The Flames have had a season to remember, for all the wrong reasons it seems. The team entered the 2025–26 season with Playoff hopes and excitement surrounding its rising young core. At that point, many fans thought the organization was being unrealistic, high off a 2024–25 season that exceeded expectations, while still missing the playoffs. Despite the fans’ uncertainty, I don’t know if anyone expected to see a soap opera unfold in Calgary this season.
The team got off to the worst start in franchise history, and it finally seemed like the writing was on the wall; it was time for the team to stop pretending and lean into the slide. Then Don Maloney was sent out not once, but twice in one week to address the media. The Flames’ President went on a rant about high draft picks and rebuilding as “fantasy hockey” and communicated plans to focus on the playoffs.
If that wasn’t enough, Murray Edwards’ Jester is looking for fan sympathy, expressing the need to fill a building for 82 games. Unfortunately, Flames fans have been filling a building in large part for 20 years to watch Marketably Competitive hockey. All in all, it appeared yet again that Maloney has the PR training of a horse, and Edwards believes Flames fans will continue to hand over money for mediocrity.
We haven’t even touched on the trade rumours or front office contract debacle.
With all of the off-ice distractions this season and the organization’s frustrating messaging to fans, we wanted to know what word fans would use to describe this Franchise? We asked, you answered.
Want to take part in Sunday Census polls? We send them out every week on our Twitter at @wincolumnCGY. Follow along or send in ideas for the next poll!
Describe the Flames in one word
We presented the poll below to our readers:
Frustrating
Almost every response to this week’s question drew back to one common theme: Frustration.
Dysfunctional, mediocre, deficient, boring, sad, unfulfilling, nightmare, mushy, delusional, horrible, inconsistent, painful, lacky, abysmal and lost to name a few. All are expressing some level of frustration with this team’s blinding misdirection. With the team’s horrific start to the season, the trade speculations are through the roof on Rasmus Andersson and Nazem Kadri. Both are playing great, and their trade value is most definitely increasing.
Maloney’s debacle made it clear they weren’t going anywhere for the time being. However, it appeared that General Manager Craig Conroy had no confirmed contract extension up to that point. Fast forward a week, and the entire front office gets two-year extensions that were “signed before the season started.”
Jump ahead to this week, and rumours surfaced on the situation yet again, now saying that Conroy did not, in fact, have a contract extension in place until recently. Tough to believe this organization has any plan in place, let alone a strategy to manage its assets, when your general manager is 25% through a season without an extension.
Rebiggle
The phrase coined by Don Maloney in his intermission interview with Brendan Parker was mentioned a few times in our replies as well this week. The term has become a staple of Flames culture this season as the perfect way to describe the franchise’s ineptitude. At times, it feels as if the Flames are trying to bluff. To an inexperienced Flames fan or outsider of the franchise, you may think as much. Real Flames fans know that if it sounds too ridiculous to be true, it isn’t.
There is no question this season is going to go exactly as the last 20 have if the team stays within 10 points of a playoff spot. The condensed schedule hasn’t been friendly to many teams, and the Flames currently sit three points out of dead last in overall standings while only four points shy of a wild card spot. This is territory all too familiar to Flames fans. Don’t expect the “Re-biggle” to feel like it’s happening until after the Olympics. If the Flames are even sniffing a playoff spot when players return from Milan, you can say goodbye to any top-five pick.
Mushy middle
This season is on track to be something all too familiar after it started looking like it may finally be time for this franchise to express any interest in drafting elite talent at the top of the draft. This group’s resilience may be the nail in their own coffin once again. After two solid wins in the last outings against the Minnesota Wild and Utah Mammoth, the Flames look to be heating up.
Dustin Wolf looked very good last night with a shutout performance, and Devin Cooley has been one of the hottest goalies in the league despite a couple of slip-ups. It seems the team is going to get better goaltending than it appeared, and some individuals are finally starting to step up.
There are still problems. Many, many problems. However, I’m not as convinced this team is destined for 32nd overall as I was two weeks ago.
They appear to be turning things around slowly and finding some sort of groove. It certainly won’t be a playoff groove, but Murray Edwards will take it as every reason to press forward even harder. Any hope is false hope in Calgary. We’re being sold hope, but as Flames fans, we need to stop buying it.
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