Friends, since they missed the post-season dance, we’re into the Calgary Flames’ off-season! And with the off-season comes our usual hand-wringing about what the Flames could look like the next time they play meaningful games.

So as all the action of the off-season remains out in front of us, we thought we’d take a quick look at how the Flames’ roster for 2025-26 is looking, and the many, many X-factors that could create some wrinkles over the next few months.

Good news, the Flames have an undisputed top goaltender, and it’s Dustin Wolf (24).

The question is who the other member of the goaltending battery will be. Dan Vladar (28) may be the ideal backup for Wolf, but he’s a pending unrestricted free agent and may prefer a change of scenery so he has a chance to play more. Devin Cooley (28) had a superb start to his AHL season, but he’s struggled in the back half of the year after missing some time due to injury. Or do the Flames to go market and see if they can find somebody new?

Rasmus Andersson (28) is heading into the final year of his contract. If we take Craig Conroy’s comments from exit interview day at face value – there’s no hard deadline for determining Andersson’s future – we’re pencilling him in for an opening night roster spot. But that’s written in pencil, not pen, and you would hope that his future becomes less murky over the summer.

Three names can probably be written in pen: MacKenzie Weegar (31), Kevin Bahl (25; RFA) and Brayden Pachal (26). Weegar was the Flames’ best blueliner last season. Bahl came in from New Jersey and carved out a niche for himself as a tough-minutes shutdown defender. And Pachal became a third-pairing fixture and a pretty effective penalty-killer.

Depending on Andersson’s future, there’s three or four open spots left. Jake Bean (27) and Daniil Miromanov (28) are incumbents and have contracts, but both spent decent amounts of time in the press box last season and have yet to really grab hold of a role the way Pachal has.

Behind the incumbents, there are a trio of youngsters to keep in mind. Ilya Solovyov (25) has been the great stabilizer on a pretty young Wranglers blueline over the past few seasons and he could be a fit in a third pairing role. Hunter Brzustewicz (20) impressed at Flames camp and then had a quietly strong first pro season with the Wranglers and didn’t look out of place in his Game 82 NHL debut. And we keep talking about Zayne Parekh (19) because he’s really, really good at hockey.

There are fewer questions up front than anywhere else, because the Flames, at least right now, look to be bringing back most of their forwards from this season. The Flames have tended to mix and match offensive-minded guys with checking players on each of their lines – puck retrieval players with guys that can score, if you will – so we’ll break them into these two broad groups.

For offensive-minded forwards, there’s Jonathan Huberdeau (32), Nazem Kadri (34), Yegor Sharangovich (27), Connor Zary (23; RFA), Morgan Frost (26; RFA) and Matt Coronato (22; RFA).

For guys likely finding themselves in checking roles, there’s Martin Pospisil (25), Joel Farabee (25), Mikael Backlund (36), Blake Coleman (33), Ryan Lomberg (30) and Adam Klapka (24; RFA).

If you’re counting along, that’s 12 forwards and it’s missing a fourth line centre. We would suggest there’s a good chance that Justin Kirkland (29), a pending UFA, is given the opportunity to return. But we would also suggest that Sam Morton (26; RFA), coming off a good first pro season with the Wranglers, would also be on the radar.

And as Conroy noted during exit interview day, the Flames remain in the hunt for a right shot, age appropriate centre. Should they land that unicorn, it would obviously change the rest of their plans.

The Flames could end up being a pretty similar-looking team next season.

However, they probably won’t be entirely the same. If you’re hoping for an injection of scoring, Parekh is probably your best bet. And there’s always the X-factor of Andersson’s situation and the Flames’ ample cap space. If there’s a “hockey trade” that could upgrade the roster, they have the resources to make it work.

We’ll see what the next few months will bring in terms of changes to the hockey club.