The Flames should re-sign Ryan Lomberg

The number one topic of discussion when it comes to the Calgary Flames is who is going to get traded next. Craig Conroy kicked things off by getting a solid return for his number one defenceman, Rasmus Andersson. Now that the most pressing piece of business is complete, Conroy can move on to shopping some other veteran players on his team.

There are a lot of players the Flames should be aggressively shopping. That starts with Blake Coleman and Nazem Kadri. But it also pertains to some under the radar players like Joel Hanley, Brayden Pachal, Zach Whitecloud, Joel Farabee, Morgan Frost, Yegor Sharangovich and Justin Kirkland.

It’s in the Flames best interest to trade some of the players mentioned above over the next calendar year.

But there is one player I would not trade right now. And that is Ryan Lomberg.

The Flames should sign him to a multi year contract extension.

That may sound crazy to some Flames fans who are looking to cash in on as many players as possible, but hear me out.

The main reason the Flames need to bring back Lomberg is because of what he contributes off the ice.

From the perspective of someone who is not at the rink everyday, Lomberg comes across as one of the most important members of the leadership team. Some members of the Flames community refer to the Flames leadership group as the “core six” featuring Mikael Backlund, Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau, Blake Coleman, MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson (who is no longer part of the team). Lomberg should 100% be part of that group.

There is a lot of talk about the Flames culture and how it is important to the organization to continue to build that. There is no better person to help maintain the culture than Lomberg. He brings a ton of energy, positivity, and fun to a Flames dressing room that desperately needs it.

This is a team that just traded Andersson and might be moving out Coleman and Kadri. The Flames are going to need a guy like Lomberg to take young players under his wing and make sure they are enjoying themselves over the next few years.

In my opinion, the next 3-4 seasons of Flames hockey could be pretty miserable as this team continues their rebuild. There are going to be a lot of nights where the Flames are going to be outclassed by their opposition because of where they are in their winning cycle. This group is going to need to remain positive and have fun showing up to the rink. If they don’t do those things while they’re losing, this is going to become a miserable place to play. Even with Scotia Place opening for the 2027-28 season.

Take San Jose Sharks as an example for something the Flames should look to copy.

The 2024-25 San Jose Sharks had a bad season, but it looked fun. They had some young players playing big minutes. They had some good veterans around to keep things light. They had fun with the content they were putting out on social media to entertain their fans like when Tyler Toffoli has a sleepover with Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. The vibes around that Sharks team were great despite the fact they were losing.