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5 positives to come from the 2024-25 Flames season
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Photo credit: © Sergei Belski-Imagn Images
Robert Munnich
Apr 28, 2025, 10:00 EDTUpdated: Apr 28, 2025, 13:24 EDT
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The Calgary Flames came into the 2024-25 season with low expectations from fans and media outside the city. But the team was able to come together and produce a 96 point season, which would have been enough points to get them in the playoffs in almost every other season except this one.
With exceeding expectations came a lot of positive storylines to come from this season.

Emergence of Dustin Wolf

Goaltending was the biggest question mark heading into the season for the Calgary Flames. They had a 23 year old rookie and a backup goalie coming off hip surgery in the off-season. There were a lot of people wondering if goaltending would be the downfall of the team.
But the complete opposite happened thanks in large part to Dustin Wolf.
The California native was the number one reason why the Flames exceeding expectations like they did. He held up a team that for the the majority of the season was the lowest scoring team in the NHL.
59 goalies played at least 1,200 minutes this season. Wolf ranked seventh in goals saved above expected,10th in save percentage, 10th in high danger save percentage, and 19th in goals against average. He did that in front of a mediocre defensive team.
There were a lot of nights where Wolf kept the Flames in a game and allowed them time to come back. If Wolf had put up average NHL numbers, the Flames would have easily finished in the bottom five of the NHL.
Having a foundational piece to build around like Wolf is a major boon for a team that doesn’t have any intentions of bottoming out.

Development of young players

Dustin Wolf wasn’t the only young Flame to have a breakout season.
Matt Coronato showed that he is going to be a high end goal scorer in the NHL for a long time. He scored 24 goals in his first full season in the NHL. He did that in 77 games which gives his a 26 goal pace over 82 games. And it wasn’t like he was getting lucky, or rode a shooting percentage heater. He was beating goalies clean all season with that incredible wrist/snap shot.
Connor Zary was playing some good hockey for the Flames prior to his knee injury he suffered against the Ducks in January. He was tied for 3rd on the team in points with 22 in 40 games. And that was with him being snake bitten all year up to that point. There were a lot of nights where he was not getting any bounces to go his way. But he took a step in the right direction in his development.
Kevin Bahl came to the Flames as almost a complete unknown. But he stepped up and showed that he can be a solid defensive defenceman who can play important minutes. Could Bahl and Zayne Parekh become a long term pairing for the Flames moving forward?
Adam Klapka showed in the final 15 games that he has the potential to be a top nine winger in the NHL. He put up 9 points in those last 15 games which was good for fourth on the Flames during that time.
On top of the NHL players, we saw massive development years from some of the Flames top prospects. Zayne Parekh, Matvei Gridin, Henry Mews, Jacob Battaglia, Luke Misa, Aydar Suniev, Hunter Brzustewicz, Etienne Morin, and Arsenii Sergeev all had fantastic years in their respective leagues.
There is a lot to be excited about when it comes to the Flames prospect base.

Rebuilt culture

This topic has been beaten to death over the last couple weeks, but it is important to note how far the Flames culture has come over the last two years.
This organization was in shambles after the 2022-23 season. Players wanted out. Darryl Sutter was fired. Brad Treliving quit. It was a disaster.
But give credit to Craig Conroy, Ryan Huska, and the leadership core of the Calgary Flames. That group has done an outstanding job of turning things around. Conroy shipped out a bunch of players who did not want to be here. Ryan Huska enforced standards for the players to live up to. And the leadership core has held the players accountable.
Calgary has gone from a team where everyone wanted to leave, to one where people want to stay and are excited about the future.
The challenging part for the Flames will be maintaining the culture as the years go on which is easier said than done, especially if veteran players are moved out over the next couple seasons.

Ryan Huska

There was a lot of discussion about Ryan Huska this season, both good and bad.
You can certainly criticize some on ice results. Being such a low scoring team for the majority of the season is not a great look on any coach in that situation.
But I am not going to be critical of Huska’s Xs and Os because I, like a lot of fans and media, don’t have the systems knowledge to actually break down where the Flames went wrong last season.
The one thing we can judge Huska on are his intangibles. And Huska excels when it comes to things like leadership, communication, relationship building, demeanour, and preparation.
Huska has the best set of intangibles of any coach the Flames have had in decades. He treats players with respect and clearly communicates everyone’s roles. No player is unsure of where they stand with Huska which isn’t the case with a lot of NHL coaches.
He does a great job game planning and getting his players prepared to play. He treats the media and fans with respect.
There is so much to like with Huska the person. Hopefully he’ll get a long leash unlike every other coach in Flames history that precedes him.

Huberdeau’s turnaround

Jonathan Huberdeau had a decision to make this season. Either continue to try to be the Florida version of himself, which had not worked for his first two seasons in Calgary. Or try to reinvent his game and become a more complete player.
He stepped up and made the decision to become more of a 200 foot player and it paid dividends season.
This was by far his most impactful campaign with the Flames. He was able to put up 28 goals and 62 points, play an important role on the PK, and be relied upon defensively.
There were a lot of nights where Huberdeau was one of the better players on the ice for the Flames.
In the grand scheme of things, 62 points doesn’t seem all that impressive when you consider Huberdeau is making $10.5 million for six more seasons. What is impressive is how he was able to turn things around. He was trending to be a player who hurt his team more than he helped it after his first two seasons in Calgary.
But he was able to improve his overall game and turned into a true difference maker for the Flames this season. Good on him for that.
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