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FlamesNation Mailbag: Closing out the long weekend with reader questions
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Photo credit: Mike Gould
Ryan Pike
Feb 16, 2026, 12:00 ESTUpdated: Feb 16, 2026, 00:26 EST
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We are well into the 2026 Winter Olympics, and the Olympic break for the National Hockey League, and it’s Family Day weekend here in scenic Alberta.
As we enjoy the break from the hectic NHL schedule, let’s check in with the mailbag!
Right now, the Flames are rolling with four centres: Nazem Kadri, Mikael Backlund, Morgan Frost and Martin Pospisil. We’ve also seen, at times, Justin Kirkland, Sam Morton and John Beecher up the middle, too.
If Kadri is traded, and no centre comes back in the trade, I would imagine the Flames would lean more heavily on Frost’s line in offensive situations, Backlund’s line would remain the tough-minutes defensive option, and then we probably see a bit more of Pospisil and Morton as centres down the stretch. The Flames need to know what they have in the system.
Let’s assume that Matvei Gridin and Hunter Brzustewicz are going back to the NHL after the Olympics. I already mentioned Sam Morton in my prior answer, and I’ll go back to that.
Morton’s been really, really good for the Wranglers lately, consistently winning draws, giving quality minutes in all game situations, and generally being quite good. And depending on what happens with Blake Coleman or John Beecher’s injuries after the break, you could use Morton up the middle, pushing Pospisil to the wing (and perhaps Beecher, too). Morton deserves a longer look than the pair of games he got when Beecher was claimed off waivers.
The simple answer is hanging them above the stalls, blades up, is the easiest way to protect the edges of the blades for as long as possible. If you hung them in any other way, they’d be a lot easier to get bonked into and the edges would become dulled a bit. NHL equipment staffs are pretty good and I haven’t heard of any prominent incidents of skates falling on players.
Here’s my theory: Chris Snow built a really great data department during his tenure with the team, and virtually everybody in scouting and player development is well-versed in the analytics side of things. It’s not their only tool, not by far, but there’s a fluency in the data side of things across hockey operations that’s higher than the Flames have had in years and it’s built into pretty much everything they do, so the Flames can avoid too much friction in their decision-making during drafting and just… go with their list.
I also wouldn’t discount the Conroy factor too much, though. When he retired and joined hockey ops, one of his first tasks was helping do cross-over scouting with the amateur scouting group and he has a ton of awareness and enthusiasm for each draft class. When the GM is engaged in the process, it can help deliver better results than if it was on the back-burner.
Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/BlueSky at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan.Pike [at] BetterCollective.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)

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