Flames bounce back candidates for the 2025-26 season

This season, the Calgary Flames were among the worst teams in the league when it came to scoring. The Flames finished with a measly 2.68 goals-per-game average, officially being ranked fourth-worst in the NHL. While there were multiple factors, a major one was that many players on the Flames didn’t have their best seasons offensively or overall.

In this article, I will cover four players who I believe require a bounce-back performance. With the Flames’ lack of true elite talent, they’ll need all hands on deck. This team will heavily depend on scoring by committee if they’re destined to go anywhere next season.

Connor Zary has a future with the Flames, but needs to stay healthy

When most fans think of the Flames’ youth movement, Connor Zary is a player who comes to mind. Despite remaining unsigned, Zary is a player who many fans expect to be a part of the Flames’ future.

Zary burst onto the scene last season, where he quickly established himself as an NHL regular. His 14 goals and 34 points in 63 games contributed to quite an impressive start for the rookie. Zary was expected to build on his success this season; however, things didn’t exactly go to plan. Zary unfortunately suffered from the injury bug, as he injured the same knee twice. He first suffered a scary knee injury against the Anaheim Ducks in January, resulting in the 23-year-old missing 15 games. He then would injure the same knee again, this time against the Dallas Stars in March.

These two setbacks resulted in Zary only appearing in 54 games in his sophomore season. He would score 13 goals and 27 points during that period, but it’s clear Zary has way more to show. A healthy season is exactly what Zary needs, as then he’ll get the chance to truly show what his ceiling could be at the NHL level. Until then, fans have to continue to speculate.

Yegor Sharangovich needs to prove his worth to the Flames

Another player who had a significant down year was Yegor Sharangovich. The 27-year-old quickly made his presence known when the Flames acquired him in the Tyler Toffoli trade. Sharangovich would have a breakout performance during the 2023-24 season, scoring a career high of 31 goals and 59 points. His performance earned him a hefty contract extension by the Flames, as he’s now earning an AAV of $5.75 million for five years.

Sharangovich’s new contract kicks in next season, but his play this year wasn’t even close to living up to his new deal. His total of 17 goals and 32 points was a far cry from his performance last season. Although Sharangovich started the season injured, his offensive engagement as a whole was down.

Not only did Sharangovich take significantly fewer shots this season (128 in 2024-25 vs 179 in 2023-24), but his individual Corsi measurement (individual offensive engagement) was also down. His Corsi went from 524 in all strengths to 289 this season, per Natural Stattrick. In other words, Sharangovich was taking fewer shot attempts and generating far fewer scoring opportunities. For a player with Sharangovich’s skill set, this trend cannot continue.

Sharangovich’s bread and butter is goal-scoring. For the Flames’ offence to improve, Sharangovich needs to be a big part of that. Assuming he stays healthy, there’s little reason why Sharangovich can’t get back into the 25-30 goal range next season.

Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee struggled after the trade

I’m deciding to include both of these players together, as they were also part of the same deal bringing them to Calgary. In late January, the Flames decided to pull the trigger on a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers. The team acquired forwards Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost, players who both fit the Flames’ ideal age timeline. Frost in particular was also addressing an organizational need down the middle. Overall, the trade was solid for the Flames, but both players need to show more.

Frost had three goals and 12 points in 32 games after the trade. While his offensive totals weren’t eye-opening, he was effective in other ways, such as in the faceoff circle, where he had an overall percentage of about 50%. I think Frost inevitably has a better season, where I can see him being a regular 15-20 goal scorer who embraces his role better and contributes to the Flames’ centre depth.

Farabee on the other hand concerns me a bit more. He had a miserable season where he only recorded 25 points in 81 games. With the Flames, he only scored three goals and six points in 31 games. There’s no sugarcoating it: Farabee needs to be better. There were times this season when he looked quite slow and disengaged.

The Flames also took on Farabee’s entire salary of $5 million for three more seasons. While the Flames aren’t in any cap trouble, if Farabee continues his poor play, his contract could become a liability. Either way, the expectation for Farabee is that he’s right back to scoring 20+ goals next season. He’s only 24 and is already a proven goalscorer. For both players, they’ll need to carve out a solid role for themselves on the Flames’ roster. Both Frost and Farabee have the potential to be a part of whatever the Flames are building towards.

Honorable mentions

While these are the four players who stood out to me, the argument could be made to include more players.

Mikeal Backlund for example could’ve had a better season, scoring 15 goals and 32 points. However, with Backlund being 36, the decline is bound to come at some point; therefore lower totals are expected.

There’s also Blake Coleman whose goalscoring got cut in half this season. With that being said, Coleman scoring 30 goals in 2023-24 was an outlier. It was a career year that was very hard to replicate.

Maybe you could include defencemen like Daniil Miromanov, but in my opinion, Miromanov’s days are numbered. His role has pretty much been taken by the likes of Brayden Pachal and potentially some of the younger right-handed defencemen like Hunter Brzustewicz. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Miromanov ends up just getting buried in the AHL since his contract is eligible for that.