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Dustin Wolf, Calgary Flames (Amy Irvin / The Hockey Writers)

Flames’ 5 Burning Questions Heading Into 2025-26 Season

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Rupert McDonald | Last updated Aug 9, 2025 9:25 AM ET

Nobody is quite sure what to expect from the Calgary Flames for the upcoming 2025-26 season. This is a team that was expected to be quite bad in 2024-25, and instead shocked the hockey world as they missed the playoffs by just a single point. Some now believe that they are a truly competitive group and will be again in 2025-26, while others think it was just a flukey run and expect them to regress going forward.

Those questions will be answered in the coming months, as the Flames will be entering the 2025-26 season with a nearly identical roster to 2024-25. While we know this group will continue to play a scrappy and relentless style, there are plenty of questions surrounding the roster as a whole. Here are the five biggest as we prepare to enter the 2025-26 campaign.

Can Zary Stay Healthy?

Once of the biggest disappointments of the 2024-25 season was that we weren’t able to see the growth many expected from Connor Zary. The 23-year-old had an excellent rookie campaign in 2023-24, generating plenty of excitement regarding his future in the NHL. While his potential remains, the 2024-25 season didn’t go the way he or the fan base had hoped.

Zary was limited to just 54 games due to two separate knee injuries. The concerning part is that it was the same knee on both occasions, causing concern going forward on whether he may wind up being an injury-prone player.

What Will Be Return for Andersson?

Though it originally appeared that a Rasmus Andersson trade would come in the offseason, that’s far less likely now that we are more than a week into August. By the looks of things, the 28-year-old will begin the 2025-26 season in Calgary and is more likely to be moved out closer to the 2026 trade deadline.

The Flames will be hoping Andersson has a far better season than he did in 2024-25, which will help build back up his trade value. The Swedish blueliner is extremely valuable, especially when at his best, meaning that the Flames should get a big return in order to help with their retooling efforts. This is a trade that general manager (GM) Craig Conroy needs to hit a homerun on.

Can Wolf Avoid Sophomore Slump?

The keys to the franchise have been handed to Dustin Wolf following his exceptional rookie season. The 24-year-old goalie is now undoubtedly the face of the franchise moving forward, and has all the makings to become a top-five goaltender in the NHL, if not better.

What’s important to keep in mind, however, is that Wolf is still both very young and inexperienced. As good as he looks, there will still be some bumps throughout his development path. Whether or not he is able to avoid the sophomore slump remains to be seen, though if he does see a dip in play, it’s nothing that should be of major concern to the fan base.

How Do Farabee & Frost Rebound?

The Flames made a big trade over a month ahead of the 2025 trade deadline, shipping Jakob Pelletier and Andrei Kuzmenko to the Philadelphia Flyers in exchange for Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost. Both players have plenty of offensive skill, but were unable to put it all together like the Flyers organization had hoped for.

So far, neither player has performed the way Conroy was hoping for, either. Frost had only 12 points in 32 games, while Farabee had a lousy six in 31 outings. It’s easy to give them a pass given the shock that comes with being traded midseason, but now that they’ve had time to adjust to their new surroundings, they will need to figure out a way to be far more impactful in 2025-26.

Will Sharangovich Get Back on Track?

Flames fans were treated to the version of Yegor Sharangovich that drove New Jersey Devils fans – and Devils management for that matter – crazy. After scoring a career-high 31 goals in 2023-24, the 27-year-old regressed to just 17 goals and 32 points in 2024-25, his second season with the Flames.

What quickly became apparent with Sharangovich last season is that when he’s not scoring, he provides almost nothing else. He isn’t physical and is very poor defensively, making him a tough player to put in the lineup when he’s not producing. Now, the Flames can do nothing but pray he finds a way to get back on track this coming season.

Little Pressure on Flames

While every single player in the Flames dressing room wants to make the playoffs, it’s still fair to say there is little to no pressure on them next season. Nobody is expecting much from them in 2025-26, even following the promise they showed a season ago. That lack of pressure could wind up being a good thing as they look to get back into the playoffs for the first time since the 2021-22 campaign.