FlamesNation has no direct affiliation to the Calgary Flames, Calgary Sports and Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
Calgary Flames milestone watch: three veteran forwards chasing big benchmarks in 2024-25
alt
Photo credit: © Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Robert Munnich
Jul 20, 2024, 12:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 19, 2024, 21:25 EDT
Be sure to check out the latest odds with online sportsbook Betway.
In the second of our three part series looking at potential milestones for key Flames players next season, we look at the Flames forward group outside of the captain, Mikael Backlund.

Nazem Kadri

Kadri is on the verge of hitting round numbers in goals, assists and points. All are within reach in the 2024-25 season.
Kadri is 28 goals away from hitting 300 in his NHL career. He has scored at a 30-goal pace four times, and has scored at a 29-goal pace in five times. He is a high-end offensive player, and he is going to be put in every position to succeed on a below average Flames team next season.
Keep in mind that in Kadri’s final 71 games of the 2023-24 season, he scored 28 goals and added 42 assists. That’s a 32 goal pace over 82 games. If he can avoid a slow start to the 2024-25 season, there is no reason why he couldn’t score 28 goals.
Kadri is 29 assists away from hitting 400 in his career. He has been on pace to record 29 assists in nine of his 12 seasons in the NHL. He was on pace for 49 assists in his final 71 games of last season. Kadri might be able to put up more points next season if he plays on a line and first power play unit with Andrei Kuzmenko. They showed off some impressive chemistry in the final 10 games of the season, especially on the power play.
Finally, Kadri is 57 points away from 700 in his career. Only 270 players in NHL history have hit the 700-point total. Getting to that milestone would be an incredible accomplishment for the talented centre.

Jonathan Huberdeau

If Huberdeau is able to play in 69 games next season, he will hit 900 games played in his career.
The playmaking winger is also five assists away from reaching 500 in his career. Huberdeau has been one of the most prolific playmakers in the NHL during the 2010’s. Since entering the league in the lockout shortened 2012-13 season to his last season in Florida, he is 9th in the NHL in total assists, and he’s played in less games than all but one of the eight players ahead of him.
His play making and production as a whole has taken a hit since coming to Calgary. Over the last two seasons, Huberdeau ranks tied for 66th in assists league wide. Huberdeau clearly has the ability to get back to being a great setup man, he’s shown it throughout his career. But he has yet to put it together as a member of the Flames.

Blake Coleman

Coleman needs to play in 58 games next season to reach 600 games played and 49 points away from getting 300 in his NHL career.
The native of Plano, Texas was a third round pick of the New Jersey Devils in 2011. He was never a prolific scorer in college or the AHL. Over the six seasons he played in Miami of Ohio (NCAA) and Albany (AHL), his best statistical season was in 2013-14 when he put up 28 points in 27 games.  Coleman made the NHL because of his smarts, work ethic, and character.
He started his NHL career with the New Jersey Devils where he had three successful seasons before being traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020. Coleman became part of one of the best third lines in the NHL alongside Barclay Goodrow and Yanni Gourde. That line was a major part of the Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning.
He signed a six year contract with the Flames in 2021. He is coming off the best season of his career where he scored 30 goals and added 24 assists.
Getting to the 600 game and 300 point plateau next season would be an amazing achievement for the Texas Tiger.