The old saying goes “it ain’t over ’til it’s over.”

Well, folks, as far as the Calgary Flames and the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs are concerned, it’s over. The Flames were officially, mathematically eliminated from Stanley Cup playoff contention on Tuesday night with five games remaining on their regular season schedule.

Through 77 games, the Flames had posted a record of 32-36-9, for 73 points. With five games left, the highest point total they could accumulate is 83.

When Nashville beat Anaheim on Tuesday night, a couple hours after the Flames lost to Dallas in overtime, they reached 84 points, joining Colorado (112), Dallas (104), Minnesota (102), Utah (88), Edmonton (88), Vegas (88) and Anaheim (87) as teams with more points than the Flames can possibly earn. With eight teams guaranteed to finish ahead of the Flames, they’re officially out of the playoff mix.

It’s the fourth consecutive spring without playoff hockey for the Flames, who last qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs back in 2022. Back then, the Flames captured the Pacific Division’s regular season crown with a 50-21-11 record and 111 points. They dispatched of the Stars, the first wild-card team that season, in a thrilling seven game clash that culminated with a Johnny Gaudreau Game 7 overtime winner in the Saddledome. Then the Flames lost in five games to the Edmonton Oilers.

The Flames began a new phase of their franchise’s development when Craig Conroy became general manager in May 2023 and began to overhaul the team. He traded Tyler Toffoli before the 2023 NHL Draft, then four more regulars (Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin) during the 2023-24 season, then two more (Andrew Mangiapane and Jacob Markstrom) prior to the 2024 NHL Draft, then continued that process during this past season with the departures of Rasmus Andersson, MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri.

The hope is that Conroy and his management group can break the boom-bust-rebuild cycle by developing a team that can be a sustainable contender over the long term. But there’s probably going to be some short-term standings pain, and some more springs without the playoffs, before the payoff comes down the line.

We’ll see how the plan pans out. Right now, it’s resulted in the Flames being eliminated from post-season contention.