With 26 games left in the regular season, there are few people out there giving the Calgary Flames a shot at making the playoffs.
NHL teams just don’t overcome an 11-point deficit at this time of year. The 10-point gap between the Flames and the dead-last Vancouver Canucks is only narrowly smaller than the margin between Calgary and the Anaheim Ducks, who are sitting in the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot.
There’s exponentially more talk about which veterans the Flames might trade before the March 6 deadline than there is about their odds of miraculously making the post-season.
So what is there to play for? What’s at stake the rest of the season? What would make these final 26 games a success?
Here, in no particular order, are a few things the Flames will be looking to accomplish:
1. The youth brigade
We don’t know what the Flames’ roster is going to look like after the trade deadline. We do know that one way or another, fans should be expecting to see a lot of Zayne Parekh and Matvei Gridin between now and the end of the season.
The Flames’ two first-round picks in the 2024 NHL Draft are here to stay and getting them playing time is a priority.
They’ve got to earn it, of course — this is professional hockey we’re talking about — but the Flames chose to keep Parekh in the NHL instead of returning him to junior because they think it’s the best place for his development, and head coach Ryan Huska recently said he views Gridin as an NHL player now.
Parekh recently turned 20 and Gridin is still only 19, so there will be inevitable growing pains.
Calgary Flames defenceman Zayne Parekh, defenceman Kevin Bahl and goaltender Dustin Wolf guard the crease during the third period of the home opener against the St. Louis Blues at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025.
“There’s certain things you can give leeway to, there’s certain things you don’t. Whether it’s a younger guy or an older guy, that doesn’t matter,” Huska said. “If we’re talking about Gridin and Zayne as the younger guys, there’s certain things we expect them to do the same as I would expect Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman would do. They’re going to make some mistakes with poor reads from time to time, but that’s part of growing.
“The work ethic side of things, the puck pace, making sure they’re moving their feet and playing with urgency away from the puck — those things matter for us, whether you’re young or old.”
Hunter Brzustewicz has returned to the AHL after 18 games with the Flames in December and January, but the 21-year-old should be back on the NHL blue line soon enough. Guys like William Stromgren, who was just named the AHL’s Player of the Week, should get a look, too.
2. Speed
The Flames practised for a little over a week during the Olympic break before they return to the ice in San Jose for a game against the Sharks on Thursday evening. As Huska explained, improving team speed was a point of emphasis all week.
“A lot of our focus is going to be on the skating side of the game and the puck movement side of the game,” Huska explained after the first day of practice. “That’s something that you have to hit on a lot as coaches to try to increase the team speed that we have. A lot of that has to do with, one, moving your feet, but a lot of it is the pace you play with the puck.”
The Flames won’t just be going through the motions during their final 26 games. It’s been a disappointing season precisely because they believe they’re better than their record. They’ll be using these next two months to improve, regardless of their playoff chances.
Related3. Forget tanking
The best thing for the Flames long-term might be to lose as many games as possible between now and season’s end and secure the best possible odds for the NHL’s draft lottery.
We can say that, but that doesn’t mean anyone in the Flames’ locker room needs to believe it. Keeping young players away from a losing culture has rightfully been a management priority for years. It isn’t changing now.
“The plan is to go out there and try to win every game,” said Flames captain Backlund. “There’s not many games left and I know it’s a big gap to the playoffs, but we’re going to fight until the end. That’s our goal, to climb our way back and try to win every game.”
Calgary Flames centre Mikael Backlund battles Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner in second-period NHL action at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary on Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026.
Even if you are rooting for the Flames to lose every game between now and the end of April, that quote shouldn’t make you mad. The Flames might not have the talent to make a push now that they’ve traded Rasmus Andersson, are without the injured Jonathan Huberdeau for the rest of the season and could move more veterans like Nazem Kadri or Blake Coleman.
Still, though, the expectation is the group of players on the roster will go out and fight.
“We’re very much a one game at a time team,” Huska said. “I want the guys to make sure they’re focused on being more competitive than their opponent. We have to focus on our puck speed and our foot speed and we have to make sure we’re prepared to win the day. That’s about it for our team, we want them to keep focused on where they’re at right now.”