The 2026 Winter Olympic Games have come and gone and a return to action is just around the corner for the Calgary Flames and the rest of National Hockey League.
No longer fresh in the mind of Flames fans is that the team is coming off a 4-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers to take the Battle of Alberta season series 3-1-0. Jonathan Huberdeau opened the scoring and the team announced that the 32 year old left winger would miss the remainder of the season due to a persisting hip issue that requires surgery.
With a 23-27-6 record, 52 points has the Flames sitting in 29th place with 24 games to go. While playoffs are out of the question, the team now faces a number of inevitable changes. The group that has fought tooth-and-nail to sneak into the playoffs in the past three seasons appears to be heading towards dramatic change.
Let’s look at five questions surrounding an organization that so desperately wants to find themselves with back to contending by the time the new arena opens for the 2027-28 season.
#1: How will Jonathan Huberdeau’s minutes be re-allocated?
Students of the game and Flames faithful alike are free to question why a player pushing through major hip issues was recording the second-highest average time on ice among forwards per night (18:08) after 55 games, but here we are. Only Nazem Kadri has played more minutes per game with an average of 19:27.
Head coach Ryan Huska now has a whole lot of offensive starts to hand out on the left side.
5v5 shift starts in the offensive zone
Nazem Kadri: 368 (66.91%)
Jonathan Huberdeau: 324 (67.94%)
Joel Farabee: 285 (63.19%)
Moving out of the break, Yegor Sharangovich and Connor Zary are practicing on the left side. Does it stay that way? What we do know is that Craig Conroy’s greatest weakness so far has been overloading his roster with veteran contracts. Huberdeau’s absence may be the beginning of a movement that sees a number of younger players seize greater roles at the NHL level.
#2: Is Blake Coleman on the move?
Eric Francis has certainly been stirring the pot since returning from vacation in Mexico. For one, he released a piece over the weekend about an inevitable Nazem Kadri trade. Well worth a read as always from Mr. Francis.
Perhaps more interesting, Francis went on the DLLS Stars Podcast on Jan. 19 and dropped a bomb. Blake Coleman and his family, expecting the arrival of a new baby, spent the break in Dallas. The family is staying there for the remainder of the season.
“He’s a leader. I can’t say enough good things about him, said the veteran Sportsnet reporter. “He’s from Texas and you guys can read this any way you want, but he went home back to Dallas for the break. And he left his family there. And they’re not coming back the rest of the year.”
“So, is this Blake Coleman telegraphing that he’d like to be traded to the Dallas Stars? You bet you he’d love to be traded to the Dallas Stars. I think he’d also be OK being traded back to Tampa.”
Thank you, Eric. That is certainly fun. Here is hoping that Blake Coleman has a great remainder of the season wherever he may end up. He’s earned it.
Despite missing 12 games due to injury, Coleman ranks second on the team in goals with 13. Only Matthew Coronato has more with 14. Him and his partner in crime, Mikael Backlund, are the only Flames forwards posting a respectable +/- this season.
In the Green: Flames forwards with positive +/- ratings
Mikael Backlund: +13
Blake Coleman: +10
Justin Kirkland: +1
Samuel Honzek: +1
#3: Did MacKenzie Weegar just need a reset?
Speaking of the plus/minus stat, we’re sure that defenceman MacKenzie Weegar would rather change the subject. His -32 is the worst in the NHL this far into the 2025-26 season.
Sometimes, plus/minus doesn’t help paint a picture of a player’s season. One broken cog on the other side of the ice can plummet a player’s rating despite their efforts.
In Weegar’s case, it’s unfortunately quite useful.
It’s been a nightmare season for the 30-year-old from Ottawa, Ontario. His three goals and 17 assists put him on pace for a six-year low of four goals and 25 assists for 29 points. More importantly, Huska’s go-to defender has had serious issues safely managing the puck; a strength of his in the past.
The change may have already started. Weegar went into the break with four assists and only a -1 even strength goal differential in his final three games. Certainly better. Does a bit of R&R see Weegar step back into his game?
#4: Is Zayne Parekh ready to take the next step?
Back in the lineup for the last two games following a dominant conditioning stint with the Calgary Wranglers, we’ve seen Zayne Parekh quietly handle 32:23 of ice time between games against Toronto and Edmonton.
Good enough to dominate in the AHL, not quite there (so far) at the NHL level, Parekh has just one assist in 13 games with the Flames this season and zero goals.
Now 20 years old, do we see Parekh hit the ground running? Does the Markham, Ontario product stay on the third pairing with Joel Hanley? We’ll have to tune in to find out.
#5: What does this roster look like after the deadline?
Perhaps the toughest question facing the Flames is who stays on to support the next wave and who departs to take a run at a Stanley Cup. Coleman and Kadri take the majority of the spotlight, but there are other options for general manager Craig Conroy.
Does Zach Whitecloud find himself traded? His $2,750,000 annual average cap hit is peak efficiency when it comes to a contender looking to optimize their roster. Acquiring the 29 year old includes two more seasons at his current salary. The fact that he is a right shot defenceman only makes him more attractive as an asset.
Joel Farabee is signed for two more seasons after this year at a rate of $5,000,000 per year. Currently projecting 18 goals and 16 assists for 34 points, the Syracuse product would provide invaluable scoring depth to a team looking to go deep into spring hockey. NHL executives have had their eye on Farabee for years and he has been linked to the Los Angeles Kings in the past.
Depth defenceman Joel Hanley hasn’t had a strong season, but would be fine for any team looking for a defined #7 defenceman that could step into the lineup in a pinch. The 34 year old left shot blueliner is signed for one more season after 2025-26 at a $1,750,000 annual average salary.
Statistics courtesy of Cap Wages, Natural Stat Trick, and the National Hockey League.
Keep Reading:
Jonathan Huberdeau Gets Surgery – Zary’s Rebound – Gridin
6 Flames On-Ice Trends Following the Rasmus Andersson Trade
6 Quiet Truths Behind the Rasmus Andersson Trade to Vegas
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