Flame for Thought

The 2026/27 NHL season is right around the corner, with the Calgary Flames home opener coming against the Seattle Kraken on October 1st, with four pre-season matchups taking place beginning on September 20th and ending on September 26th.

The 2026/27 Calgary Flames aren't going to be the most exciting team in the National Hockey League, and given that they're undergoing a rebuild truly for the first time in a long, long time, it's going to be one of the worst seasons in franchise history. For the Flames, the future is where their priorities lie, and with most of their prospects in the NCAA and junior leagues around the world, it's going to be some time before the organization finally see steps forward towards a positive future.

The Calgary Flames 2026/27 lineup isn't one that's going to be full of elite level talent, but if given the opportunity, there's a young core group of players that have the chance to make a true name for themselves on the national level this season. One such player is Matt Coronato, who led the Flames in scoring in 2025/26, and while it wasn't a career year for the 23-year-old, the former first-round draft pick showed his potential again, so what can we expect from him in the season ahead?

Heading into the 2026/27 regular season, the expectations around the Calgary Flames are known around the league, with the team likely to be among the three worst squads in the National Hockey League given their lack of elite level talent.

The 2026/27 NHL season is now less than three weeks away from starting, and while the expectations around the team are very, very low, there's going to be plenty of reasons for Calgary Flames fans to tune in. Most of that revolves around the future, with players such as Zayne Parekh, Simon Nemec and Matvei Gridin all aiming to cement themselves as potential stars of the future for the franchise.

The Calgary Flames have made some very interesting moves in recent years, but perhaps the most intriguing of all was the one to acquire Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee in a deal with the Philadelphia Flyers that saw the team give up intriguing prospect Jakob Pelletier.

Calgary Flames training camp and the 2026/27 season are just days away, so which battles should we be looking for ahead of camp? ByNathan Smith|Sep 9, 2026, 12:26 PM EDT Samuel Honzek of the Calgary Flames | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect Last season, there was some optimism that the Calgary Flames could shock the NHL world, but with the team dealing three of their most important veterans, they finished 29th in the NHL standings, and this season, many expect things to get worse.

The Calgary Flames 2026/27 regular season is less than a month away from beginning, and from all accounts, it's set to be a tough season with a lack of elite level players leading this roster into the final campaign at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The team do have some solid veterans that can play supporting roles to the young core the Flames continue to build, and after his injury in 2025/26, the hope was that veteran Jonathan Huberdeau could be a key piece of that support.

The 2026 off-season has come and gone, and while the Calgary Flames weren't the most active team in the NHL, the organization as a whole still managed to improve for the future, although 2026/27 is expected to be yet another year of struggle. One player the organization have high hopes for as they move into their struggles and hopefully out the other side of it is winger Matvei Gridin, who made a major impression during the 2025/26 season in both the AHL and NHL.

The Calgary Flames upcoming season could end up being one of the worst in franchise history, but with some exciting players in the NHL as well as the junior level, there's some real excitement building around this franchise. That excitement won't lead to any results in 2026/27, but that doesn't mean this won't be a useful season in dictating the future of the franchise, and now, with training camp right around the corner, some questions are close to being answered.