The Calgary Flames’ 2025-26 season will end on Thursday night when they host the Los Angeles Kings.

However, that doesn’t mean that it’ll be the last game every single member of the team plays this spring. As is always the case, the IIHF World Championships takes place in May – this year’s edition runs May 15-31 in Zurich and Fribourg, Switzerland – and it’s a chance for players who want to keep playing competitive hockey to do so.

Traditionally, the national team rosters at the World Championships are chock full of players that missed the playoffs or were knocked out in the first round.

So which Flames players have a decent chance to go? (We’re assuming that Blake Coleman, whose wife just had a baby, Mikael Backlund, who went last year, and the various recently injured Flames like Kevin Bahl, Matt Coronato and Zach Whitecloud all won’t be going to Worlds.)

There are 12 American-born goaltenders that played 30-plus games this season. The Flames have two of them on their roster. We anticipate a tandem situation involving Chicago’s Spencer Knight, but we wouldn’t be shocked if one of Dustin Wolf or Devin Cooley joined him as two-thirds of the American netminding group as they try to keep the good goaltending vibes of the past couple of months going.

We don’t think that both of Calgary’s goalies would go, but stranger things have happened.

Speaking of Americans that had good seasons with the Flames, Farabee was a revelation for the Flames, finding a clear identity to his game early in the season and bringing speed, smarts, physicality and a savvy two-way game. He’s also flirted with 20 goals this season. He seems like a natural fit for Team USA.

Part of this suggestion is because it might be fun to see best friends Farabee and Morgan Frost go head-to-head. But besides that, Frost has had a really good season and his back half of the calendar was particularly strong. A trip to Worlds would be a nice bow on a pretty good season for him.

A year ago, Zayne Parekh went to Europe and practised with the men’s national team but didn’t suit up – he was never officially added to the team’s roster for the Worlds themselves. Parekh’s going to have a big summer ahead of him as he tries to bulk up and apply the lessons of his first pro season. Would the Worlds be too much for him? (As in: would going to the Worlds provide him with too many lessons to process?) We’re not sure, but we think it would be a fun challenge for him.

Adam Klapka has been a really good role player for the Flames, bringing energy and physicality. He wasn’t included in Czechia’s Olympic roster, a move that made many go, “Wait, what?” And then Czechia didn’t medal. So we suspect the national team will try out some new looks at the Worlds, and Klapka could get a shot there.

Martin Pospisil was included on Slovakia’s Olympic roster, and he had a pretty good performance all things considered. He missed the bronze medal game and Slovakia finished fourth. He’s sort of lacked momentum since the Olympics, being in and out of the Flames’ lineup, so perhaps a run at the Worlds with the national team could give him something to build off of heading into the summer.

Finally, there’s Maatta, the only Flames player that won a medal at the Olympics. He’s good and if he’s available, we suspect Finland would love to have him.