logo
FlamesNation has no direct affiliation to the Calgary Flames, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
The Flames aren’t in a hurry to move Nazem Kadri, and other 32 Thoughts podcast notes
alt
Photo credit: Dennis Schneidler-Imagn Images
Ryan Pike
Jul 6, 2025, 16:15 EDTUpdated: Jul 6, 2025, 16:07 EDT
Comments
The 2024-25 National Hockey League season has concluded and everyone is ready to relax for a few months before hockey start heating up again in September.
Over at Sportsnet, our pal Elliotte Friedman released the final instalment of the 32 Thoughts podcast until the fall. And to nobody’s great shock there was a bunch of news items related to the Calgary Flames. As always, we heartily encourage you to listen to the whole thing if time allows, but here are the relevant tidbits related to the red team.

The Flames were taking a look at defensive options

When he spoke with the assembled media at the Saddledome on Tuesday after the first day of free agency, Flames general manager Craig Conroy indicated that his club had looked at a few things but ended up having a fairly quiet day – re-signing Joel Hanley and adding goaltender Ivan Prosvetov and blueliner Nick Cicek.
Friedman indicated that those things that didn’t pan out could have been significant.
“I think the Flames have low-key taken some bigger swings than we’ve fully realized yet, especially on defence,” said Friedman. “I heard they thought about some things that were bigger than we realized.”
He elaborated a bit later on in his discussion.
“I think Conroy sneakily was trying some bigger things that just didn’t come to fruition,” said Friedman. “I think it was like, ‘okay, if this is not there, we’re not going to push it to a ridiculous stage.’ And that’s what I think they’ve kind of looked at.”
“I don’t think Conroy is afraid to do something big, but I think he’s got goals, and he’s got to hit those goals before he does it.”

An update on Rasmus Andersson

It’s impossible to have a check-in with an NHL insider without a discussion about the life, times and future of Flames blueliner Rasmus Andersson. In a fairly lengthy chunk of the Flames section of the podcast, Friedman dug into Andersson’s situation:
“Now obviously there was the Andersson talks with Vegas. And I will say this: I don’t think it’s accurate that Andersson will only play for one team, but I have heard it’s limited. It’s more than one, but it’s not like 10. I think it’s a short list at this point in time. And I understand why the Flames might say no to that now and think they’ll be in a better place later. Because if they trade him at the deadline, then he’ll go anywhere that’s good. They’ll be a market for a player like him: he’s a right hand shot, good player making not a lot of money, and at that point in time you’re just going somewhere where you think you can best fit in and showcase yourself for the next deal. And if you go to a good team and you make it better, it really sets you up. So I understand why the Flames feel that way, it’s not a bad strategy.”
For those interested, Pat Steinberg and Eric Francis had a great discussion of Andersson’s situation (and the Flames attempts to maximize his value in the marketplace) on Friday’s edition of Flames Talk.

Please stop making up quotes about Nazem Kadri

So, uh, Friedman had a weird week on some levels. For whatever reason, there were a lot of quotes floating on social media regarding the Flames moving on from Nazem Kadri, which were attributed to Friedman – usually linked to radio hits.
Here’s the thing: those quotes weren’t from Friedman. He did not say those things, but the quotes bounced around to the point where he had to let teams know that he hadn’t said them and that they were fake. (So please stop making up quotes about Kadri, folks.)
After relaying that story on the podcast, Friedman added a quick update about Kadri: in short, the Flames get calls on him but aren’t in a hurry to do anything because he’s good at hockey and they like him:
“I just think with Kadri, the Flames have been asked about him before. They have him for term. Unless he comes to them and says ‘I don’t think it’s working here, I want to go somewhere to compete,’ or they absolutely get their socks blown off to the point where they have to go to him and say we want to do this, I don’t think that’s happening. I don’t think the Flames are really in a hurry to trade Nazem Kadri right now, not after he had such a fantastic season for them.”
Head on over to wherever you get your podcasts to check out the marathon season finale episode of 32 Thoughts!
Sponsored by bet365:

Editorials

Breaking News