Flames Looking To Add Scoring Help

It has been a tough start to the season for the Flames.  They enter play today in 32nd place in the standings with just three points through their first nine games.  While Dustin Wolf’s play has been up-and-down in goal in his sophomore year, there is an even bigger reason for their struggles.  That would be their offense, or lack thereof.

Calgary sits last in the league in goals scored this season with 15, or just 1.67 per game.  Only three forwards have scored more than once so far while their power play is just five for 38, a success rate of 13.2%.  Not surprisingly, all of those are well below league average in the early going.  Unfortunately for them, they were near the bottom of the league in goals in 2024-25 as well, meaning that this isn’t just a slow start.

While it’s rare for trades of any sort of impact to take place this early in the season, it appears the Flames are trying.  In a recent TSN Insider Trading segment, Pierre LeBrun reported that GM Craig Conroy is already working the phones to explore what options might be available to add some extra firepower to his team.

Cap space won’t be an issue if Conroy can find the right fit.  Per PuckPedia, the Flames project to finish the season nearly $11MM under the Upper Limit based on their current roster.  They could easily add a player or two up front and comfortably remain in cap compliance.

That said, just because they can do that doesn’t necessarily mean they should.  With their early struggles and already being viewed as a team that’s iffy at best to make the playoffs, the more prudent approach might be to sell and kickstart at least a short-term rebuild.  Veterans like defenseman Rasmus Andersson (a pending UFA) and center Nazem Kadri could command significant returns, adding to their prospect pool and draft cupboard while bottoming out to try to secure a top spot in a strong 2026 draft class would be defensible.  Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman recently reported (video link) that Calgary wouldn’t entertain the thought of moving Kadri until he passes the 1,000-game threshold, something he should do next month.

However, Conroy has been hesitant to undertake a full-scale rebuild, even after moving out some veterans a couple of years ago.  Instead, he has hoped that his core group, coupled with strong goaltending from Wolf, could hang around the playoff mix.  They did just that last season, finishing with 96 points but still narrowly missed out on securing the final Wild Card spot in the West.

Believed to be a likely seller heading into last season, the Flames wound up being buyers, picking up Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost from Philadelphia in the hopes of upgrading their offense, something that didn’t exactly happen.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see Conroy targeting a similar type of move but if their struggles continue a little longer, they ultimately could wind up changing course and become sellers instead of buyers and put aside shoring up their offensive depth until the offseason.