|
Flames Stats, Notes, Rumours and Observations Amid a Bizarre November |
|
|
|
|
|
So, how is your November going?
For Head Coach Ryan Huska and the Calgary Flames, things are pretty good.
Since Nov. 1, the Flames are tied for the fourth most points in the standings. The New York Rangers, Carolina Hurricanes, and Calgary Flames all have 12 on the month.
You know, the Rangers and Hurricanes teams that are both expected to go deep into the playoffs come spring.
The Flames' point percentage is .667, which Is 7th in the Pacific Division. The team has only lost two of its nine November games in regulation. That winning percentage is the best in the last three weeks.
Dustin Wolf, 23, is 4-0-1 on the month with a .946 save percentage and a 1.55 goals against average. The Gilroy, California native has allowed two goals in his last three games. Daniel Vladar has been no slouch either. The team, as a whole, has run the best defence in the NHL this month.
Lowest Goals Against per Game — November
Calgary Flames: 1.89
Minnesota Wild: 2.11
Toronto Maple Leafs: 2.13
Despite all of this, the team doesn’t seem to be that good. Great record? Certainly. Defending well? Clearly. Incredible goaltending? It looks like it.
Alright, we’ve tortured the data enough that it is now telling us what we want to hear. What does the eye test say?
Beyond their own blue line—the group doesn’t seem like even a playoff team. What’s more interesting is that the team started the season with five wins in six games primarily due to their domination of the offensive zone.
Their gap control is starting to trend in the wrong direction. Yes, only three goals against in their last four, but that stuff matters.
Despite the great stats, the team is still allowing some great chances. They’re getting bailed out, just like last season, by strong goaltending, which can be a dangerous game over an 82 game season.
Say what you will about their playoff chances, or Montreal having the best of theirs or Florida’s first round draft pick, the 2024-2025 Calgary Flames are delightfully enigmatic. So, maybe it’s time to just enjoy the ride.
At the end if the day, that’s all you can really do. Sure, if the fans were in control, the team could commit ten years of losing in order to get some good players. They could be historically bad. So bad that the National Hockey League has to re-evaluate the rules of the Draft Lottery—but that would only happen if they picked first overall three times in a row or something. No organization would ever be that bad. That would be humiliating.
A few thoughts, observations, and stats.
1. Remember that failed eye test of the offence this month? The stats back it up. The fifth worst in the NHL was in November, with 2.22 goals per game.
2. It’s fair to wonder if this success means pulling away from trade talks for the time being. Elliotte Friedman has iterated a number of times that this season has a high frequency of trade talks between teams. Colorado needs to fill out an injured roster, Buffalo and Montreal are looking for a forward, precedent for a puck moving defenceman has been set at a third round pick from the Olli Maatta and Timothy Liljegrin deals.
Andrei Kuzmenko has two assists in his last nine games. Justin Kirkland has a goal and an assist in his last seven. That's two pending UFAs seeing their stock falling.
Tyson Barrie also has two points on the month, but given that he’s not getting much ice time, he might still fetch a third round pick—if only he hadn’t been aggressively shopped all of last season by Barry Trotz.
Add Anthony Mantha’s season-ending injury to the equation, and the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline isn’t looking promising for General Manager Craig Conroy and the Calgary Flames. We’ll see if the goalie market gets some precedent set in the coming weeks but don’t expect much for Dan Vladar either, given his recent injury history. No one wants their goaltender backup plan needing a backup plan.
3. There isn’t much room for outliers when it comes to a team allowing 1.89 goals against per game, but the Flames have a few this month. Yegor Sharangovich is a -3. Connor Zary and Jonathan Huberdeau are each minus two, and Martin Pospisil is even. All four of those players aren’t producing much.
All four have played nine games in November, so we’ll omit including their games played below.
November Scoring – Flatliners
Martin Pospisil: one assist
Jonathan Huberdeau: two goals, one assist
Connor Zary: one goal
Yegor Sharangovich: two goals
Pospisil, at least, doesn’t have a regular spot on the power play. The other three need to step up.
4. Speaking of the power play. No Flame has more than one point at 5v4 this month. That seems like a problem.
5. Zero goals against on the penalty kill in their last two games. Maybe that area of special teams is getting in order. Zero chance that the Predators (23.3%) and Islanders (12.3%) just have dud power plays.
6. We got just a few seconds of Jonathan Huberdeau playing like a power forward in overtime against the Islanders on Tuesday. It was phenomenal. He’s going to be reviewing that tape for a while.
If Head Coach Ryan Huska can channel that; we’re talking about a guy being worth his contract. Unlikely.
7. The Flames play the New York Rangers on Thursday. That team is 10-0-0 when scoring first. Huska's crew better come ready to play.
When the other team scores first? 2-4-1.
Stats courtesy of NaturalStatTrick and the National Hockey League.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»