Calgary Flames News

Home

Quizzes

Newsletter

Calgary Flames general manager Craig Conroy (Sergei Belski-Imagn Images)

Well-Respected NHL Analyst Believes Flames May Be Best to Tank

Originally posted on The Hockey Writers
By Rupert McDonald | Last updated Oct 21, 2025 12:05 PM ET

Based on the early results, the 2025-26 season could be a long one for the Calgary Flames. After vastly outperforming expectations in 2024-25, they have seemingly regressed back to the mean, going 1-6-0 out of the gates.

The main reason for their struggles has been their lack of offence, as they’ve managed just 11 goals through their first seven games. Granted, Dustin Wolf hasn’t been nearly as exceptional between the pipes, but even if he were performing as good as he did in his rookie season, his win-loss record likely wouldn’t be a whole lot different. At the end of the day, if you can’t score goals, you won’t win games.

With these struggles, there has been a debate amongst the fan base as to whether or not they should stand pat and accept a long season, while others are hoping for general manager Craig Conroy to seek out a trade to try and improve their offence. On Monday (Oct. 20), one of the NHL’s most respected insiders gave his thoughts on the matter.

Friedman Thinks Flames Should Stand Pat

As well-informed as Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is as an insider, it isn’t often you hear him give out his own personal opinions on the direction any franchise should take. That changed on Monday, however, when he made it clear on his 32 Thoughts podcast that he thinks the Flames would be better off to ride this season out rather than opting for a potential short-term fix on the trade market.

“They’re kind of trying to bridge until [their] new building comes in. The thing that I can see that can be a real danger for Calgary is, stay away from a short-term fix. I think this is an organization that, in the past, would say, ‘I don’t like where this is going, let’s see if we can do something to keep our heads above water.’

“I think the Calgary Flames, the best thing they can do, is if this is the year where they say, ‘Alright, do we have to feel some pain? This is a really good draft.’ It’s going to take somebody inside the organization standing up and saying, ‘People aren’t going to like this, but this is what we need to do. If it doesn’t get better with the group of guys we have, if they can’t dig their way out of it, we cannot do a short-term fix. If anyone comes at us with a short-term fix, we either have to hang up the phone or tackle each other so nobody can call central registry.’”

Friedman went on to say that when he watches the Flames, he feels what they’re really missing from their lineup is a high-end draft pick. While he mentioned players such as Zayne Parekh and Matvei Gridin as being good prospects, he was very adamant about how big it would be for the organization to draft a player like potential first-overall pick Gavin McKenna.

Many Flames Fans Agree

Though Friedman said that many may not like what he had to say, that may not actually be the case. While fans will always root for wins, there are plenty of Flames fans who are also of the belief that having a bad season or two where this team finishes near the bottom of the standings will be better for the long term.

The Flames, as Friedman alluded to, do have some very good young players in their system. That said, they lack a true gamebreaker up front, and obtaining such players is no easy feat. Many of the top teams in the NHL today were able to obtain some of their superstar talents by finishing low in the standings, which, at this point, could be in store for the Flames this season.