Friends, we’ve concluded the 2025-26 Calgary Flames season, and we’re both looking back at the season that was and looking ahead to the future.

And if there’s one thing that a season where the Flames finished fourth-from-last in the overall standings tells us, it’s that we’re going to see changes between now and when the gents return to the ice in September or October.

With that in mind, here are the five members of the 2025-26 edition of the Flames that seem the least likely to be back for 2026-27.

Man, it just didn’t work out for Jake Bean with his hometown team, did it? A Calgary kid who played his junior hockey for the Hitmen and whose dad was an executive for the team, he seemed like a perfectly fine depth addition to the team as a left shot defender with some experience and upside.

Unfortunately, he spent 2024-25 primarily on the third pairing… when he wasn’t a healthy scratch. He came into 2025-26 looking to have a better year, then was in and out of the lineup, playing just 16 games before being shut down with an injury in December. All-in-all, he had just two points this past season with the Flames.

Bean’s a pending unrestricted free agent, and the numbers game is against him: the Flames have four left shot defenders under contract for next season already, all of whom require waivers: Kevin Bahl, Olli Maatta, Yan Kuznetsov and Joel Hanley. Add in that they have four rightie defenders under contract, too – waiver eligible Zach Whitecloud and Brayden Pachal and waiver exempt Zayne Parekh and Hunter Brzustewicz – and we just can’t find a spot for Bean.

You’ve got to feel for Victor Olofsson a bit, folks. A depth winger on a Stanley Cup contending Colorado Avalanche team, he was shipped to the Flames in the Nazem Kadri trade. In a much different situation than he began the year, Olofsson was a capital-P professional, playing well and posting two goals and six assists across 18 games playing both wings on the bottom six.

In any other situation, Olofsson would be someone worth bringing back – he’s legitimately good and versatile. But for a Flames team in a youth movement, and one that has no fewer than 10 incumbent wingers under contract for next season – Blake Coleman, Matvei Gridin, Jonathan Huberdeau, Connor Zary, Sam Honzek, Joel Farabee, Matt Coronato, Yegor Sharangovich, Adam Klapka and Martin Pospisil – it’s unclear how he would fit in.

Like Bean, the numbers game is working against Olofsson.

The Flames took a flier on John Beecher midway through the season, claiming him off the waiver wire from Boston, and auditioning him as a fourth line centre for the remainder of the season.

Results were mixed. He had two goals and four assists across 29 games, and won just 44% of his face-offs. He was a pretty effective penalty killer, but we’re thinking the Flames might be better off giving NHL minutes to the likes to Rory Kerins, Sam Morton or Tyson Gross rather than someone with 165 NHL dates under his belt.

He’s a pending restricted free agent, but we’re not sure if Beecher gets a qualifying offer.

Is Ryan Lomberg great in the locker room? Definitely. He’s provided tons of positive energy and good vibes for the Flames during a tough season. And yeah, when he scored goals, they were pretty big ones that made Flames fans go nuts.

But he had four goals and five assists across 57 games. He’s 31 years old and based on his comments during his exit interview with the media, he’d really like to be in a winning environment. (When he signed with the Flames, it was likely with an aim towards winning rather than rebuilding here.) He’s a pending UFA.

We’re not saying Lomberg won’t be back. But we’re saying that the priority may be towards giving NHL reps to younger players – the majority of the 10 wingers we cited when discussing Olofsson are younger than Lomberg – and not playing and not winning might not be the ideal situation for him.

We’re gonna get into Blake Coleman’s situation in more detail at another time, but let’s summarize it quickly: he’s 34, and he’s really good. He’s a highly effective checker who plays on the shutdown line with Mikael Backlund, kills penalties, and serves as an alternate captain. He had 20 goals and 15 assists through 69 games this season.

Coleman was the subject of many trade rumours prior to the Mar. 6 trade deadline, and nearly moved. The Flames had a price in mind for Coleman, and they did not get it. He’s entering the final year of his contract. We wouldn’t be shocked if he remained on the team heading into the season… but if a team has a disappointing playoffs, they may get off their wallets and meet the Flames’ price for Coleman.

Coleman’s very good. He wants to help the team. Based on where they are in their development, he may help them the most by being moved to another team.