Bold predictions for the Calgary Flames’ 2025–26 season

Back in May, Sports Illustrated put out an article with 100 bold predictions for the NFL season. Inspired by that brilliant article, I have compiled a list of 16 bold predictions for things that may or may not happen over the course of the Calgary Flames’ 2025–26 season.

1. Zayne Parekh will win the Calder Memorial Trophy

Calgary thought they had a Calder Trophy winner in Dustin Wolf last year, and since I firmly believe in not learning from my mistakes, I think this year is the year. Zayne Parekh will have to beat out the likes of Ivan Demidov, Ryan Leonard, and Zeev Buium, to name a few, but he looks ready as ever to compete for it.

Coming off of a 107-point year in the OHL and a goal in his NHL debut last season, he should be poised to make a real splash in his first full year as a Flame.

2. Jonathan Huberdeau will score fewer points than he did last season

Jonathan Huberdeau is coming off a 62-point season where he scored 28 goals, both of which are highs for him in a Flames uniform. He changed a lot about his game last season, with many noticing his push to shoot the puck more and play with more physicality than we had seen from him in previous years, but I am still not convinced he has completely turned the corner quite yet. He will end the season with fewer than 60 points.

3. Ivan Prosvetov will beat out Devin Cooley for the NHL backup spot at some point during the season

With Dan Vladar heading to the Philadelphia Flyers, there were a few question marks surrounding the backup spot in the Flames’ lineup going into the year. Calgary seems to have made its choice going into the season, picking Devin Cooley to back up Wolf, but I don’t think Ivan Prosvetov’s hopes are dead in the water just yet. He will surprise a lot of people with the Calgary Wranglers, earning him a call-up midseason to replace a struggling Cooley.

4. Dustin Wolf will win fewer games this season than he did in his rookie year

Wolf had a spectacular rookie season that saw him nearly lead the Flames to the playoffs. While I do think he will have a good sophomore year, I am not as confident in the Flames to be able to give him any more help than he got last season.

Lightning won’t be able to strike twice, and Wolf will not be enough to push the Flames to wins in the same fashion that he did in his rookie year. He will lose around the same number of games that he will win.

5. Connor Zary will dress in at least 80 games in the regular season

Last season, we saw Connor Zary take a bit of a step back. Despite spending the whole season in the NHL, he would struggle with injuries and only play in 54 games. Now on a new three-year contract, Zary is going to have a lot to prove if he wants to raise his value for when contract talks come back around in a few years, and that starts with staying healthy.

6. Matt Coronato will score 35 goals

Like Zary, Matt Coronato is going to have a lot of pressure on him going into the 2025–26 season now that he is on his flashy new contract. He is coming off a 24-goal season and seems to just be getting better with time.

Assuming he plays the whole year, it almost goes without saying that he should be able to get above the mark he set last season; the only question is how high he can go. I think he will end the season with at least 35 goals.

7. Ryan Lomberg cracks 100 PIMs

Ryan Lomberg is coming off a bit of an odd year. He managed to beat his previous season’s point total, but many fans felt like he still wasn’t doing enough out there. He ended the year with only 57 PIMs, which was the lowest amount he has ever gotten in a full season. I think he is going to almost double his total from last season, getting over the 100 mark for the first time in his career.

8. MacKenzie Weegar scores 20 goals for the 2nd time in his career

A lot of fans will probably remember the magic that was MacKenzie Weegar’s 2023–24 season. He shattered his own career high in goals by 12, scoring 20 on the campaign. Last season, he returned to his previous form, netting just eight goals. While it would definitely be a safe assumption that his 20-goal season was more than likely an outlier, I don’t think anyone should be counting him out. I think he is gonna once again surprise a lot of people and get back to his form from 2023–24 and finish with 21 goals.

9. Mikael Backlund gets relegated to the fourth line as his decline becomes more obvious

This will unfortunately be the year that Father Time catches up to 36-year-old Mikael Backlund. While his offensive stats have been falling off slowly over the course of the last few seasons, his defensive game is going to show some noticeable cracks as well. With all the young centres on this Flames team currently, it won’t take long for the coaching staff to notice him falling behind, and Calgary’s captain will spend the vast majority of the season centring the fourth line.

10. Jake Bean gets 30 points and passes his career high

Jake Bean will enter year two in Calgary with a vengeance in his heart. Inspired by how good it felt to truly dominate in the Dome in his junior career with the Calgary Hitmen, he will play in almost every single game for the team. His play will eventually earn him a semi-permanent spot in the top four, and he will finish with at least 30 points.

11. Adam Klapka will score 26 goals in the regular season and earn a spot in the top six

When it comes to prospects, all anybody wants to talk about are the Parekhs and Matvei Gridins of the world. Everybody keeps missing the real gem in this young Flames lineup. Adam Klapka will come straight out of left field, dominating his way into the top six of Calgary’s lineup, where he will finish the year with 26 goals.

12. Justin Kirkland will score on 100% of his shootout attempts this season

I don’t even know if I have to explain this one. The guy is just absolutely disgusting when it comes to the shootout. If the fate of the universe is on the line, the Martians have the death beam pointed at Earth, and you’d better score it, I want Justin Kirkland.

13. Sam Honzek will score 20 goals and appear in at least 70 games in the NHL

Prior to his first game in the lineup, he will learn of the claims being made about him by a certain Win Column writer. He will take these claims personally, using them as fuel to propel himself to score 20 goals in just over 70 games. After the season, he will be asked about what inspired him to find the next level in his game, and he will thank Joshua Serafini.

14. Martin Pospisil will get a visit from a ghost on the night of December 25, 2025

After his experiences that night, Martin Pospisil sees the errors in his ways and vows to change. He doesn’t record a single penalty for the rest of the 2025–26 season.

15. Dustin Wolf spends an extended amount of time with former Flames goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff and shockingly retires from the NHL at 25 years old to become a professional fisherman

May 3rd of next year will start like any other day. Wolf’s potential will be looking the brightest it has ever looked. No one is doubting him anymore. He has proven himself as a franchise goaltender for years to come.

Right when he feels he has climbed to the pinnacle of the sport that has been his life’s passion, he realizes a devastating truth after a lovely afternoon spent with Miikka Kiprusoff. He may have proven himself as a goaltender, but not as a fisherman. Immediately announcing his retirement, he sprints directly from the Scotiabank Saddledome into the Bow River, never to be heard from again.

16. The Calgary Flames will win the Stanley Cup

Don’t get too excited, I am fairly confident that all of the things listed before this are more likely to happen than the Flames winning the Cup this year.