Craig Conroy didn’t wait long to make another big splash on the trade market. Just a day after the Flames’ two retention spots from Jacob Markstrom and Rasmus Andersson officially opened up again, the team has traded both Blake Coleman and Olli Maatta to the Minnesota Wild for veteran defenceman Jacob Middleton and three draft picks. The Flames will be retaining 50% of Coleman’s contract for the 2026-27 season.
The return and what’s next
In return, the Flames received veteran defenceman Jacob Middleton and three draft picks. Overall, the return is just fine. Maybe you’d like a little more value coming back, considering Coleman’s reputation and cheap cap hit, but at the end of the day, he’s a soon-to-be 35-year-old third liner who is also a pending UFA. You can’t expect to receive much more, and getting a first-round pick for Coleman was never going to happen.
Middleton will add a veteran presence to the bottom of the Flames’ lineup and will make Joel Hanley even more expendable than he already was. Most importantly, this makes the Flames a worse team in 2026-27, which is a huge win for the organization.
The rebuild continues
Blake Coleman was the obvious next name on the chopping block in Calgary, and likely would’ve been traded at the 2026 trade deadline if the team had another retention spot left. The fact that Conroy pulled the trigger the day after the retention spots opened up means that moving Coleman was always at the top of his to-do list this summer.
The Flames have now traded yet another core veteran and, in the process, made their team worse, which is a good thing. The 2027 NHL draft will be the most important date for this franchise in decades, and this move further improves their chances of landing a top-three selection next summer.
