2024–25 NHL team preview: Calgary Flames

Credit: Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports

LAST SEASON

To say Craig Conroy’s first year as GM of the Calgary Flames was a trial by fire would be an understatement.

After inheriting seven pending UFAs from former Flames general manager Brad Treliving when he took the post last May, Conroy proceeded to move on from five of them before the end of the 2023-24 season and traded two more key roster players this past June. In no uncertain terms, Conroy has already put his stamp on this Flames team in a major way.

Tyler Toffoli, Nikita Zadorov, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, Jacob Markstrom, and Andrew Mangiapane are all gone. Calgary went 7-13-0, including a stretch of eight regulation losses in nine games, in their final 20 games of the season after tearing things down at the trade deadline. The Flames have historically been averse to rebuilding as a concept, but their actions over the past 12 months directly point to them having finally committed to seeing one through. It won’t be easy, but it’s exactly what this team needs.

The Flames ultimately finished the 2023-24 season with a significantly younger roster, a far more robust collection of future pieces and a high pick in the 2024 NHL Draft. Of course, the Flames have never won the draft lottery, and that certainly didn’t change this year, but they still ended up with the No. 9 selection, which they used to select high-scoring defense prospect Zayne Parekh.

Unfortunately for the fans craving playoff hockey in Calgary, it’ll likely still be a few years before this team is ready to play meaningful games into the spring again. With many of the teams that finished below them last year seemingly primed to take steps forward, the Flames could challenge for their first-ever top-three draft pick in 2025.

KEY ADDITIONS & DEPARTURES

Additions

Anthony Mantha, RW
Jake Bean, D
Kevin Bahl, D
Ryan Lomberg, LW
Devin Cooley, G

Departures

Jacob Markstrom, G (NJ)
Andrew Mangiapane, LW (WSH)
Oliver Kylington, D (COL)
A.J. Greer, LW (FLA)
Dennis Gilbert, D (BUF)
Jordan Oesterle, D (BOS)
Nikita Okhotiuk, D (KHL)

OFFENSE

The Flames’ forward group features an eclectic mix of declining veterans, reclamation projects and solid youngsters who fall just short of blue-chip status. After trading so many pieces over the last 12 months, the Flames will be in tough to better the so-so total of 253 goals they managed in the 2023-24 season, which placed them 19th in the league. They’ve got some decent pieces, but in all likelihood, the forwards who will eventually drag the Flames out of the Pacific Division cellar haven’t been drafted yet.

Although Jonathan Huberdeau plodded his way through another unremarkable season with the Flames last year, grizzled center Nazem Kadri found new life on a line with rookies Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil and finished the season with 75 points, the second-best total of his career. He may not be the superstar the Flames need, but Kadri is still an extremely effective player and could be an under-the-radar candidate to play for Team Canada at the 4 Nations Face-Off next February.

Yegor Sharangovich and Andrei Kuzmenko both enjoyed great success in Calgary last season after being brought in to relatively little fanfare. Widely seen as a major step down from Toffoli when the Flames acquired him from the Devils last summer, Sharangovich exploded for a team-high 31 goals in 2023-24 and signed a five-year, $5.75 million AAV extension to remain in Calgary through 2030; Kuzmenko managed 14 goals and 25 points in 29 games with the Flames down the stretch after being included in the Lindholm trade as a throw-in to make the money work. But beyond Blake Coleman, who just popped off for a career-best 30 goals at age 32, and the aforementioned Zary and Pospisil, there aren’t a ton of other dangerous weapons in this forward group.

DEFENSE

The biggest casualty of the Flames’ 2023-24 teardown was their defensive depth. Gone are the days of Calgary boasting one of the strongest bluelines in the Western Conference, if not the NHL; now, MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson are the two blue-ribbon horses in a stable that is otherwise populated by a variety of unproven up-and-comers.

Returning from the end of last season are Daniil Miromanov and Brayden Pachal, both of whom made significant impacts after being acquired from the Vegas Golden Knights in separate transactions midway through the year. Miromanov, in particular, found palpable chemistry with Weegar on the Flames’ top pairing and collected seven points while averaging 21:15 of ice time in 20 games to close out the campaign. He’s a big right-handed defender who skates surprisingly well and is extremely adept at getting shots through traffic from the point, and the Flames posted a striking 56.14 expected goals percentage during his 296 minutes with Weegar at 5-on-5.

The Flames also added two new lefties to their defensive contingent this summer, signing Jake Bean — son of former team CEO John Bean — in free agency and acquiring Kevin Bahl in the Markstrom trade. Although Bean has the higher draft pedigree and is the more established NHLer of the two, Bahl was more successful last season as a pure shutdown type. The 6’6″ pillar skated in all 82 games with the Devils in 2023-24 and conceded just 2.39 expected goals per 60 minutes of 5-on-5 play, the best mark of any of the team’s defenders.

GOALTENDING

With Jacob Markstrom now out of the picture, it’s finally Dustin Wolf’s time to shine in Calgary. The 2023 AHL MVP has been a dominant force over his three full seasons with the Stockton Heat and Calgary Wranglers, posting a 97-32-10 record, 11 shutouts, and a .926 save percentage in 141 career AHL contests. Were it not for his 6′, 180-pound frame, Wolf would likely be considered the NHL’s single best goaltending prospect — and he almost certainly would’ve been taken higher than the No. 214 overall pick in 2019.

