It’s the off-season, folks, and across the hockey media landscape, everyone’s either at the cottage or engaging in some big-picture thinking.

Over at Daily Faceoff, our pal Matt Larkin has avoided the cottage and is in the midst of an examination of the Stanley Cup contention windows for all 32 National Hockey League clubs. On Friday, Larkin dug into the Pacific Division, and touched on the Calgary Flames.

Larkin slotted the Flames into the “Window Opening” category, but in his breakdown of the Flames’ chances, he admits that it’s not quite clear what the club is right now:

I almost placed the Flames in the Foggy Window category, as I do think Dustin Wolf’s incredible play lifted Calgary higher in the standings than it deserved to be this past season, and I wonder if that sets unrealistic expectations for [2025-26]. I’m not totally sure this is a playoff team even though it just tied for the final Wildcard berth. That said, Wolf is a rising star. The Flames saw a major step forward from right winger Matt Coronato last season. We’ll see sublimely gifted defenseman Zayne Parekh get his big shot to be an NHL regular and challenge for the Calder Trophy. What makes Calgary’s identity still a bit confusing is the presence of veteran holdovers such as pending 2026 UFA Rasmus Andersson and even center Nazem Kadri. General manager Craig Conroy has spent the past couple years gutting the core with trade after trade, launching a new era for the franchise. So do you finish the job and deal a few more veterans, or do you hold them, knowing they’re still good enough to help you compete in the present and maybe snatch that playoff spot? The Flames are trending in the right direction, but I’m not seeing a defined upward trajectory quite yet like I do with Anaheim.

The Flames are in the midst of a roster retooling process that began in earnest during the 2023-24 season, the first under new general manager Craig Conroy, which has seen the Flames part ways via trade with veterans Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Jacob Markstrom and Andrew Mangiapane. The process has seen them get younger, with prospects like Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil, Matt Coronato and Dustin Wolf become NHL regulars.

Heck, Wolf emerged as one of the top young goaltenders in the entire NHL in 2024-25, catapulting the Flames to within the regulation wins tiebreaker of a playoff spot. During the first full season of their retool. Can they follow this up with a better season? Will they merely maintain their prior success? Or will they back-slide? And how will the impending arrival of prospect Zayne Parekh and the impending departure of veteran Rasmus Andersson play a part in everything?

It was tough to get a handle on a changing Flames team in 2024-25. And it feels like we’re heading into a similarly interesting season in 2025-26. We’ll see how it plays out.