As things stand, that will extend to three years as Calgary has an extra first-round selection (Vegas), plus three extra second-rounders that in theory could be packaged to try to land another day one pick.\u00a0 They also have extra firsts in 2027 and 2028.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a strong foundation of draft picks to work with although that\u2019s only part of the battle.\u00a0 They also need to keep adding more drafted prospects that are closer to being NHL-ready to their pool.\u00a0 Those players would then represent the next wave as more veterans are cleared out over the next couple of years before the high volume of draft picks yield players that will eventually be ready to push for playing time.\u00a0 Calgary has done well there lately as well with the additions of Abram Wiebe<\/a>, Jonathan Castagna<\/a>, and Tyson Gross<\/a> over the last few months.<\/p>\n Will there be a logjam down the road?\u00a0 That\u2019s the ideal plan, giving the Flames extra depth to deal from at the time that they should be flipping the switch from their rebuild to trying to contend.\u00a0 So, for now, there should continue to be an emphasis on not just quality but also quantity, allowing a deep stockpile to get even deeper.\u00a0 Continuing to add center depth would be particularly wise.<\/p>\n Cash In On Coleman<\/p>\n Heading into the trade deadline, there were questions of how many more veterans would be heading out the door, joining Rasmus Andersson<\/a> who had already been moved to Vegas.\u00a0 MacKenzie Weegar<\/a> ultimately was moved to Utah while Nazem Kadri<\/a> wound up back in Colorado.\u00a0 But there was one veteran of significance who was drawing significant interest who didn\u2019t move, winger Blake Coleman<\/a>.<\/p>\n Down those retention slots back in March, it\u2019s understandable that Conroy opted to pass on moving him as in theory, the return should be better with part of the contract paid down.\u00a0 It\u2019s also understandable that a team would want some quality veterans working with an increasingly younger core group.\u00a0 But Coleman is also one of the few veterans remaining that could plausibly yield a return of significance.\u00a0 It\u2019d be hard to pass that up for extra mentorship in the room.\u00a0 Yes, they could wait things out and see how things look at next year\u2019s deadline, but if there\u2019s a strong return out there this summer, that might be the right time to take it.<\/p>\n Add Serviceable Veteran Defender<\/p>\n If Conroy is concerned about a dearth of quality veteran leaders in the dressing room following the recent exodus of players (and the potential move of Coleman), there\u2019s nothing stopping him from trying to add one via trade or free agency.\u00a0 And if he wants to do that, looking at the back end would be a good idea.<\/p>\n While Calgary did receive veterans back in the Weegar (Zach Whitecloud<\/a>) and Weegar (Olli Maatta<\/a>) deals, neither of those players are ideal top-half pieces in the lineup.\u00a0 Whitecloud, meanwhile, had a strong market at the trade deadline and is a plausible candidate himself to get dealt over the summer if the Flames want to cash in on his elevated trade value.\u00a0 Those two were basically top-pairing players down the stretch with Kevin Bahl<\/a> getting nearly 22 minutes a night as well.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, their depth isn\u2019t the greatest either.\u00a0 While they have high hopes for Zayne Parekh, and Yan Kuznetsov<\/a> impressed this season, Brayden Pachal<\/a> and Joel Hanley<\/a> are next on the depth chart.\u00a0 Those are more fringe\/depth pieces than full-fledged regulars.\u00a0 They could be upgraded on with another serviceable veteran or two that raises the floor of the group to move it to more of a by-committee approach which probably better suits this roster.<\/p>\n Fortunately, depth defenders are a lot easier to find than top-four pieces, ones they\u2019ll have to trade for at some point when they\u2019re closer to ending their rebuild.\u00a0 But a good veteran or two on the third pairing can help fill some of the leadership gap and perhaps even give them some chips to move closer to next year\u2019s deadline.\u00a0 While rebuilding teams often aren\u2019t looking to get older, Calgary could buck that trend with the right veteran blueliner or two.<\/p>\n Work On Frost Extension<\/p>\n Last summer, the Flames elected not to work out a long-term contract with then-RFA center Morgan Frost<\/a>.\u00a0 Having just acquired him from Philadelphia earlier in the season, they wanted to get a better sense of how he\u2019d fit.\u00a0 Accordingly, he inked a second bridge contract, a two-year, $8.75MM agreement.\u00a0 On July 1st, he\u2019ll be extension-eligible and now armed with more information about his fit on the roster, Conroy should be looking to get something worked out.<\/p>\n Frost only managed a dozen points in 32 games after being acquired last season.\u00a0 However, a full training camp and season in Calgary\u2019s lineup seemed to get him going again.\u00a0 Frost played in all 82 games this season for the first time in his career, scoring a career-best 22 goals while adding 21 assists in 15:30 per night of playing time.\u00a0 He also won nearly 57% of his draws, also a new personal best.<\/p>\n While Frost doesn\u2019t profile as a top-line pivot by any stretch, he should have plenty of years ahead of him in a middle-six role.\u00a0 While that\u2019s not necessarily the type of player teams will generally want to commit a long-term contract to, Calgary\u2019s dearth of center options could force their hand.\u00a0 Kadri is now gone while captain Mikael Backlund<\/a> is 37 and is nearing the end of his career (though he begins a two-year deal next season).\u00a0 Ryan Strome<\/a> is also in the fold but is more of a reclamation type of project.<\/p>\n Yes, the Flames have high hopes for prospects Cole Reschny<\/a>, Cullen Potter<\/a>, and newcomer Castagna.\u00a0 However, those players are a while away from making meaningful NHL contributions.\u00a0 Frost is a logical fit to try to keep around for a few extra years beyond 2027 to serve as a bridge to some of those prospects.<\/p>\n Given that he will be an unrestricted free agent next summer and the big projected increases to the salary cap, it\u2019s fair to say that Frost will be in line for a bump up on his current deal.\u00a0 An increase into the $6MM-plus range feels doable and with their long-term cap situation looking quite strong at the moment, it\u2019s a price tag they can afford.\u00a0 Rather than wait it out another year, it might make more sense for the Flames to get this done this summer.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The offseason has arrived for half of the league\u2019s teams that aren\u2019t taking part in the playoffs.\u00a0 Accordingly,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24008,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[51,1611,5418,5419],"class_list":{"0":"post-24007","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-calgary","9":"tag-calgary-flames","10":"tag-offseason-checklist-2026","11":"tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/USATSI_27852007-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>While there\u2019s something to be said for having some quality veterans to work with a young core group, there\u2019s also something to be said for not cashing in one of their top trade chips.\u00a0 Yes, his contract is on the pricier side for a player who has only reached the 40-point plateau once, but with the salary cap set for a big increase and a fairly thin UFA market, $4.9MM for one season is a price tag that a lot of teams should be able to afford.\u00a0 (And if not, Calgary gets two salary retention slots back on July 1st which could be used to get something done.)<\/p>\n