Revisiting the decade by month: October

Its anniversary time for the Calgary Flames, as it is the 40th season in franchise history. To celebrate, let’s take a look back at previous seasons and see how the team has evolved to what it is today. However, instead of the usual glamorized reminiscing of each season with rose coloured glasses, I think it would be much more useful and relevant to recall the past ten years, month by month. Buckle down, as today we will be looking at the past 10 Octobers in Flames history.

October has historically been a tough for the Flames. There is a reason why a lot of fans only starting watching from November, as it is almost guaranteed that the Flames will come out flat, regardless of what iteration of the team exists. It is fascinating that regardless of team make up, it cannot seem to get off to anything more than a decent start. Granted, teams do not solidify their playoff spots in October, but being able to start hot out of the gate would make it a lot easier for the team going forward.

The first October we are looking back to was the last one to feature Dion Phaneuf in a Flames jersey. Heading into this season, the veteran heavy Flames had just lost its first round playoff series to the upstart Chicago Blackhawks only a few months ago and wanted to prove that they can still compete in the modern NHL. Jay Bouwmeester was brought in from Florida in a trade just before the July 1st and promptly signed to a 5 year deal and the team had hired new head coach Brent Sutter to lead the team. The team did lose Mike Cammalleri to free agency, but the team still felt deep enough to make some noise in the old Northwest Division.

While the record look quite solid, especially for an October record for the Flames, there were some serious cracks. The team was getting out played and out chanced by a decent amount, with both CF% and xGF% falling below 50%. Reason why they outperformed those numbers mainly had to do with the team shooting percentage being a whopping 14.19%, leading to a PDO well over 100. The team was riding a hot streak of bounces going their way heading into November.

Rene Bourque had been the biggest beneficiary of this, as he stormed out of the gate leading the team in scoring with 15 points, and was one of many Flames players to have their shooting percentage be north of 15%. Phaneuf and Jarome Iginla were the next two in line on the scoring chart, each with 9 points.

In total, the October of 2009 seemed to be the best one the Flames have had record wise in recent memory. They did happen to over-perform what they likely should have, and it might have contributed to a sense of a false confidence that the Flames were truly a team to beat this year. As we will see in the future, that confidence quickly erodes as the playoffs near.

With how up and down the season prior had gone, the Flames were looking to rebound back into the playoffs albeit with largely the same group that had just missed the cutoff a year prior. The team continued their trend of re acquiring former Flames players by re-signing Olli Jokinen and Alex Tanguay in the off season. Other than a few more depth moves, the team returned with largely the same roster as the one at the end of the season last year. One major absence was Daymond Langkow, who had gotten a spinal cord injury in the final weeks of the previous season, leaving a huge hole down the middle for the Flames for the rest of the year.

In a complete reversal to the previous October, the Flames were playing a much more solid all around game but were just not getting the results that they would have hoped for. They possession numbers were right near the top of the league, but the team had struggle to gain any momentum as the month progressed. Despite this, the team was still near the upper half of the league, even with their mediocre record, as no team in this month that played more 10 games had a spectacular start to the season.

As for team leaders, Brendan Morrison seemed to come out of nowhere, scoring 10 points in 11 games played. Bourque returns again as the second leading scorer with a much more modest 9 points, though 6 of them being goals as he rode a SH% of 20.69 for the month. Matt Stajan, who was acquired in the Phaneuf trade the season before, rounded out the top 3 for the Flames with 1 goal and 7 assists for the month.

It was a frustrating, yet hopeful October for the squad, as their strong play and seemingly low levels of luck meant that they should expect better results heading to the future, even though a lack of offensive talent may contribute to under-performing their underlying numbers. On top of the news that Langkow suffered a serious setback in his recovery from his injuries at the end of the month, October of 2010 had been a particularly sour one for the team.

This was a frustrating season all around, and this October definitely did not help ease those feelings. The team was right in the middle of being too good to be truly bad, yet not anywhere near being good enough. With Robyn Regehr sent to Buffalo, team was looking very thin all across the board. Apart from the most loyal fans and one unrealistic Jay Feaster, this team was heading towards a disappointing season without playoffs. The end of the Iginla era was nigh.

