The Calgary Flames need to pick up where they left off, and do more, to return to the NHL playoffs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Calgary (41-27-14) capped last season with a 15-6-6 run after February\u2019s 4 Nations Face-Off, but finished outside the post-season for a third straight year in a tiebreaker for a conference wild-card spot.<\/p>\n
With most of the same personnel returning, and the youth movement general manager Craig Conroy injected last season, stronger from that playoff push, the Flames seek to both maintain their 15-point gain over the previous season and move the needle further.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to take that step to find one, two, three more points,\u201d said centre Nazem Kadri, who led the Flames with 35 goals and 32 assists last season.<\/p>\n
The Flames open the 2025-26 regular season with back-to-back road games Wednesday in Edmonton and Thursday in Vancouver before their home-opener Saturday afternoon against the St. Louis Blues.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a tough schedule to start the year off. It\u2019s going to be fast and teams aren\u2019t going to take us lightly,\u201d said defenceman Mackenzie Weegar.<\/p>\n
\u201cTeams are going to want to come for us this year as opposed to last year, where maybe teams kind of (thought) it was going to be an easy night against us, I should say. This year, it\u2019s going to be much harder.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Huska starts his third season as Calgary\u2019s head coach with some security after signing a two-year contract extension through the 2027-28 season.<\/p>\n
Huska continues to rely on captain Mikael Backlund, who signed a two-year contract extension on the eve of training camp, Blake Coleman, Jonathan Huberdeau, Kadri and Weegar to drive a culture of \u201cwork hard and have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
As he settled into the two-way, defensively responsible game Huska demands, Huberdeau\u2019s 62 points \u2014 28 goals and 34 assists \u2014 were the most since Calgary acquired him in a 2022 trade with the Florida Panthers and made him the Flames\u2019 highest-paid player at a cap hit of US$10.5 million per year.<\/p>\n
The status of veteran defenceman and longtime leader Rasmus Andersson remains a question mark as the 28-year-old Swede heads into the final year of a six-year contract that counts US$4.5 million against the salary cap.<\/p>\n
Forwards Matt Coronato and Connor Zary, defenceman Kevin Bahl and goaltender Dustin Wolf, all under the age of 25, were rewarded with multi-year contracts over the summer after proving their worth to the Flames.<\/p>\n
Wolf, who was runner-up for the NHL\u2019s Calder Trophy as top rookie and the difference-maker in the team\u2019s success down the stretch, signed a seven-year, $52.5-million extension kicking in next year.<\/p>\n
Coronato ranked third in goals with 24 last season. Utility forward Zary can play up and down the lineup and on special teams, while six-foot-six, 230-pound Bahl cemented himself as a top-four defenceman.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talk a lot about the younger guys pushing the older guys and the older guys pushing younger guys. That\u2019s what kind of drove our team last year,\u201d Weegar said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to have to drive our team again.\u201d<\/p>\n
For those who thought the Flames overachieved on the back of Wolf last season, the players vow to prove doubters wrong.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur expectations are high. Our standards are high, so you know, whatever anybody else wants to say, that\u2019s irrelevant, like it is most years, and we\u2019ve got some talent,\u201d Kadri said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got great work ethic, great leadership, so we\u2019ve got a good team here.\u201d<\/p>\n
ZAYNE PAREKH<\/p>\n
Back-end depth to manage Wolf\u2019s workload is important for the Flames this season. Can 19-year-old Parekh, who was the ninth overall pick by Calgary in last year\u2019s draft, be a regular in the lineup?<\/p>\n
The six-foot, 179-pound defenceman scored a goal in his NHL debut in Calgary\u2019s regular-season finale in April after compiling 33 goals and 74 assists and a plus-42 rating with the OHL\u2019s Saginaw Spirit.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s just got to play his game,\u201d Kadri said. \u201cHe did this amount of work to be a high-end draft pick and a high-profile pick. He\u2019s got a lot to learn from an NHL standard perspective, but he\u2019s a smart kid and I\u2019ve got no doubts about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
ARENA UPDATE<\/p>\n