The Calgary Flames weren’t the NHL’s worst team entering Tuesday night, though the performance they gave suggested otherwise.
The Flames wrapped up their final outing of a five-game road trip on Tuesday versus the Nashville Predators, the only team that sat behind them in league standings. The Predators, however, looked nothing like a last-placed team, walking away with a decisive 5-1 victory.
This game was never close, as the Preds held a 5-0 lead at one point in the third period before Morgan Frost was able to wreck Juuse Saros’ shutout on a power-play tally.
“We didn’t play a game that we’re going to be pleased with, that’s for sure,” head coach Ryan Huska said. “I don’t think we had a lot of speed to our game, and maybe more so speed when we didn’t have the puck. We were really slow to work to support tonight all over the place, I found.”
While Huska certainly wasn’t pleased with the result, many Flames fans were more than okay to see the loss.
NHL.com
With Tuesday’s loss to the Preds, the Flames have fallen back into dead last in the NHL standings. That’s great news for those who are hoping to see this team bottom out and potentially land what would be the organization’s first-ever first-overall draft pick.
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Many were also quick to mention Gavin McKenna, who is projected by many to be the first player selected at the 2026 draft.
— ً (@scarface__83) December 3, 2025
Whether the Flames do wind up landing the first-overall pick remains to be seen, but with a 9-15-4 record through 28 games, it seems very likely that they will be a draft-lottery team.
McKenna continues to be the name Flames fans are most excited about, but he’s far from the only exciting prospect entering next year’s draft. Other potential franchise-altering talents include names such as Keaton Verhoeff and Ivar Stenberg, both of whom would help speed up the Flames’ rebuild in a massive way.
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