Due to popular demand, we decided to bring in a mid-year fan survey to give you, the fan, an opportunity to provide your feedback on the Flames. The Win Column conducted a survey to get your thoughts on management, coaching, ownership, players, being a fan, and more. It’s time to share the results!
Before we get started, feel free to check out the results from last year’s fan survey. There are some similar questions to see the jump year over year if you’d like to compare.
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Management, Coaching, and Ownership
Tearing it down and rebuilding comes in at over 80%, which is more than a 15% jump from when this question was asked in the summer. Not surprising given the Flames start and where they sit in the standings this year.
An astounding 95% of respondents said the Flames don’t need as many veterans on their roster as they currently do. This makes sense, as teams usually carry a handful of veterans through a roster reset.
Just like last year, the culture question splits the fanbase pretty well. Some value it, some don’t, and some don’t care. More people voted for the culture aspect not mattering as much compared to last year’s results.
Aside from a couple stragglers, the jury was pretty split on the Elias Lindholm and Jacob Markstrom trades being the best move of Craig Conroy’s tenure so far. I would tend to agree. Both trades have added valuable young players that look to be pieces on the Flames roster when this reset is finished.
I can’t say I’m surprised with this answer, given the raucous that was caused in Maloney’s media interviews after their tough start to the season. He has yet to give me an answer that gives me any confidence, personally. Whether he stays (which is likely given his relationship with Murray Edwards) or goes, just don’t put him in front of a microphone or camera. Please.
We’ve asked this question on every survey, and the results come in about the same. Interestingly, the people begging for an ownership change dropped by about 8% compared to this past summer. I would have hypothesized that the percentage would have increased. The majority of fans want to hear from Murray publicly, but we know that’s very unlikely to happen.
‘The inmates run the asylum’ has described the Flames in recent years, as they fail to act on players unless they are in the last year of their contract or ask to be traded. I’m not surprised that an overwhelming majority agreed with this sentiment. Since this has spanned multiple President of Hockey Operations and General Managers, we know who is giving the barking orders.
There is a split on Huska and how he’s fared so far this year, but more of a majority think signing him to an extension was a mistake. He plays a boring brand of hockey, but it works sometimes.
Being a fan/fan experience
The fan questions give a general feel which makes sense given the disastrous start to the season that occurred. I think the thing that stands out the most is the fraction percentages for more interest, more games attended, more games watched. When you’re playing a boring brand of hockey with no star players and get off to a poor start, you can expect interest to drop.
A much larger cohort of fans voted for the team to make the playoffs in 2025-26 and 2026-27 in the summer. This shows that fans expect this roster reset to take a little bit longer. I respect the few people who placed their bet on the team making the playoffs this year. It’s an uphill climb, for sure.
The Players
I think if we would have put this survey out in the last few days compared to ten days ago, the results would have been much different. We didn’t even have the Boston Bruins listed as an option for Andersson, and now they’re the odds on favourites to land him as I’m typing this.
The majority of fans think that the team should trade both Blake Coleman and Nazem Kadri this year, or at least explore the market for them. It would be very proactive of the franchise to pursue moving both, given their ages and the seller’s market at hand. We’ve already heard there has been interest in both players, especially Coleman. It was interesting to see not a single person vote for the ‘Move him next year’ option for Coleman, given that is the year he is a pending UFA. People figure he’s moved this year.
Lomberg is routinely one of the only players who can bring some noise to the Saddledome nowadays. The results were pretty split, but the majority thinks the team should re-sign him. I would agree with that notion. He’s not really blocking anyone, and could easily shift to be a 13th forward if needed. He brings a ton of personality to the locker room, and you need at least one of these guys on a team.
It’s been almost a calendar year since Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee were acquired, and I would say the results are mixed. Both players have had their moments, good and bad. The majority seem to like both, but it will be interesting to see how things progress next year. Frost is a UFA at the end of next season.
Thank you for your responses on this mid-year fan survey. It is sure an interesting time to be a Flames fan. Do any of the responses stand out as surprising to you?
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