Making predictions about arguably the most chaotic spot in the world has its downsides.
For one, when you’re inevitably wrong about any given shot, you look dumb. Making people question why you have a gig covering professional hockey seems antithetical to covering professional hockey. Even the high-end, full-time donut munchers tend to miss their predictions more often than not.
Shoutout to Kypreos.
With that said, words like “shame” and “embarrassment” are just another way of saying, “I’m afraid to climb on top of that pool table.” Let’s ruin some expensive felt today before the long season begins and the storylines start flying. Here are eight bold predictions about the 2025-26 Calgary Flames.
1.) The Flames start slow
This first one may be one of the easier predictions. Take a look at the first month of the schedule.
A divisional road back-to-back followed by a matinee game against the Blues two days later. We could be four nights into the season and be seeing a 0-3-0 start if the group isn’t ready to go by game one.
They get a couple of days off to lick their wounds, and then it’s Vegas, who went 3-0-1 against Calgary and outscored them 15-6 last season. That’s followed by a replay of possibly the Flames’ worst two-game road trip last season:
They play Winnipeg twice. The Jets are known for starting hot. Toronto and Ottawa both went 2-0-0 against Calgary last season.
That leaves two coin flips against Montreal and New York. The Flames beat those two teams in all four of their contests last season, so at least there is that.
2.) They bounce back
November comebacks are a recurring theme with the Huska Era Flames. The past two seasons have seen the Calgary fight their way back into the Western Conference Wildcard race during the second month of the season.
The last two years have seen them take the whole “Comeback Kids” moniker to another level in that they start winning a large portion of their games via a comeback from a one or two goal deficit.
Repeating the in-game comeback theme may be a greater challenge. Look at this muffin of a month.
They even get their dreaded annual “Southeast Division” tour out of the way early in the season for once. They may go 1-3-0 on that road trip, but at least they’ll have time for therapy before the stretch drive.
3.) Pospisil breaks out and then breaks down
We at the Hockey Hot Stove have written much on the Slovakian Martin Pospisil and his projected jump in production next season.
The 24 year old earned plenty of chances in 2024-25 with his relentless forechecking and underrated high-end speed, but only had four goals and 21 assists to show for it. A modest improvement appears imminent. Especially if he remains glued to Nazem Kadri’s flank.
Here lays the twist, and there is a twist.
Martin has showed in the past that he finds another level on the international stage. Check out the second video.
That was Martin at the 2024 World Championships.
“It means a lot. Representing your country and your hometown,” Pospisil told Aaron Vickers following their 6-4 loss to Germany. “Where I grew up, it’s very special. I was enjoying the whole game.”
The Flames’ resident agitator eventually dropped out of the tournament after injuring his shoulder. He had three goals and four assists for seven points in six games.
This is a prediction piece, not a “I hope this happens” piece. The prediction is that Martin Pospisil starts going to the net more often on his NHL team, which will greatly increase wear and tear. The additional prediction is that he will also go buck wild at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February. Chances are solid that he’s pretty beaten down by the time March arrives.
4.) Honzek makes the team
Speaking of Pospisil, the scrappy speedster gave out a glowing review to his offseason training buddy, Samuel Honzek.
“He goes, wait till you see Honzek,” recounted Flames General Manager Craig Conroy in a call-in with the Fan 960. “He’s you know, he’s put on a bunch of weight, but he’s still at like seven percent body fat.”
“And he goes, he’s flying right now. So I’m pretty excited to hear, to hear that report coming from Martin.”
Take a solid review from a friend with a grain of salt, but it’s reasonable to believe that Honzek, who made the team out of camp last season, has continued to progress. We’re predicting that he forces the Flames hand and makes things very uncomfortable for a forward group loaded with veterans.
5.) The overloaded forward core generates controversy
Remember how Matthew Coronato was playing well enough, but needed to wait until Anthony Mantha got injured to get a permanent spot on the roster? If you liked that storyline, get ready for another helping.
Let’s project the forward lines assuming Honzek makes the team:
Pospisil-Kadri-Zary
Huberdeau-Frost-Coronato
Farabee-Backlund-Coleman
Honzek-Sharangovich-Klapka
Lomberg
Kirkland
This circles back to the question: What is the point of accumulating draft picks if the big team never has room for opportunity? Are the Flames content to give Adam Klapka a permanent spot and say “We are bringing in younger players.”?
William Stromgren’s speed and strength have caught up to his frame. Rory Kerins has done everything to show that he deserves a real shot. Sam Morton’s timer is dinging.
Let’s pose a hypothetical: if Morgan Frost and/or Joel Farabee can’t rebound back to their pre-trade production levels–how long will respect and sunk cost fallacy keep them in the lineup?
What if the Flames are, once again, ranked bottom five in goals per game?
