While the 2026 offseason won’t be as busy as summers in years past, the Calgary Flames still have a lot of work ahead of them over the next couple of months, and some big questions that will need to be answered.
Craig Conroy has done a tremendous job setting up the Flames for their first real rebuild in decades, but the work is just beginning. Below are the biggest questions facing the Flames and Conroy.
How should the Flames use their wealth of draft picks?
Perhaps the most pressing question facing the Calgary Flames as we enter the 2026 offseason. Given the timely nature of the topic, the Flames will need to answer this question by June 27th at the latest. The team enters the 2026 draft with an absurd amount of picks, 11 to be exact, including eight in the first three rounds. Only St. Louis and Nashville have more. Now the question becomes, what do you do with all of those draft picks? In an episode of The Chase, Conroy and his management team specifically mention they won’t be making all of the picks they have in the 2026 draft; at least that’s the plan.
Going over the options
So how will they use them? That’s a big question facing Conroy right now, and one that will surely shape the look of this team for the next decade. Do you use them to make a blockbuster franchise-altering trade and move up into the top three of the draft? Should you package them with the Vegas first and move up in the first round? Can you package them and make more of a hockey trade and bring in a young roster player? The possibilities are endless, with each offering its own pros and cons.
Moving up into the top three is virtually impossible in the NHL, so the price would likely be astronomical and completely clear the Flames’ draft cupboard. However, for a player like Ivar Stenberg, it’s probably worth it. If the Flames want to make sure this rebuild doesn’t last too long, packaging the picks for a player like Shane Wright or Mason McTavish could be a very real option. Get help now instead of 4-5 years from now. The issue with that option is that players like Wright and McTavish are available via trade for a reason, and likely, they never reach their full potential.
If I were a betting man, I’d say the Flames won’t be picking at 30 or 31 with the Vegas pick. It makes a ton of sense to package that pick with some seconds to move up into the 10-20 range of the first round and add another top prospect to the system. If someone like Viggo Bjorck or Tynan Lawrence starts falling, it wouldn’t shock me to see Conroy use his plethora of picks to move up and grab them.
Position or best player available at sixth overall?
By dropping down to sixth overall in the 2026 draft, the Flames were left with a bit of a conundrum. No longer could they have their pick of the litter; they’re now at the mercy of the five teams ahead of them. Gavin McKenna and Ivar Stenberg won’t be there at six, so it’s time for plan B. At sixth, the Flames will have a major decision to make given the nature of this draft class. With no elite forwards after the big two and a plethora of defencemen available, do the Flames reach for their biggest positional need or take the best player and go from there?
Keaton Verhoeff’s name has been coming up a lot recently when discussing the Flames’ best options at sixth overall, but the issue is that he’s a right-shot defender. Arguably the least important skater position for the Flames. It’s no secret the Flames are desperate for centres, or just forwards in general. So do you skip over potentially the best player available at sixth and target someone like Bjorck, Alberts Smits, or Lawrence, who fits the Flames’ positional needs much better?
That’s the question facing Conroy and Todd Button right now. Is it unwise to use two top-ten picks on right-shot defenders? Zayne Parekh is already here. Does the team really need another right-shot defender? Or should you take the best player available regardless and deal with the backlog later on? Having two elite right-shot defenders is certainly not a bad thing, and it may be a much better option than reaching for a centre or a left-shot defender simply because they’re a better fit? It’s a fascinating debate and one that we won’t know the answer to until the night of June 26th.
An intriguing month ahead
As is tradition for the Calgary Flames over the past few years, the Flames will once again be front and centre in the 2026 offseason. With more draft picks than almost every team and a hunger to make a splash, expect June to be a wild ride in Calgary and one that finally answers some big questions about the future of this team.