The Calgary Flames may have gone from early-season mess to a three-game win streak, but Sunday Census voters still had a clear answer when it came to the club’s biggest disappointment so far: Dustin Wolf.
More than half of respondents picked Wolf in this week’s poll, and the case against him is pretty loud. Through his first five starts, he’s posted a 4.85 GAA and a .834 save percentage, with just one win to his name.
His great danger save percentage sits at 0.717, and he’s allowed the most goals against in the league this season. For a player being billed as the new face of the franchise, that’s a rough look.
Still, the Flames’ recent surge has changed the backdrop around him. Calgary has now beaten the Carolina Hurricanes, Minnesota Wild and Detroit Red Wings in succession, with backup goalie Devon Cooley driving the run and giving the team a much more stable look in net.
The Flames have also started to sort out the defensive end, with Ryan Huska adjusting pairings as the hot streak took hold. Kevin Bahl has emerged as one of the league’s best defencemen over a short sample, while separating Zayne Parekh and Jake Middleton paid off in a big way for the club’s overall defensive numbers.
Before the split, Parekh and Middleton were the worst defensive pairing in the NHL statistically.
The Flames’ power play has been a major part of the turnaround too. It’s up to third in the NHL at 32%, and the added run support has helped soften the spotlight on Wolf’s rough start. Even so, the concern around him hasn’t disappeared.
Simon Nemec and Matvei Gridin were the next most common responses, together drawing about 15% of the vote. Neither has looked like a true problem lately.
Gridin has put up a point per game over his last three outings, matching his total from the first six games of the season, and he’s flashed noticeably more confidence, especially on the power play. With Coronato ahead of them, Gridin and Aydar Suniev are the Flames’ cleanest natural scorers, and Gridin’s recent stretch makes a strong case for sticking in the top six.
Nemec has been just as steady in his own way. The fourth-year defender has taken on a much bigger role in Calgary than he had in New Jersey, and he’s handled it well.
Skating mostly with Kevin Bahl, he leads Flames defencemen in both Corsi and Fenwick at 55% and 52%, respectively. His offence hasn’t popped, but Calgary’s system under Huska doesn’t exactly invite big numbers from the blue line.
At 22, and logging more than 21 minutes a night, he’s been a solid fit for the role he’s been handed.
Jake Middleton finished second in the poll with roughly 30% of the vote. He came over from Minnesota in the Blake Coleman trade this offseason, and the expectation was that he’d provide more than he has.
The early pairing with Parekh was a disaster by the numbers, producing a 45.6 Corsi, 46.4 Fenwick and 3.07 expected goals against per 60, all team lows. Since Huska changed things up, Middleton has found more success beside Zach Whitecloud, with the pair leading the team at 2.08 expected goals against per 60.
The offence has been nearly nonexistent, but the defensive results have at least stabilized.
There’s also an argument that Middleton was never going to be the ideal partner for Parekh in the first place. The better fit may have been another look altogether, with more balance in the pairing and less need for Middleton to cover for risky rush decisions. Whatever the case, his main value this season may end up being physical presence, locker-room energy and a whole lot of mustache.
For all the disappointment talk, the Flames’ latest three games have also made one thing clear: this team can look completely different from week to week. Calgary has scored more over this stretch than it has in a long time, with the power play clicking at 50% since October 18th and the penalty kill going 8-for-8, even with Mikael Backlund missing the last two games. Whether the recent run is real or just a brief spike, the message from this stretch is simple enough - buckle up, because the season may still have plenty of swings left.
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