Just like that, the 2025 NHL trade deadline has passed. While there weren’t as many trades as previous years, blockbuster deals were still made as contenders made their moves to gear up for the postseason.
The Calgary Flames made zero moves on deadline day, and it caused a mixed reaction within the fanbase. Some were relived that the team didn’t waste draft capital buying players, while others believed the team missed some major opportunities by not being more active. I’m with the latter and argue that the Flames were among the losers of this year’s trade deadline but for specific reasons. In this article, let’s go over some reasons why I believe the Flames lost out.
The Flames didn’t capitalize on a hot seller’s market
Seeing how this was a seller’s market, the Flames were potentially sitting on a goldmine. Players like Rasmus Andersson, Blake Coleman and Nazem Kadri all were major trade chips the Flames could’ve dangled out there. Instead, they decided beforehand that no veterans were going to be on the move, and opted to keep them.
While trading players is way easier said than done, the fact that the Flames didn’t entertain offers on any of these players was a missed opportunity. They should’ve at least tested the market for these players to see what type of offers were out there, instead of being set on keeping them.
With players getting back higher returns than usual, the Flames could’ve taken advantage of this market by being open to sell. GM Craig Conroy stated that he fully believed in this group of players, and wanted to keep them together to have a shot at making the playoffs. But what happens if Calgary fails to make the postseason? The Flames aren’t exactly a threat to cause damage and a couple of bad games could easily result in this team sliding down the standings. This statement wouldn’t age well knowing that Calgary could’ve built for the future rather than being influenced by short-term success.
Depth pieces were also kept
The Flames not only decided to keep core veterans, but depth pieces were also spared from trades. Players like Daniil Miromanov and Joel Hanley were expected by many to be moved but they ended up staying put.
Now I understand that Miromanov or Hanley wouldn’t get much of a return back, but earlier reports by Elliotte Friedman suggested that the Flames were receiving interest in Hanley from other teams. He then added that Calgary preferred to keep him rather than trading him away.
This makes little sense especially if the Flames had genuine offers for a player like Hanley. He was a waiver claim last season and turning him into a mid-round pick for example is great asset management. It seems like the Flames do believe in this group to make it to the dance, even if there’s a large chance that they miss out.
Not acquiring scoring help
Fine, if the Flames believe this group can make some noise, they will have to score more goals. The Flames are amongst the bottom of the league in goals-for-per-game, as their offence all season has been pretty anemic.
In a playoff series, the reality is that their offence wouldn’t even come close to matching up to teams like Winnipeg or Vegas. If the Flames are really dead set on making the playoffs, then acquiring scoring help would’ve been understandable.
While Flames fans are relieved the team didn’t spend huge assets to buy, the Flames are now fully counting on their offence improving enough to make the playoffs, but that hasn’t been this team’s style all year. To win games, the Flames have to play tight-checking, boring hockey to make up for their lack of talent. It’s likely that the prices for “cheap help” were too high as it was a seller’s market after all.
The Flames didn’t weaponize cap space
Perhaps one of the biggest disappointments was that the Flames didn’t weaponize their large amount of cap space. Calgary had about $18 million of cap room to work with on deadline day, and none of it was used to help out teams financially in exchange for future assets. One of the major things fans hoped for was that if the Flames weren’t going to be active in player transactions, at least they could’ve acted as brokers in other trades. Unfortunately, this did not happen.
Conroy did explain that other teams contacted him about salary retention, but they wanted it for multi-year deals. The Flames were not okay with retaining multi-year contracts, and this is understandable. But it’s still unfortunate that the Flames couldn’t gain extra assets to make up for their lack of selling.
Why Flames fans were disappointed at the deadline
In addition to everything said above, a couple more moves were also rumored to have been considered only for the Flames to not pull the trigger on them.
From Royle9 on Calgary Puck, one the people I've mentioned who's broken #Flames related things before:
— Yegor Sharangovich replaced Breadman (@FierySharky) March 7, 2025
"Ferraro has drawn interest, Craig isn't looking to pay a heft price though.
Calgary was in on Cozens right up until the move was made, Flames wouldn't part ways with Zary who…
Now obviously we can’t confirm the validity of these rumours, but the lack of moves upset Flames fans for one true reason: lack of direction.
The fear of mediocrity has plagued the minds of Flames fans for years, and it’s happening yet again this season. The team has been in and out of the playoff conversation all year, resulting in a mediocre status. The lack of activity from the team at the deadline just reinforces this notion. Are they rebuilding? Or are they going all in? What’s the plan? Is the current roster of players really good enough to make a run?
Nonetheless, if the Flames manage to get into the postseason, it’ll likely be a pretty short series. On the flipside, they also likely won’t be bad enough to retain their draft pick, leaving them in no man’s land in the middle. There’s a whole lot of season left to play still, but it’s looking like mediocrity is yet again a major threat for this team.
