The Calgary Flames have trimmed down their roster significantly as they prepare for the 2025-26 season. For the Flames, their regular season will get underway on Oct. 8 in a road tilt versus the provincial rival Edmonton Oilers. Despite the game still being several days away, the Flames roster is nearly decided upon, as they have just one more player to cut.
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The Flames currently have 14 forwards, eight defencemen, and two goalies on their roster. Most teams around the NHL choose to roll with 14 forwards and seven defencemen, though it’s worth noting that the Flames elected to go with 13 forwards and eight defencemen to begin the 2024-25 campaign.
Flames Have Cut Some Strong Young Talent
The Flames have seemingly chosen to once again go with older, veteran players as opposed to young talent, something many fans have complained about over the years. That’s no different to this point this year, as they’ve reassigned some very good young players to the American Hockey League (AHL).
One such player is Sam Honzek, who made the roster out of training camp a season ago but wound up playing in just five NHL games. That said, this was a cut that didn’t ruffle many, if any, feathers of the fanbase, as it was widely believed that the 20-year-old needed more time in the AHL before becoming a regular in the Flames lineup. Other cuts, however, haven’t had the same sentiment.
Some of the more frustrating cuts the Flames have made as of late include a pair of defencemen in Yan Kuznetsov and Ilya Solovyov, both of whom required waivers. The Flames elected to attempt to reassign the two young blueliners in favour of players such as Jake Bean and Daniil Miromanov. While Kuznetsov got through waivers, Solovyov did not, as he was scooped up on Friday by the Colorado Avalanche.
Another eyebrow-raising move came when the Flames announced that Rory Kerins was being placed on waivers. The 23-year-old had a strong start to camp before some struggles late in the preseason. That said, he registered four assists in just five games with the Flames last season, while racking up a team-leading 33 goals and 61 points in 63 games with the Calgary Wranglers.
Though Kerins wound up going unclaimed on the waiver wire, it was a risk that was seen by many as unnecessary. With what he showed last season, along with the fact that he’s a player who has risen up the Flames’ rankings since being taken in the 2020 Draft, many thought he deserved what would be his first true NHL look. Instead, the Flames elected to go with some older veterans on the roster, such as Justin Kirkland and Ryan Lomberg.
The decision to keep a player like Kirkland over Kerins has been a source of frustration to many. Kirkland, who is 29 years old and has logged just 30 NHL games, is a fringe NHLer at best, and at his age is unlikely to improve his game much further. That is the exact opposite of Kerins, who still has plenty of potential and would seemingly benefit most from being a regular in the NHL at this point in his career.
Flames Failing to Commit One Way or the Other
When Craig Conroy took over as the Flames’ general manager, it felt as though this organization was headed towards a rebuild, one which many felt was the right step to take. While they have been able to add good prospects thanks to some good drafting, they are still tending to commit to older players in order to be a competitive group.
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The better plan for them moving forward would be to commit to younger players on a more regular basis. It may result in more losses in the short term, though that isn’t a bad thing. Doing so would allow these young players to get the proper reps in, while also giving the Flames better draft positioning to help them in their goal of morphing into a contender.
