The Flames are still a few years away from challenging in the Western Conference, but will they be better than last season?
How many points will the Flames finish with in the regular season?
The Calgary Flames have an exciting young team with players like Zayne Parekh, Matthew Coronato, and Dustin Wolf, and that group added another core piece in Simon Nemec over the offseason. Calgary has a bright future, but the organization's last season in the Saddledome might have them closer to the draft lottery than to trying to get one last playoff "C of Red".
One of the Flames' biggest obstacles will be generating offense. Coronato was the team's leading scorer last season with 45 points, which is nowhere near where they need to be for a contending team. Until they figure that out, any future bets for the team will be less than favorable.
Hockey is a difficult sport to predict, so please gamble responsibly. Betting lines are from Fanduel Sportsbook and is subject to change.
Calgary Flames Under 77.5 Regular Season Points
No team benefited from the "Pillow Fight" division more than the Flames. The Pacific Division had a bizarre number of overtime games, which boosted teams' point totals with three-point games, while some of the division's contenders had tougher years than usual.
The Flames' results against three teams in particular caught my eye as a reason they won't be quite as good next season. Calgary managed a 3-1 record against the Edmonton Oilers, San Jose Sharks, and Los Angeles Kings. They could replicate that against the Kings, who might be on a bit of a downturn after Anze Kopitar's retirement, but the Oilers and Sharks should be better this upcoming season.
After all those surprising results and overtime games, the Flames still finished with 77 points. They may have two extra games to get results this season, but Calgary will likely finish closer to the low 70s, barring a shocking breakout from a number of their young players.
To Finish 7th in the Pacific Division (+260)
The odds are too good to ignore for the Flames to finish seventh in the Pacific Division for the second consecutive season. While the oddsmakers have them finishing last at (+210), it seems hard to believe that the Vancouver Canucks will make up the necessary 19 points to catch and pass Calgary for that position. The Canucks didn't get that much better this offseason, and they could even trade Elias Pettersson at some point before the end of the season.
The next hurdle to get this bet to hit is for the Flames not to pass the Seattle Kraken, who finished just two points ahead of Calgary. The young Kraken are a bit further ahead than the Flames, and if they can get a bit more scoring out of their youth, they should still finish ahead of a Calgary team that overachieved a bit in 2025-26.
The rest of the Pacific Division should shake out much of the same. The Kings might take a step back, but not enough to fall below the Flames, and the Sharks will keep improving. As long as the Flames don't surprise some people and pass either the Kraken or the Kings, there is plenty of value in taking Calgary to finish in this position.
