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Blake Coleman’s future with the Flames may depend on the draft lottery
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Photo credit: Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Apr 25, 2026, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 24, 2026, 23:19 EDT
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Pals, the Calgary Flames missed the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs, and they’ll be back playing meaningful hockey in October when the 2026-27 regular season begins. One question that hangs over the franchise right now, though, is whether or not alternate captain Blake Coleman will still be with them when the puck drops in the fall.
If you’re a regular reader, you’re probably aware of Coleman’s history, reputation and value to the Flames. But if not, here’s a crash course. A two-time Stanley Cup winner with Tampa Bay, Coleman signed with the Flames as a free agent in 2021 on a six year deal worth $4.9 million per season. He immediately formed a superb shutdown pairing with Mikael Backlund and a rotating cast of wingers, establishing himself as a crucial presence on the ice while becoming part of the team’s leadership core off the ice.
Coleman’s current deal expires on July 1, 2027 and he’ll set to become an unrestricted free agent. Meanwhile, Coleman and Backlund have remained while the Flames have traded away a laundry list of established veterans – prior to this season it was almost exclusively players on expiring deals or with one year left, but moving Nazem Kadri and MacKenzie Weegar signalled that perhaps the Flames’ rebuild is being accelerated a bit.
Coleman, despite ample trade chatter, remained with the Flames after the Mar. 6 trade deadline.
Following the Flames’ season finale against Los Angeles last Thursday, Coleman chatted with the media about the game and his season. He answered a question about possible conversations about his future by saying that he hadn’t had many conversations about his future with the club yet, noting the team would likely be focused on the draft and their positioning, “…and so it’s probably hard to look too far in the future until that happens.”
Coleman was subsequently asked by Postmedia’s Danny Austin – follow him, folks – about his future with the club in the context of the group going younger. Here’s a pretty important chunk of his (slightly longer) answer, which Coleman framed as “two ways to look at it.”
I think it’s one of those things where I can be here and try to get this team to the next level… Yeah, there’s that avenue where you can really help kids grow, and I still feel like I have a lot of good years and a lot left to give. So, you know, that excites me. I love the city of Calgary. I love being a Flame. Really good group of kids in here, and then a great staff that I enjoy being around. So everything from that aspect still excites me, and it’s a lot of fun to be around…
But, yeah, of course I want to win. I’ve been to the top of the mountain a couple times and missed that competitive nature of the playoffs. And, again, it’s a place that I feel like I can really contribute and make teams better.
So in a perfect world, this goes quick, and we can get a good team going here faster than maybe people anticipate. But, again, it’s not up to me. I’m kind of at the mercy of where they want to go, and I respect whatever their decision is.
At the end of last Friday’s exit interviews, Flames general manager Craig Conroy discussed how he sees Coleman’s future unfolding when asked by Austin. And much like Coleman, he seemed to go out of his way to avoid making declarations.
I think he made it clear that he’d like to stay. If he’d like to stay, he’d like a contract extension. You know, that would be the ideal thing. You know, obviously, that’s his perfect world. We’ve got to try to go through what we’re doing and see where we’re at. But Blake’s the leader of this team. Blake’s a huge part of it, you know.
So I don’t want to say we’re going to trade him, we’re not going to trade him. you do need good people. We’ve traded a lot of people away and not saying we’re not going to make trades because, again, we are going to do what’s best for the organization, what’s best for the team moving forward. But if it’s to keep Blake and give Blake an extension, we’ll do that. If it’s to trade Blake, if that’s the best thing, we’ll have to look at that too…
If he’s a Calgary Flame until he retires, I would be excited to have him here because he’s such a good player and good person.
And given these comments from player and management, let’s go back to the big question: will Coleman be with the Flames next season? It depends, and it may depend in a big way on the draft lottery and how the draft unfolds for the red team.
Would it make sense for the Flames to keep Coleman? If they’re going to be in a protracted rebuild, probably not. If you sign Coleman to an extension and then wander the wilderness outside of the playoff picture for most of it, what would the point be in foregoing potential future assets by declining to trade him?
Similarly, would it makes sense for Coleman to stay with the Flames? Again, if a protracted rebuild is the plan, probably not. You would want to give Coleman a chance to get some more Stanley Cup rings, and a player like Coleman is a luxury that a team in a lengthy rebuild probably can’t afford.
If the Flames win the draft lottery, or have a heck of a performance at the draft in general, they could add some potentially high-end pieces to a prospect pool The Athletic’s Scott Wheeler ranked third-best in the NHL, and suddenly the path to relevancy is a lot more short and direct and it’s easier to justify keeping Coleman – and turning down the offers they’re undoubtedly getting for Coleman.
Coleman’s viewpoint is probably best summed up succinctly by this quote from last Thursday’s chat with the media: “I’ve always wanted what’s best for this team, and if that’s the future with me in it, that’s great. If it’s a different direction that improves them, I’m not going to stand in the way of that.”
We’ll see what the coming weeks and months bring, both for Coleman’s future and the Flames’.

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