Tough to say what Ryan Huska will do. Especially with such a strong leadership core among the players. We predict that things will get ugly when it comes to younger players actually earning a spot.
Which leads to the perfect segway.
6.) Coleman moves on
Former Flames GM Brad Treliving gets plenty of well deserved flak for his free agency misplays.
Troy Brouwer? Ugh.
James Neal. Oof.
With that said, it’s hard to find anyone in the city willing to criticize Blake Coleman’s six-year, $29,400,000 contract. With two years left at a cap hit of $4,900,000 annually, the Texas Tiger continues to earn every penny.
Last season, Coleman scored 15 goals and added 24 assists to amass 39 points over 82 games. Offensive totals right around career average for the 33 year old. He also served as a core fixture on Calgary’s top penalty killing unit.
He’s not misplaced–he fits perfectly as Mikael Backlund’s wingman. He’s not getting run out of town with production like his in a third line role. He’s an esteemed member of the Core Six.
He simply has value and plays a position that the Flames have a painful surplus of; wingers.
There is no writing on the wall in this case. It’s just a prediction. Coleman gets dealt by the deadline with his salary retained at 50%. Bonus points if he heads to Tampa Bay. It’s worth noting that the two-time Stanley Cup winner has a ten-team trade list, so the market would be limited and the return would be lesser. Thanks for that, Brad.
Speaking of disappointing returns.
7.) Andersson gets traded (and the return is mild)
In this case, the writing is on the wall.
“Yeah, he’s getting traded. It’s obvious,” Flames captain Mikael Backlund told Michael Russo of the Athletic this summer. “But the team wants value. He wants a big contract. So he wants to play well. The team needs him to play well. So, just go out and play. I talked to him, too, and he doesn’t want to be a distraction. So it’s all good. It’s too bad it’s come to this. I don’t think that they’re close to getting an agreement or anything, but you never know. Things could change. We’ll see.”
The offseason has come and gone and as all the leaves turn to brown, defenceman Rasmus Andersson remains a Flame.
They almost sent him to LA in a Ken Holland Blockblunder. He wouldn’t extend, and the deal fell through.
“I heard a whopper of the LA Kings going after Rasmus Andersson at the draft,” said Darren Dreger of TSN on Edmonton Sports Talk. “And I can’t share exactly what the details were. It was a deal. It was Ken Holland stepping up to make a deal. And I don’t think Andersson wanted to play in LA, and he’s got trade protection. I get a strong sense that the LA Kings are swinging for the fence here.”
Rumours have swirled that four deals were on the table, including Holland’s. The rumoured other three were teams on Andersson’s six-team no trade list. Thanks, Brad.
Already, we’re seeing that the market is shrinking. Andersson appears unwilling to extend somewhere where he isn’t sure about moving his family to. Totally fair.
We also have a bit of a cap on the return. Who here thinks that Andersson bring more back than RFA K’Andre Miller got when he was acquired and extended by the Hurricanes?
The first round pick is top-ten protected by means of several clauses. For the sake of brevity, we don’t need to list them.
So, we’re looking at a first round pick in the high 20’s, a second round pick, and a 22 year old former second round pick defenceman that looks ready to make the move into full time NHL duty in exchange for a guy three years younger and not sporting a -38 even strength goal differential last year.
Could the Flames get a first and a third? Possibly. Will Conroy settle for a second and a B level prospect ALA the Chris Tanev deal? More likely.
8.) The Calgary Flames make the playoffs
Daring, right?
The team that you cover is going to get what they want and will ride off into the beautiful sunset of a five-game, round one defeat at the hands of the Golden Knights?
That last part may be true, but we’re projecting the Flames to finish with 102 points. They’ll play the Edmonton Oilers in round one and beat them in six before gloriously losing in five to the Golden Knights.
Is there rhyme or reason to this? For one, things couldn’t have gone much worse for the Flames outside of 31 days last season.
Several players project to return to career average production, Backlund likely won’t be as much of a walking infirmary, Coronato doesn’t have to play the waiting game in October—as always, the team will lean on Dustin Wolf, but we saw legitimate progress last year from the rest of the group. Conroy is running it back, expecting Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee and Yegor Sharangovich to remember who they were, and chances are solid that they figure it out.
KEEP READING: [9 Reasons the Calgary Flames Struggled Last Season]
Moving forward
Do you have any predictions of your own? Be sure to chime in!
Keep an eye on HHS over the next week. The Flames rookies take on the Oilers rookies on the 12th and 14th. Then we’re in full-on preseason mode with lots of content and coverage.
Stats via Puckpedia, Elite Prospects, and the National Hockey League. Schedule graphics courtesy of espn.com. Predictions graphic courtesy of Sportsnet.
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