As expected, the Flames started their season quite sub-par. Their 9 games were nothing to write home about, their underlying numbers says they were not a particularly strong team and their record showed it. The one bright spot was Miikka Kiprusoff who unlike the previous two years, started the season flying out of the gate, posting a .930 SV% in his 7 appearances this month and a Goal Saved Above Average of 2.69. It is a shame that despite a solid performance out of their franchise netminder, the Flames were still only able to stumble out of the month with a .500 record.

The leading scorer for the Flames this month were Tanguay, who scored 1 goal and 7 assists. Jokinen and Roman Horak were the next highest scorers, with 7 points and 5 points, respectfully. Shout out to Bourque who once again shot the lights out, this time scoring 5 goals with a SH% of 20%. The puck just seemed to go in for him every October.

Yeah, this is definitely a month worth skipping. It was a very lukewarm performance from a very lukewarm team. It seemed bleak at the time and the team’s performance this October did not do anything to inspire confidence.

Funny thing about this October is that no actually NHL hockey was played due to the 2012-13 lockout. On to the next year!

After finally trading away Iginla, the Flames headed into an October fully embracing that their team is going to be bad. The team still had some solid talent sprinkled in throughout the roster, but this still a full blown rebuilding team. If there was one thing this version of the Flames had going for it, it was hope.

All things considered, this was not a bad start to the season for this version of the Flames. It is definitely not a note worthy one either, but at the time, the majority of Flames fans were expecting a lot worse judging by how other rebuilds were going around them. The underlying numbers were pretty bad as to be expected, as the team did not have really much of anything for them talent wise.

There are some new faces in the top scorers section, as leading the way for the team this month was Jiri Hudler who was acquired the season before starts of the season hot, scoring 5 goals and 13 points in the 12 games. Next up is Sean Monahan, came out flying in his first month of NHL action, scoring 6 goals and 4 assists as a teenager. Lee Stempniak rounds out the top 3 scorers, with 4 goals and 9 points in the month of October.

For how poorly the team played, this was a decent October the Flames, in large part due to the emergence of young talent in the line up, particularly Monahan. The season would gradually get less and less exciting as the season carries on, but for what it’s worth, the Flames were as exciting as a team entering a rebuild can be.

This was one of the most anticipated seasons the Flames have had in a very long time. The team was still projected to be pretty bad, but it the team had recently drafted in the highest position in the history of the franchise at fourth overall, choosing Sam Bennett, and was eagerly awaiting a full season from Johnny Gaudreau, the team’s best prospect in decades. Outside of some bold predictions, there was no real expectation that the team would really go too far this season, but the addition of even more young talent sold the point that the rebuild was headed in the right direction.

Ah, Good old fashioned Bob Hartley hockey. Right from the start of the season, the Flames had just about every single bounce go their way. October lacked the stapled Flames comebacks that were to come in the upcoming months, but right from the get go, it was easy to see that this was a team that was playing way over their head. Absolutely every stat pointed to this not lasting throughout the entire season. There just was no way the Flames could get away with playing like this for a whole 82 games.

The top scorers for the Flames this months see the first appearance of Mark Giordano, who lead the way of October scoring with 2 goals and 9 points. Tied with him is his defence partner TJ Brodie, who had 4 goals and 5 assists. Rounding out the top 3 is, surprisingly, Joe Colborne who posted a solid 8 assists on during the month.

Regardless of how putrid the Flames actually played, it was the first time in a long time that the Flames were a legitimately fun team.

After the such a fun season the year before, an exciting playoffs, a wickedly great draft and a solid free agency, there was expectations for the first time in a long time for the Flames. With the team now boasting a top 3 defence core of Giordano, Brodie and Dougie Hamilton, and emergence stars like Monahan and Gaudreau on the offence, there was a real feeling like this team was going to take another step forward.

What an absolute disaster. This October was the worst one on this list and it is easy to see why. Almost 50 goals against in a month. Sub 50% CF% and xGF% percentages. Everything that went wrong did go wrong.

To start the year off, Brodie miss all but 3 games in October due to a broken bone in his hand, leaving the defence down a core piece. Giordano and Hamilton were paired up together to mitigate the loss, but the pairing struggled mightily, as they were not able to find any chemistry together during this time. The rest of the team struggled just as much with many of the same problems with possession and controlling play continued on from last year, but without any of the shooting luck.