The 23-year-old Wolf appeared in 17 games with the Flames down the stretch last season, managing a respectable 7-7-1 record and .893 save percentage while playing behind a depleted and constantly changing defensive lineup. With a new contract and a full summer to prepare for his increased role, Wolf should be more than ready to show the NHL what he can do. He’s a highly intelligent and athletic goaltender who has shown an uncommon ability to overcome adversity throughout his professional career to date.

Wolf may not be the Flames’ full-fledged starter right away, although there’s a good chance he at least gets a long run of games as a litmus test to begin the season. His tandem partner with the Flames will almost certainly be Dan Vladar, who spent the previous three seasons as Markstrom’s backup and, at 27, is entering the final year of his contract in Calgary. The 6’5″ Vladar doesn’t have Wolf’s height issues but did struggle to find consistency in 20 games with the Flames last season, going 8-9-2 with an .882 save percentage. If Vladar falters at any point in 2024-25, the Flames could also turn to veteran third-stringer Devin Cooley, whom they signed to a two-year deal on July 1.

COACHING

Ryan Huska has officially been a member of the Flames’ organization for more than 10 years now, having first been hired to coach their AHL affiliate back in 2014 when it was still called the Adirondack Flames. He moved up to become an assistant coach in Calgary in 2018, serving in that capacity under Bill Peters, Geoff Ward, and Darryl Sutter. Then, just last summer, the Flames settled on Huska as the man to become the 19th full-time bench boss in team history.

Huska will be joined on the Flames’ bench once again by Dan Lambert, his former assistant with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets, and Cail MacLean, another long-tenured coach in the organization. New to the staff this year is former Columbus Blue Jackets head coach Brad Larsen, whom the Flames hired as an assistant coach after Marc Savard vacated his role for a job with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

ROOKIES

We’ve already talked plenty about Dustin Wolf, who is still technically Calder Trophy-eligible after appearing in 17 NHL games last year. There’s also a chance we see a glimpse of Zayne Parekh, the Flames’ top 2024 draft pick, in the NHL at the start of the upcoming season — more on him later. But who else does Calgary have on the cusp of making it beyond those two blue-chippers, you ask?

While Matt Coronato and Jakob Pelletier no longer qualify as rookies, 6’8″ winger Adam Klapka still does, having skated in just six games with the Flames last season. Klapka led the AHL’s Calgary Wranglers in scoring in 2023-24 and combines his tremendous size with his soft hands and impressive goal-scoring touch for an intriguing and entirely unique package. He’s truly one-of-a-kind. Don’t be surprised if he steals a full-time spot on the Flames’ fourth line by Christmas.

The Flames also have a whole host of young defensemen on the verge of breaking into the NHL who only need the chance to prove their worth. On top of more established AHLers Jeremie Poirier, Ilya Solovyov, and Yan Kuznetsov, the Flames could also give first-year pro Hunter Brzustewicz his first NHL look this year after he finished second to Parekh among OHL defenders with 92 points last season.

BURNING QUESTIONS

1. Will Zayne Parekh get a trial run out of training camp? Parekh’s upside is nearly unlimited. He’s one of the most dynamic prospects in hockey at any position and scores goals at a higher rate than pretty much any other defenseman outside the NHL. But he’s far from an imposing figure, his skating still needs a bit of work, and the Flames have lots of other quality defense prospects on their depth chart. The odds are against Parekh, but if anyone can force his way into an NHL tryout at age 18, it’s probably the defenseman who scored 33 goals and 96 points in his draft year in the OHL.

2. Are any more veterans on the chopping block? Let’s get the obvious one out of the way: Anthony Mantha is virtually guaranteed to be traded to a contender at some point this season after signing a one-year, $3.5 million deal with the Flames on July 1. That’s a contract that was signed to be moved. But who else could the Flames parlay into more futures before the end of the 2024-25 season? It wouldn’t be too surprising to see Rasmus Andersson dealt for a haul, especially now that the Flames have Parekh and Brzustewicz jostling for a spot on the right side. Andrei Kuzmenko, Blake Coleman, and even Nazem Kadri would make sense as “sell high” candidates, too, but only if the right offer comes along.

3. Can the Flames effectively weaponize their cap space? According to PuckPedia, the Flames currently have the second-most cap space in the entire league. After more than a decade of hardly utilizing the NHL’s retained salary mechanism, the Flames have been far more aggressive in that arena since they started their teardown last summer. They also showed a willingness to take on unwanted contracts last year when they picked up Kuzmenko (and his $5.5 million cap hit) in the Elias Lindholm trade. Now, with the NHL’s top contenders all battling for that extra edge, the Flames have a unique opportunity to trade for more bad deals and assist with salary retention — for a price.

PREDICTION

The Flames are not going to make the playoffs in 2024-25. It’d take an act of divine intervention for them to get even close. They simply don’t have the same star power or the depth of their Pacific Division rivals — and that’s by design. For the first time in a decade, the Flames are getting set to enter a season with an eye on making the highest possible draft pick. This year is going to be all about player development and asset management, with the on-ice product firmly a secondary consideration. The end goal for the Flames is for them to be competitive again by the time they move into Scotia Place in 2027; until then, they’ll have to settle for every moral victory they can get. It’ll still be tough for them to out-tank San Jose or Anaheim, but don’t be surprised to see the Flames finish with fewer than 30 wins this season.

Advanced stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick and MoneyPuck

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