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Calgary Flames fans caught Don Maloney using the word 'rebuild' and here's how they reacted

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
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Nov 20 2025, 9:16 pm
Calgary Flames fans caught Don Maloney using the word 'rebuild' and here's how they reacted
Sportsnet

For years, the Calgary Flames fanbase has been begging the organization to slow down and take a more methodical, thought-out approach to rebuilding the team.

But the word “rebuild” wasn’t in management’s vocabulary… or so we thought.

In what appeared to be a slip of the tongue, Flames president of hockey operations Don Maloney uttered the word “rebuild” during an intermission chat with Sportsnet’s Brendan Parker on Wednesday night. Maloney seemingly caught himself afterward, changing it to “retool,” but the damage was already done.

Flames fans noticed.

The Freudian slip was caught by seemingly everybody who watched the interview, and is one that Maloney would certainly like to walk back.

Rather than wins, heading into this season, a large portion of Flames fans were hoping for the best possible draft pick next June. Management, however, seemed to be aiming for a much different outcome.

“We go into the season, we want to win hockey games. We expect to be a playoff team,” Maloney said. “That’s how you have to enter, in our minds, every season. Obviously, we’re 20+ games in, we’re always reassessing and reevaluating… We’ve got a team people want to watch and be proud of. Last year, the identity we established was this hard-out, hard-working competitive team. That’s who we are.”

The good news for an upset fanbase is that a high pick for the Flames feels likely, as the playoffs already seem like an impossible feat. Even after Wednesday’s win over the Buffalo Sabres, Calgary continues to sit dead-last in the NHL standings with a 6-13-3 record.

Should these struggles continue moving forward, the Flames will have a great chance to land a top-three pick for the first time in franchise history.

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