When it comes to the two hockey teams in Alberta, they’re on completely different ends of the winning spectrum. The Edmonton Oilers have made the last two Stanley Cup Finals. The Calgary Flames have missed the playoffs for the last four years. However, after last night’s successful hate watch, dare I say the Flames had a more successful 2025–26 season than the Oilers?
The current state of the teams
With talents like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Evan Bouchard, it’s incredibly difficult to miss the playoffs entirely. The Oilers have been a playoff team since 2020. They made it to at least conference finals in three of the last four seasons. This has made the Oilers one of the top contenders in the West for some time now. A team with two of the best players in the world, every year should be cup or bust.
On the other hand, the Flames have been struggling. They have some promising pieces, such as Zayne Parekh, Dustin Wolf, and Matvei Gridin, but their return to the playoffs is still likely a few years away. Since 2022, the Flames have struggled with identity. They have repeated a pattern of barely missing the playoffs and then finishing in the bottom 10 the following year. However, this season, the Flames management has seemed to choose a direction and head towards a full rebuild.
A retrospective look back at both teams’ seasons
The Oilers’ 2025–26 Season: A failed Stanley Cup run
As mentioned before, the Oilers’ goal each year should be cup or bust. With a team that is constantly considered a true contender for a cup with high-end talent, the goal is the Stanley Cup, or it’s a failure. So, being eliminated by the Anaheim Ducks in Round 1 in six games is nowhere near successful. Sure, lots of their players were probably gassed from all the hockey they’ve played the past two years. McDavid certainly wasn’t 100%.
But even past the early exit, the Oilers didn’t have a great year from a management perspective. Trading a first-round pick for Jason Dickinson is meh, even with consideration that they dumped Andrew Mangiapane’s contract. They still don’t have a reliable goalie, and the Tristan Jarry/Stuart Skinner deal looked bad from the start. After this first-round exit, the Oilers will likely be looking for a new head coach as well. It felt like the Oilers had a year of ignoring the problems they had, and trying to plug holes that weren’t leaking as much as others.
The Flames’ 2025–26 Season: Mastering the rebuild
Heading into the year, the Flames seemed directionless. The team clearly wasn’t built to make the playoffs, certainly not to go deep if they did make it. It felt like as soon as the season began, the Flames sat in the basement of the league. But higher management seemed to stick with the ideology of “sneak in and anything can happen.” However, around the halfway point, the management group must have looked at themselves in the mirror and realized what their team truly is. By season’s end, the Flames finished in the bottom 5.
From January through the March deadline, the Flames traded away a handful of players. Rasmus Andersson to Vegas, MacKenzie Weegar to Utah, and Nazem Kadri to Colorado. Across those three trades, the Flames acquired an abundance of picks and players: two first-round picks, five second-round picks, Zach Whitecloud, Olli Maatta, Victor Olofsson, and prospects Abram Wiebe, Jonathan Castagna, and Max Curran. Each prospect shows promise as a depth piece, while Whitecloud and Maatta had strong performances for the Flames. In addition to these deals, the Flames also acquired Ryan Strome from Anaheim for a 7th-round pick in 2027. Considering Strome put up 12 points in 19 games to end the year, there is a good possibility of the Flames flipping him for more than a 7th at next year’s deadline.
Even outside of the trades, the Flames’ young pieces continued to show promise. Matvei Gridin took big steps forward this year, going on a hot streak to end the season. He finished with 20 points in 37 games and looks to have more potential than people originally thought at the start of the year. Zayne Parekh’s ending to the season was good as well. He seemed to be finding more confidence, production, and space to work with.
The Flames checked off more of their boxes
When looking at the 2025–26 seasons for the Flames and Oilers, I don’t think it’s crazy to say the Flames had more success. Being a cup contender and being upset in Round 1 is never good. The Oilers continue to struggle to address their true needs. They are probably looking for a new head coach as well. While the rebuilding Flames traded away their aging pieces for valuable assets to grow their already deep prospect pool, they got development out of young players and positioned themselves to get a top-end player in this draft.
If you think success should be measured in actual wins and making the playoffs, then you won’t agree with this sentiment. And that’s fine, the playoffs are what every hockey team plays for. But looking at the situations and outcomes for each team, I believe the Flames checked off more of the boxes on their checklist. Maybe I’m just a hater, maybe I just want to include my favourite team, but that signifies a more successful season to me.
