When it comes to the two hockey teams in Alberta, they\u2019re on completely different ends of the winning spectrum. The Edmonton Oilers have made the last two Stanley Cup Finals. The Calgary Flames have missed the playoffs for the last four years. However, after last night\u2019s successful hate watch, dare I say the Flames had a more successful 2025\u201326 season than the Oilers?<\/p>\n
The current state of the teams<\/p>\n
With talents like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard, it\u2019s incredibly difficult to miss the playoffs entirely. The Oilers have been a playoff team since 2020. They made it to at least conference finals in three of the last four seasons. This has made the Oilers one of the top contenders in the West for some time now. A team with two of the best players in the world, every year should be cup or bust.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the Flames have been struggling. They have some promising pieces, such as Zayne Parekh, Dustin Wolf, and Matvei Gridin, but their return to the playoffs is still likely a few years away. Since 2022, the Flames have struggled with identity. They have repeated a pattern of barely missing the playoffs and then finishing in the bottom 10 the following year. However, this season, the Flames management has seemed to choose a direction and head towards a full rebuild.<\/p>\n
A retrospective look back at both teams\u2019 seasons<\/p>\n
The Oilers\u2019 2025\u201326 Season: A failed Stanley Cup run<\/p>\n
As mentioned before, the Oilers\u2019 goal each year should be cup or bust. With a team that is constantly considered a true contender for a cup with high-end talent, the goal is the Stanley Cup, or it\u2019s a failure. So, being eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in Round 1 in six games<\/a> is nowhere near successful. Sure, lots of their players were probably gassed from all the hockey they\u2019ve played the past two years. McDavid certainly wasn\u2019t 100%.<\/p>\n But even past the early exit, the Oilers didn\u2019t have a great year from a management perspective. Trading a first-round pick for Jason Dickinson<\/a> is meh, even with consideration that they dumped Andrew Mangiapane\u2019s contract. They still don\u2019t have a reliable goalie, and the Tristan Jarry\/Stuart Skinner deal <\/a>looked bad from the start. After this first-round exit, the Oilers will likely be looking for a new head coach as well. It felt like the Oilers had a year of ignoring the problems they had, and trying to plug holes that weren\u2019t leaking as much as others.<\/p>\n The Flames\u2019 2025\u201326 Season: Mastering the rebuild<\/p>\n Heading into the year, the Flames seemed directionless. The team clearly wasn\u2019t built to make the playoffs, certainly not to go deep if they did make it. It felt like as soon as the season began, the Flames sat in the basement of the league. But higher management seemed to stick with the ideology of \u201csneak in and anything can happen.\u201d However, around the halfway point, the management group must have looked at themselves in the mirror and realized what their team truly is. By season\u2019s end, the Flames finished in the bottom 5.<\/p>\n From January through the March deadline, the Flames traded away a handful of players. Rasmus Andersson to Vegas<\/a>, MacKenzie Weegar to Utah<\/a>, and Nazem Kadri to Colorado<\/a>. Across those three trades, the Flames acquired an abundance of picks and players: two first-round picks, five second-round picks, Zach Whitecloud, Olli Maatta, Victor Olofsson, and prospects Abram Wiebe, Jonathan Castagna, and Max Curran. Each prospect shows promise as a depth piece, while Whitecloud and Maatta had strong performances for the Flames. In addition to these deals, the Flames also acquired Ryan Strome from Anaheim for a 7th-round pick in 2027. Considering Strome put up 12 points in 19 games to end the year, there is a good possibility of the Flames flipping him for more than a 7th at next year\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n