The Calgary Flames continued their youthening process during the 2025-26, trading away a trio of prominent veteran players in the form of Rasmus Andersson, MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri prior to the trade deadline.

In those swaps they received a trio of players that moved from playoff-bound teams to the non-playoff Flames. Arguably the most impressive of that trio was centre Ryan Strome, who seemed to fit right into the Flames’ locker room and forward group and had a superb end to a pretty rough season.

The 2025-26 was Strome’s 13th NHL campaign, and he came into the season set to play basically the same role he had since 2022-23 for the Anaheim Ducks: savvy veteran. Yeah, Strome wasn’t likely to get first unit power play time, or play all that much on the top two forward lines. But as someone with a ton of experience on a pretty green Ducks squad that lacked experience, he seemed like a safe bet to get a regular, steady role to help insulate the team’s kids.

He had been a reliable 40-ish point producer for several seasons, and the thought was that he would probably be good for another 35-40 points in 2025-26.

Things looked pretty much on track for Strome until he suffered an oblique injury during the pre-season. He started the regular season on the injury reserve list and didn’t get activated until Nov. 9. By the time he got into his first game of the season, the Ducks were off to an 11-4-1 start and they weren’t all that keen on changing very much. Several of the kids that were thought to need insulating by someone like Strome seemed like they didn’t.

As a result, Strome was a spare part for most of the rest of the season. He played 33 games for the Ducks prior to the trade deadline, but he was a paid spectator for 14 games. In the games he played in, he averaged just 12:10 of ice time, a career low, and he posted three goals and six assists for nine points.

After the Flames pulled the trigger on the Nazem Kadri trade, they wanted to bring in a centre with Rory Kerins still injured in the AHL – at that point, they weren’t sure if he would return from his injury before the season ended. So Craig Conroy called up Pat Verbeek and acquired Strome from Anaheim for a seventh-round pick.

Strome seemed rejuvenated in Calgary, mostly playing third line centre behind Morgan Frost and Mikael Backlund, and he posted five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 19 games. He seemed to fit right into the Flames’ locker room.

Strome is heading into the final year of his contract in 2026-27, after which he’ll be a pending unrestricted free agent. He seems like a prime candidate to change addresses before the 2027 trade deadline.

That said, Strome also seems like someone that could help a young Flames group tremendously before he leaves, having spent ample time with rebuilding teams in various other stops in the league. He’s been there and done that in his over 900 game NHL career, and he’s someone that could be an invaluable resource for all the club’s young up-and-comers.

He’ll be pushing to play his 1,000th NHL game near the end of the season. If he hits that milestone, it might not come as a member of the Flames.