The 2025–26 NHL season is in full swing! With the Calgary Flames coming off a 4–3 comeback win vs the Edmonton Oilers, their season is bound to be filled with ups and downs.
As usual, we like to compare how the Flames’ opening night roster looks this season versus the season prior. In this article, let’s quickly compare the 2025–26 group with the roster the Flames iced last season.
A forward group that mostly stays the same
Let’s take a look at the opening night forward groups from both seasons:
2024–25:
- Jonathan Huberdeau
- Mikael Backlund
- Blake Coleman
- Kevin Rooney
- Matt Coronato
- Sam Honzek
- Anthony Mantha
- Adam Klapka
- Connor Zary
- Ryan Lomberg
- Martin Pospisil
- Nazem Kadri
- Andrei Kuzemenko
- Note: Sharangovich was injured during the 2024 preseason
2025–26:
- Mikeal Backlund
- Morgan Frost
- Yegor Sharangovich
- Blake Coleman
- Justin Kirkland
- Matt Coronato
- Sam Honzek
- Adam Klapka
- Connor Zary
- Ryan Lomberg
- Joel Farabee
- Nazem Kadri
- Matvei Gridin
- Note: Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil are currently on IR
There are some differences in the 2025–26 roster compared to last season. For starters, seeing Matvei Gridin make the team is truly something special, as he had a great preseason similar to what Sam Honzek did last season. In fact, he even scored his first NHL goal in his debut. Honzek is currently on the roster, but as an extra. Jonathan Huberdeau and Martin Pospisil suffered injuries in the preseason and have started the season on the IR.
The Flames will also have a full season of Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee, as well as the departures of Anthony Mantha, Kevin Rooney and Andrei Kuzmenko. Justin Kirkland makes the team out of camp, replacing Rooney as the Flames’ fourth-line centre. As for the rest, the Flames didn’t change much.
Defence is also filled with familiar faces
As for the blueline, the Flames mostly kept it the same as well, with the one prominent addition being Zayne Parekh making the team out of camp. Tyson Barrie wasn’t re-signed by the team, and he announced his retirement from the NHL later in the offseason. Rasmus Andersson remains with the team despite heavy speculation regarding a trade in the offseason. He’s still likely to get dealt later on.
2024–25:
- Rasmus Andersson
- Kevin Bahl
- Tyson Barrie
- Jake Bean
- Joel Hanley
- MacKenzie Weegar
- Daniil Miromanov
- Brayden Pachal
2025–26:
- Rasmus Andersson
- Zayne Parekh
- Jake Bean
- Kevin Bahl
- Joel Hanley
- MacKenzie Weegar
- Daniil Miromanov
- Brayden Pachal
Dustin Wolf’s workload increases
The Flames’ goaltending saw the departure of Dan Vladar. Taking his place for now is Devin Cooley, who only has six games of NHL experience. It’s safe to say that this season, Wolf will be seeing the net a lot more.
2024–25:
- Dustin Wolf
- Dan Vladar
2025–26:
- Dustin Wolf
- Devin Cooley
What to expect from this group
As usual, expectations for this group are hard to nail down. The Flames are mostly bringing back the same roster from last season, a roster that struggled to score goals and depended a lot on their starting goaltender for wins. Can they get more goals out of this group? Sure. However, this is a team that will yet again depend on Wolf for help. Goaltending may take a hit if Wolf gets burnt out, and Cooley isn’t as experienced a backup as Valdar was. We’ll see if the Flames make any more upgrades, but in short, when it comes to the Flames, expect the unexpected sometimes.
