueled a tonne of confirmation bias imo

[Aarongavey]

Originally Posted by GioforPM

This is so ignored.

If the assumption is that the Flames are no rebuilding, the corrolary is that they must be trying to get into the POs. If so, can enyone explain why they've sat pat on adding good players with all their cap space, using their ample draft capital to make trades with sellers, etc.

Maybe, and hear me out, they thought Jake Bean was a better left hand dman option than Gavrikov and that is why they did not go after Gavrikov. Maybe they thought that whatever their supposed 4th line center was at the start of the year was better than Roslovic. These are perfectly valid perspectives to support the theory that they are not rebuilding and trying to win.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Vinny01

I think it was because the team drafted in the top 6 in 3 of 4 years. This team has picked 9 and 16 with where they finished I think the lack of top picks has always been a point of contention for many on this board as what it takes to build a cup winner.

The team is rebuilding for sure but I can’t think of a team that rebuilt without high picks where it works in their favor?

Minnesota? Carolina? Dallas (1 high pick)?

[Calgary4LIfe]

Can't quote you Vinny (weird).


2023-24 - I remember they had a super-easy end of the season schedule. They drafted 9th, and were trending down anyway. That was the 'tear-down year' anyway.
2024-25 - they simply over-achieved. From a roster design standpoint, that team was supposed to fail, but they out-worked everyone trying to prove a point.
This season - they are on track for that.


So, in essence, the Flames just had one single 'unexpectedly good season'. By design, this team should have finished last season where they find themselves this season. Considering the similar rosters, that theory holds. So the outcome was unexpected, but that doesn't mean that the Flames were not rebuilding. They are bottoming-out this season, and likely will again next season as well.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by Aarongavey

Maybe, and hear me out, they thought Jake Bean was a better left hand dman option than Gavrikov and that is why they did not go after Gavrikov. Maybe they thought that whatever their supposed 4th line center was at the start of the year was better than Roslovic. These are perfectly valid perspectives to support the theory that they are not rebuilding and trying to win.

Gavrokov and Roslovic don't move the needle to make the POs. They made zero bids on any of the bigger names in the off season, even though they had room. Marner? K'Andre Miller? Dobson? Ehlers? Zegras?

Were the Flames in on any of those guys?