Folks, the 2025 NHL trade deadline is behind us and it was a quiet time for the Calgary Flames. As it stands, the Flames are firmly in the playoff picture with 19 games to go in the regular season.
As we wait to see what the next few days – and few games – bring us, let’s dive into the mailbag!
I would argue probably neither. Flames general manager Craig Conroy keeps extolling the virtues of building the team over a three to five year period. Would anything he could’ve done at the trade deadline turn the Flames into a contender right now, or make them a better team potentially heading into the playoffs? Probably not. Could attempts at a big move have removed some future flexibility in terms of cap space, prospects and draft selections? Yep.
Doing nothing was the boringest version of events that Conroy could’ve employed, but in the view of a long-term plan, it might’ve been the best course of action.
I’m going to go with 7.5 (million).
I don’t love Jonathan Huberdeau’s contract, but it’s not my money and I won’t blame anybody for signing a deal that’s offered to them. But I’ll give Huberdeau credit: he obviously cares a lot about contributing positively to the Flames, and he’s gone to great efforts to flesh out his game so that he’s not a one-trick pony. He’s so much better away from the puck when he was when he arrived in town, and if he can keep adapting his game as his time in Calgary continues to unfold, there’s no reason why he can’t bring positive value to the team.
Will it be $10.5 million worth of value? Perhaps not, but again, I’m not the one paying him.
Based on his performances this season in the Ontario Hockey League, I think it’s reasonable to presume that Zayne Parekh will be given every opportunity to make the Flames’ NHL roster in training camp in October.
Reading the tea leaves, I think the Flames will run back largely the same roster in 2025-26 as they’ve rolled out in 2024-25. My guess is the hope is that the young players will be a little bit better and that, over time, the club can swap out older players on expiring deals for younger players to keep the youth movement and momentum going. As mentioned, Conroy conceives the roster overhaul as a three-to-five year process, so they’re going to be deliberate with how they build things. (And if an opportunity comes to add a key player that fits into their age group, they’ll try to do that, too.)
Right now, I don’t think so. They’re aware that they’re pretty early in the process. They have Dustin Wolf and he seems to be an ace. They have Zayne Parekh and he’s trending well. And they have a lot prospect depth across the organization. Perhaps one of those players emerges as an ace, or perhaps they’re able to pick up an ace in the next few drafts.
I don’t know!
Dan Vladar has been a good Flame. In the grand scheme of things, he might end up being a good NHL backup – and that’s not meant as a slight, as an NHL backup is one of the top 64 goaltenders in the world. With Devin Cooley having a bit of an up-and-down year in the AHL with the Wranglers, it might not be the worst thing in the world to see what Vladar’s appetite is for a short-term deal with the Flames and run back an NHL goaltending tandem that’s worked well this season.
That said, I could also see Vladar looking to see if he could have a bigger role elsewhere.
The obvious place to put a young player in next season is on the blueline, in the form of Zayne Parekh, and that could be as simple as Joel Hanley and/or Daniil Miromanov moving on to open up a spot. And the longer-term viewpoint to take may simply be that as older players have their contracts expire, the organization hopes to have a few younger players competing to take that spot.
Regarding young players making a Rasmus Andersson move more likely, I don’t necessarily think so. Having some older players to help ease in players like Zayne Parekh, Henry Mews and Hunter Brzustewicz could be really beneficial to their development. (But yes, at a certain point, you have to make decisions in terms of ice time and salary cap allocations that may lead to the team prioritizing the younger players. But I don’t think we’re anywhere close to that happening yet considering that Parekh, Mews and Brzustewicz, combined, have less than one professional season and zero NHL games to their credit.)
If I’m the Flames, I really don’t want to make any move that sends a veteran defender out of town unless it brings a centre back to Calgary. The centre position is the big gap in terms of organizational depth, and I wouldn’t do anything major to the Flames roster unless it would address that.
From David via e-mail: If a prospect plays in the AHL at the end of the season how does it affect their ELC? What if they play NHL regular season games? What about just NHL playoff games? And finally can a prospect play in the AHL end of season and playoffs and then join the NHL team for the playoffs without impacting their ELC?
Let’s use Zayne Parekh as an example. He’s signed to an NHL entry-level deal, but he’s young enough that his deal will slide this year.
If he’s re-assigned to the Wranglers after Saginaw’s season ends (e.g., they’re eliminated from the playoffs), it wouldn’t impact his ELC. If he’s assigned to the NHL, it would only impact his ELC if he plays in 10 games between the regular season and playoffs. And my understanding of the rules is that Parekh can be re-assigned to either the Flames or Wranglers once Saginaw’s done, but he has to stay wherever he’s sent. (He can’t go back and forth between the NHL and AHL, it’s one or the other.)
Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/BlueSky at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan [at] TheNationNetwork.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)

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