Flames Inching Towards Being the Superior Team in the Battle of Alberta

Calgary Flames fans have gone through their fair share of pain over the years. The organization hasn’t been to the Stanley Cup Final since 2004, and hasn’t won it all since 1989. While there have been a few good teams since that time, they’ve never felt like a complete enough group to ever be regarded as a serious contender.

That wasn’t exactly the case in 2022, however. After winning the Pacific Division with 111 points, the Flames were able to inch past the Dallas Stars in the opening round. Next up was a series versus the Edmonton Oilers, which most pundits had the Flames winning. Instead, it turned out to be a decisive victory for the Oilers.

The Flames were eliminated by the Oilers in just five games. The disappointing exit after such a good season was painful enough, but being sent home by their rivals made it even worse. As if that weren’t bad enough, both Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk never played another game in a Flames uniform, prompting many Oilers fans to say their team sent Calgary into a rebuild.

The Flames have not made the playoffs since. That four-year drought has been tough on the fan base, and has been made even more painful by the fact that the Oilers have gone on some long runs. Granted, as Flames fans would tell you, they haven’t won it all, but most would agree they would love to see their team put together runs similar to what those in Edmonton have gotten to experience in recent years. The good news for the Flames, however, is that the tide is slowly changing.

Flames Have Great Pieces in Place

As is the case with most rebuilding teams, the Flames have been able to land some great prospects through the draft. While Zayne Parekh leads the charge, several others including Matvei Gridin, Sam Honzek, Cole Reschny, Cullen Potter, Ethan Wyttenbach, Hunter Brzustewicz, and Henry Mews all appear to have bright NHL futures ahead.

Those players go along with the likes of Matt Coronato, Connor Zary, and Yan Kuznetsov, who are still early into their NHL careers. On top of that, they have their franchise goaltender in Dustin Wolf locked up through the 2032-33 season. They’ve also found a great back-up goalie for Wolf in Devin Cooley.

The Flames will soon add even more future pieces as well. They have two first-round picks in this year’s draft, including the sixth-overall selection. As if that weren’t impressive enough, they also have eight picks combined in the first three rounds of this year’s draft. They could also add even more picks and/or prospects by eventually trading Blake Coleman, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent (UFA) after the 2026-27 campaign.

Factor this all in and it’s easy to see why this team is worth getting excited about. They do still have issues, of course. They are still in need of a first-line centre, and have one of the league’s worst contracts in Jonathan Huberdeau. Overall, though, things are pointing up in Calgary. The same cannot be said about their provincial rival.

Oilers’ Time is Running Out

It’s absolutely shocking that the Oilers don’t have a Stanley Cup under this core group. While Flames fans aren’t complaining, even they would agree that it goes to show just how poorly they’ve been managed over the years. Even with the poor work from management, however, they have appeared in two Stanley Cup Finals, along with another trip to the Western Conference Final back in 2022. In other words, they have been contenders for several years now.

That may no longer be the case. The Oilers roster has gotten worse over the past two years. They’ve moved on from players they should not have, brought in others that haven’t worked, and are watching some of their top players, such as defenceman Mattias Ekholm, begin to slow down with age.

Making matters even worse for the Oilers is that they don’t boast a ton of prospects or young talent on their roster, as they’ve been moving out several pieces in recent years in hopes of winning the Stanley Cup. They’ve also moved out several draft picks, meaning that no youth help is on the way anytime soon.

They still don’t have a starting goaltender, their blue line has gotten worse, and their forward group lacks the depth of other top contenders around the league. The ugly contracts that Darnell Nurse, Trent Frederic, and Tristan Jarry are on are making it that much harder to make the changes this roster needs.

Making matters all the worse for the Oilers is that the clock is ticking on Connor McDavid. The 29-year-old agreed to a two-year contract extension ahead of the 2025-26 season, a deal which will kick in this coming October. Many believe that if there aren’t massive improvements made, he could wind up requesting a trade as soon as the 2027 offseason.

While Flames fans may not want to hear this, the Oilers window isn’t closed just yet. It’s impossible to count a team out with a duo like McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, and they will have at least one more kick at the can next season season. That said, it may be too tough of a task if the rest of the roster looks similar to what it did in 2025-26.

Should the Oilers wind up disappointed once again next season, which certainly seems possible given what we saw in 2025-26, that could be it for this core group. In fact, it could very well mean it’s time for a rebuild in Edmonton, just as the Flames are beginning to get competitive once again.

Flames Fans Will Soon Have Reason to Cheer

Though Oilers fans have long had the upper hand when it comes to bragging rights over those who support the Flames, that won’t be the case much longer. Their team is at risk of losing McDavid in the not-so-distant future, while the Flames are putting the right pieces in place for what should be a contending team for years to come. That time hasn’t arrived just yet, but it will, and you can bet Flames fans will let those in Edmonton hear about it plenty and often.