Five years later, and captain Mikael Backlund is the only player who remains from the 2021-22 Pacific Division-winning Calgary Flames team heading into 2026-27.
The turnover has been immense in Calgary, and a lot of it centered around the departures of superstars Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, who both left within two months of each other in the summer of 2022.
It was understandable that two American-born players would want to return and play in their home country, and their then-head coach Darryl Sutter recently said that the Flames organization should have seen their exits coming, even though they had nothing against the city of Calgary or the team.
“You know, those American kids, they were basically stranded in Canada. Nobody could come and see them. They couldn’t go out. You know, there was nothing to come to. I felt so sorry for those kids. The writing was on the wall. They should have known right away that those kids weren’t coming back. That shouldn’t have been a surprise in July. They were both on expiring contracts, and Canada was not their thing. They didn’t leave ‘cuz they didn’t like Calgary or they didn’t like the team. They wanted to go back home, and I didn’t blame them,”
The late Gaudreau, of course, signed a seven-year, $68.25 million deal to join the Columbus Blue Jackets as a UFA, while Tkachuk was later dealt to the Florida Panthers before signing an eight-year, $76 million extension with the team.
COVID-19 hit everyone hard, but especially American players playing on Canadian teams who had to deal with all of the issues with crossing the border and, in turn, seeing their families.
Some like to say that the Edmonton Oilers, who eliminated Calgary in their five-game second-round series in 2022, sent the Flames into a rebuild. While that is partially true, it appears as if they might have been headed that way anyway, through no fault of their own.
Next: Insider Speculates That Jon Cooper Would Have Interest in Coaching the Maple Leafs
