6 wild-card players that could come up big for Calgary Flames next season

The Calgary Flames are a tough team to predict heading into the 2025-26 season. A year ago, nearly everyone projected them to finish near the bottom of the NHL standings, predictions which they proved to be foolish, as they wound up missing the playoffs by just a single point.

Despite vastly outperforming expectations, however, they had a number of players who had underwhelming seasons from a personal perspective. How those players — who are listed below — perform this coming season will play a big part in determining whether the Flames can be a playoff team.

With that said, here are their six biggest wild cards heading into the 2025-26 season.

Yegor Sharangovich

• 2024-25 stats: 73 GP, 17 G, 15 A, 32 PTS

There’s no beating around it: Yegor Sharangovich’s 2024-25 season was a disaster. The 27-year-old was inconsistent, often failing to make any sort of impact in games, and as a result, found himself spending some time up in the press box as a healthy scratch.

Last season’s version of Sharangovich was far different than what Flames fans had seen in 2023-24, where he put up a career-high 31 goals. Getting back to that level of production would be a sigh of relief for Flames management.

Joel Farabee

• 2024-25 stats: 81 GP, 11 G, 14 A, 25 PTS

Joel Farabee said it best during his end-of-season media availability. His 2024-25 season was an embarrassment for a player with his skill. Of course, it also doesn’t help that he’s commanding a salary of $5 million. His numbers will need to be far better in 2025-26 to live up to that cap hit.

Farabee really struggled after being acquired by the Flames last January, scoring just three goals and six points in 31 outings. The good news, however, is that he clearly went home with a chip on his shoulder and is going to be extremely motivated to prove himself to Flames fans this coming season.

Morgan Frost

• 2024-25 stats: 81 GP, 14 G, 23 A, 37 PTS

As was the case for Farabee, Morgan Frost’s 2024-25 season was extremely disappointing. In 32 games with the Flames after being traded for, he had only three goals and 12 points, numbers that he is far capable of exceeding.

Like Farabee, Frost was able to head out and clear his head over the offseason, perhaps taking the proper time needed to fully accept last season’s trade. He has the skill to be far more impactful, and the Flames would greatly benefit if he could find a way to put all that skill together.

Martin Pospisil

• 2024-25 stats: 81 GP, 4 G, 21 A, 25 PTS

While the stats may not jump off the page, don’t fool yourself; Martin Pospisil is an extremely effective NHLer. His physicality, edge, and speed give him plenty of value, and are big reasons why the Flames recently signed him to a three-year extension.

As effective as Pospisil can be, however, he is capable of more offence, and needs to improve on last season’s four-goal output. That simply isn’t acceptable, regardless of what line he’s on, and he’s going to need to become more selfish and trust his game more in 2025-26 to ensure he’s contributing more to the Flames’ secondary scoring.

Adam Klapka

• 2024-25 stats: 31 GP, 6 G, 4 A, 10 PTS

Perhaps it was nothing more than a hot streak, but Adam Klapka’s play to close out the 2024-25 season has many believing he could take a big jump in 2025-26. Four of Klapka’s six goals, as well as eight of his 10 points, came in the last 10 games of the season.

It’s easy to see what makes Klapka so valuable, as he stands at a massive 6-foot-8, 235 pounds. The key for him has always been to find a way to make himself effective by using his size to his advantage, and it seems as though he may have figured that out late last season.

Zayne Parekh

• 2024-25 stats: 61 GP, 33 G, 74 A, 107 PTS (OHL)

It’s hard to suggest that Zayne Parekh is a wild card, given that it isn’t a guarantee he makes the Flames roster this coming season. They do still have the option to send him back to the OHL should they feel he’s not quite ready for the bright lights. After all, he’s still just 19 years old.

Should Parekh crack the roster, however, it will be a lot of fun to see how he adjusts to the NHL. There will be some hiccups along the way, especially defensively, but this is one of the best offensive defencemen prospects entering the league in some time. He will be a treat to watch should he play in the NHL this coming season, even if none of us are fully sure what to expect.

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