Just last season, the Calgary Flames were one of the best teams in the entire NHL, running out a top line that could match up with any other team, but just 18 months later, they find themselves scrambling to rebuild a franchise that suddenly looks like it has a major structural and cultural issue.
With two top stars struggling to live up to their hype in their first seasons in Calgary, as well as holes all over the organization, if they want to find continued, sustained success throughout the regular and post season, they’ve got plenty of work to do.
Not all hope is lost though, as the team have some promising coaches in the organization, as well as the Calder Cup favourite Calgary Wranglers that feature plenty of future Flames stars, but if this team wants to bounce back in 2023/24, there’s some things they need to accomplish this off-season.
5. Figure out a clear direction that this team is headed in
For years now, it seems as though the Flames went with the ‘get into the playoffs and anything can happen from there’ mentality, but with so much talent in the Western Conference, they need to find a clear direction one way or another.
With the Calgary Wranglers stacked full of young talent, the obvious answer is to go for the youthful rebuild, but now the team have Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar and Nazem Kadri locked in long-term, so they may look to find young, up and coming stars that are ready to compete with those veterans.
Whatever happens, for the Flames to find sustained success, they need to have a clear mission from top to bottom in the organization, and if they do that, there’s a way that this team could become a genuine contender in the next few seasons.