Early on Friday afternoon, the NHL’s trade deadline hits. But before that, the Calgary Flames (24-29-7, 55 points) have one more game to get through when they host the Ottawa Senators (29-22-9, 67 points). The Flames got shellacked by Dallas on Tuesday, while up the road in Edmonton, the Senators let a win slip away in extra time. How will both teams look before the deadline, and could this be the final game with the current team for some players on either side?

Today’s broadcast begins at 7 p.m. MT on Sportsnet West and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Connor Zary – Nazem Kadri – Joel Farabee
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Morgan Frost – Matvei Gridin
Ryan Lomberg – Martin Pospisil – Adam Klapka

Yan Kuznetsov – Zach Whitecloud
Kevin Bahl – Brayden Pachal
Joel Hanley – Zayne Parekh

Based on intel from Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg, we’re projecting Devin Cooley to start in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. Our projected extra skaters are Olli Maatta and John Beecher. (Maatta had to travel to town, so it seems likely that they’ll give him a day to get settled before throwing him in for his debut.)

The Flames moved on from alternate captain MacKenzie Weegar on Wednesday, and they may not be done. Trade speculation swirls around the team and we’ll see how they look against Ottawa. Simply put, regardless of who’s on the ice for the Flames, they need to be more competitive than they were against Dallas.

Projected lines via Daily Faceoff:

Drake Batherson – Tim Stuetzle – Claude Giroux
Brady Tkachuk – Dylan Cozens – Ridly Greig
Nick Cousins – Shane Pinto – Michael Amadio
Kurtis MacDermid – Lars Eller – Fabian Zetterlund

Jake Sanderson – Artem Zub
Thomas Chabot – Nick Jensen
Tyler Kleven – Jordan Spence

We’re projecting Linus Ullmark to start in net for Ottawa, backed up by James Reimer. Their projected extra skaters are Stephen Halliday and Nikolas Matinpalo.

Ottawa was quite good on Tuesday in Edmonton. They led 4-2 after two periods and seemed destined to pick up two big points. Instead, they let their lead slip away and they lost in overtime instead. The Senators are a team that probably should be better than they are, but they’ve found ways to get in their own way this season. They’re still good and they have strong players, but they haven’t clicked consistently enough so far.

They enter play five points behind Boston for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.

The Flames are without Sam Honzek, Jake Bean and Jonathan Huberdeau.

The Senators are without David Perron.

This is the second and final meeting between these teams this season. The Flames lost in a shootout in Ottawa back in October.

The 2026 Trade Deadline Special is going LIVE March 6th. Join the Daily Faceoff crew on Friday, March 6th, from 9 AM-1:30 PM MT for wall-to-wall coverage of every single move as it happens. Get instant reaction, expert analysis, and exclusive insights from special guests throughout the day. Tune in LIVE on the Daily Faceoff YouTube channel and don’t miss a second of deadline day chaos.