Calgary Flames Reveal Leadership Group for 2026/27

Over the past few years, the Flames have had players like Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Rasmus Andersson, Nazem Kadri and Mackenzie Weegar all wear an 'A' alongside Backlund, but ahead of the new season, all of them are gone, with the Flames dealing them away for future assets.

This season, there are still some veterans, and unsurprisingly, the team have named Jonathan Huberdeau, one of the Flames other most tenured players alongside newly acquired Zach Whitecloud as the two other big pieces of the Flames leadership group.

In recent years, they've also had a much larger leadership group, but with the team hoping to build around their young core, they've kept it small this year, but with Huberdeau out to start the year, there's others that will play a role.

Who Will Wear an 'A' in the Absence of Jonathan Huberdeau?

As we know, Huberdeau will miss some time to start the year, and with little clarity on a return, the team have formulated a plan in his absence. According to the Flames, it will be the trio of Ryan Strome, Jake Middleton and Joel Farabee that will rotate through the second 'A' with Huberdeau out.

What this means is that the Flames have plenty of leaders to guide their young group forward into the future, and even with Huberdeau out, they've still got some very capable leaders. One day in the near future, those young players will grow into leaders themselves, and when Backlund departs the organization, potentially after the 2027/28 campaign, they will make up this group, but for now, it's a very veteran heavy group in Calgary.