The leading scorers were Gaudreau, who had a solid 12 points in 12 games as he was coming into his own as a legitimate star in the NHL, Hudler, who once again had a solid October with 10 points, and newcomer Michael Frolik, who had a modest 8 points in 12 games.

This season felt like the antithesis of the 2014-15 season, where all of the problems that the Flames had persisted and every error they made ended up in the back of their net. October had been the absolute high of the frustration, as it put the team in a serious hole that they would not be able to dig themselves out of.

Going into this October, it was time for the Flames to buckle down and make serious progress. They hired their head coach Bob Hartley and replaced him with Glen Gulutzan, brought in a respectable starting goaltender in Brian Elliott, and had just drafted the young and tenacious Matthew Tkachuk sixth overall who forced his way onto the line up. The team was now set on returning back to the playoffs after a disappointment of a season the year before. This October, it is go time.

Once again, the team came right out the gate and immediately face-planted into the dirt. The team did have a nice little winning streak at the end of the month, but the team again struggles to keep the puck out of their zone. The team is not able to get a save when they need it either, with Elliott positing a SV% of 0.898 and backup goaltending not fairing much better with a 0.901 SV%. Another case of what can go wrong does go wrong for the Flames.

Gaudreau, despite having a contract holdout that only ended just before the season started and missed all of training camp and just recently participated in the World Cup of Hockey, lead the team in scoring with 7 points in 10 games. Frolik and Hamilton round out the top 3 with 6 points each.

Essentially, this October is a carbon copy of the previous one, but this team at least we were greeted with the emergence of the 3M line, which became a staple in the preceding months. However, it is still another forgettable October.

This season, even more big changes are made. The team made the playoffs last year but got swept in the first round. It needed bigger pieces to bolster the lineup. Travis Hamonic is brought in at the expensive of this year’s first round pick. Mike Smith replaces Elliott as the starter, Eddie Lack is brought in a backup.

Different year, same October play. Once again, the Flames struggle out of the gate, looking flat and unable to really control the play to their advantage. Hamonic in particular struggles mightily out of the gate on a pair with  Brodie, and the two are not able to complement each other’s style of play. On the bright side, Smith starts hot right out of the gate, posting a .930 SV% in the month. Lack on the other hand was not able to replicate the same results and struggles in his two appearances, posting a SV% of 0.853.

Gaudreau comes flying out of the gate, scoring 15 points in 12 games, with Monahan and Tkachuk not too far behind with 10 points and 8 points respectfully.

Interestingly enough, this October felt backwards compared the one a year prior,with the team having some success early in the month and struggling in the second half. Well, at least they were able to finally break the Ponda curse this month.

Finally, the most recent season prior to this current one. Once again, the team struggled with consistency and fell out of a playoff spot by the time April arrived, thus requiring even more bold moves to be made. Gulutzan gets the boot and immediately in comes Bill Peters. Out goes Hamilton, along with Micheal Ferland and prospect Adam Fox and in comes Elias Lindholm and Noah Hanifin. On top of that, the team brings in James Neal and Derek Ryan in free agency to bolster the right side of the Flames’ offence. Now is finally time for the team to take charge.

Before anyone asks, yes, this is when 9-1 happened. Aside from that horrendous game, the Flames actually have a solid month performance wise, but it does not really translate to the scoreboard. Unlike the year before, Smith just cannot stop the puck to save his life, posting a pitiful SV% of 0.878. In response, upstart goaltender David Rittich comes in, and is able to steal the show for a while, boasting a much better SV% of 0.939 and takes control of the starting net in the immediate future.

Gaudreau once again leads the Flames in scoring this month, scoring 6 goals and 16 points. The next two highest scorers are Tkachuk and Monahan, who both score 5 goals and 14 points.

After the Pittsburgh game, the Flames are starting to look like the team that would go on to win the Western Conference in the regular season, as they dominating play would start to showcase on the scoreboard. While this October looks pretty mediocre from the record alone, the building blocks for what the Flames are going accomplish in the 2018-19 season are visible.

If there is one thing to take from this deep dive into the past 10 years of October Flames hockey is that it may be best not to watch October Flames hockey. No matter the incarnation of the team, it simply does not seem to be able to have a hot start. Whether that is on coaching, or the team looking at the schedule and potentially not worrying about a few October games, it does not really feel like we know what they Flames are until around November.