Calgary Flames Approaching Rebuilding Phase After Completing Teardown – The Hockey Writers – Calgary Flames

As expected, general manager Craig Conroy and the Calgary Flames were quiet on July 1, when the NHL’s free agency window opened. However, they made headlines the day after by sending Blake Coleman and Olli Maatta to the Minnesota Wild for Jake Middleton, a third-round pick in 2027, a fourth-round pick in 2028 and a second-round pick in 2029.

Coleman’s name had come up in trade rumours throughout last season. Now, Conroy has moved Rasmus Andersson, Mackenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri all within a calendar year, which signals that the teardown is complete, and after what will likely be another painful season on the ice, the Flames brass can transition into the difficult part of a rebuild – building the roster.

Flames 2026-27 Season is Critical

With the Flames’ core stripped down to its studs, it’ll be easy for fans to write them off before the season begins. From a results standpoint, there is nothing wrong with that; this won’t be a team that wins many games.

However, after receiving a somewhat underwhelming return for Coleman, it seems that management is now prioritizing the development of young players, or at least their ice time, to figure out which of their prospects will be NHL regulars, and which ones will not. As it stands, the team should have 18 forwards and 10, maybe 11, defensemen who need at least a chance to play some NHL minutes this season, and that’s excluding Connor Zary amid all the trade rumours.

With a 23-man roster, on paper, and between injuries and some unexpected mid-season movement of any of their six players who enter the season on expiring contracts, head coach Ryan Huska should be able to manipulate his lineup enough to get everyone their looks and help management understand where the holes will be after factoring in all their first-round picks playing outside the organization.

Flames’ Best Talent Still to Come

In addition to a crowded roster, the Flames have made it known that the ‘goal’ is for Carson Carels, the sixth-overall pick in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft, Cole Reschny and Cullen Potter, their two first-round picks in 2025, to sign with the club when their NCAA seasons end. Conroy noted, “I have to save contracts for them,” and “they said the same thing to me: ‘We all want to come out (of college hockey) after the year.’”

This group could also include Ethan Wyttenbach, a Hobey Baker finalist last season, who is showing more promise than a typical fifth-round draft pick, Jack Hextall and Chase Harrington, whom the Flames selected in the first two rounds of this year’s draft.

Add to that, another prospect, likely a top-10 pick, if not top-five, will be added to this group after the Flames inevitably struggle again in 2026-27.

NHL Rebuilds Are Not Easy

The Flames still have their most promising prospects waiting to join the team and show the future roster’s full potential. However, despite public perception that a full rebuild is the quickest way back into contention, they are not easy to pull off.

Many NHL teams have failed rebuilds, or nearly failed ones. The Ottawa Senators took Brady Tkachuk in the 2018 NHL Draft, lucked out with Shane Pinto in the second round of the 2019 Draft, then landed Jake Sanderson and Tim Stutzle in the first round in 2020. With all of those players, the Senators have only made the playoffs twice, and lost in the first round of both series. This summer, they traded Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers per his request.

The Anaheim Ducks have had a top-10 pick in every draft from 2019 to 2024, selecting Trevor Zegras, Jamie Drysdale, Mason McTavish, Pavel Mintyukov, Leo Carlsson and Beckett Sennecke in that time. The team finally made their first playoff appearance since 2018-19 last season and looked to be a team on the rise. However, they have now traded McTavish to the St. Louis Blues for draft picks and must match the Philadelphia Flyers’ $18 million annual offer sheet to keep Carlsson for the next five seasons or lose him for more picks. This alone could ruin the more than half-decade they have spent rebuilding.

Even the Flames have struggled to rebuild. They drafted Sean Monahan, Sam Bennett, Rasmus Andersson and Matthew Tkachuk in consecutive drafts while having Jonny Gaudreau and couldn’t convince any of them, other than Andersson, to stick around.

After shipping out veterans who had trade value, the Flames have nothing left to tear down. From that, they have built one of the best prospect pools in the NHL and will continue to develop it. However, from this point on, the Flames need to be calculated with every decision they make or don’t make. As we’ve seen this offseason, one offer sheet or trade request can flip an organization on its head.

There is no cause for concern, but the Flames will enter the most challenging and longest part of the rebuild in 2026-27. It will be up to Conroy to get his team on a Utah Mammoth arc, rather than the never-ending rebuild the Senators and Ducks appear to be in.