We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: 2025-26 was not a great season on the ice for the Calgary Flames.

Not a ton worked for the Flames. They didn’t score very much at even strength. They were prone to untimely defensive breakdowns which made life tough on their goaltenders. Their power play was one of the least potent in the NHL. Several players had down years in terms of personal statistics.

But one thing that was consistently a positive was the penalty kill.

Guided by assistant coach Trent Cull and led by players like Mikael Backlund, Joel Farabee, Blake Coleman, Rasmus Andersson, MacKenzie Weegar and Kevin Bahl, the penalty kill started off a little slow but really found its rhythm once Yan Kuznetsov was called up from the Wranglers. And while the Flames endured some big personnel changes on the PK over the year – losing minute-munchers like Andersson and Weegar was a challenge – the PK remained sturdy. They finished the year tied for second in shorthanded goals and slid just out of the top 10 in terms of opposition power plays killed off successfully.

With many anticipating a challenging season for a young Flames group, they may need to rely heavily on the PK again to keep them in close games. With some new faces likely sprinkled in, can they keep it going?

A big reason for optimism may be the amount of continuity we’ll likely see in the penalty killing group. Sure, Andersson and Weegar departed last season and Coleman departed during the off-season. But Backlund remains a PK stalwart, and we’ll likely see larger roles for players like Farabee, Kuznetsov and Samuel Honzek. If the Flames can maintain the same level of energy and discipline on the PK in 2026-27 that we’ve seen in prior seasons, it’s probably not unreasonable to think they can remain just as effective.

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