Is GM Craig Conroy secretly tanking for Gavin McKenna? If so, he’s doing a great job.

We’re 10 days into the 2025-26 NHL season, and the Calgary Flames are in last place. They managed to squeak out a win against the Edmonton Oilers in the season opener, a game that was basically handed to them. Since then, the Flames have dropped four straight and have looked out of sorts.

Though they’re ailing in many aspects of the game, one constant from last season is their struggle to find the back of the net. Calgary has scored 10 times in five games, math says that’s two goals per contest, a low mark. It’s early and not necessarily time to hit the panic button, but goal scoring has just never come easy for this team under head coach Ryan Huska, and that trend has carried over into this season.

The 2025-26 Flames have perpetuated the offensive woes that resulted in them missing the dance by one point in 2024-25, despite Dustin Wolf doing everything in his power to get them there. Evidently, the Flames aren’t dead last because of their inability to generate offence but rather because Wolf hasn’t been able to bail them out the way he has in the past, at least thus far. If they’re to turn it around, Calgary must find a way to ask less of their star goaltender and win games by scoring more goals, as opposed to allowing fewer.

Granted, the Flames have been without one of their better forwards in Jonathan Huberdeau and have been snake-bitten, having missed multiple wide-open nets. Still, this is a team that scored the fourth-fewest goals in the NHL a season ago and didn’t feature any changes in the off-season. The Flames struggled to score at even strength last season and have struggled again this season. The power play was subpar a year ago and has been just as ineffective this season.

Huberdeau is expected to return when the Flames travel to Vegas to duel with the Golden Knights on Saturday. The re-insertion of the team’s highest-paid player into the lineup should translate into an immediate uptick in scoring, but don’t hold your breath.

The optimism that surrounded this team heading into the season has quickly turned to pessimism, but being the ‘glass half full’ guy that I am, I’d be remiss if I didn’t touch on some cool storylines that have been percolating to begin the year.

The Flames have had a bit of a youth infusion! Through five games, the starting lineup has featured two teenagers in Zayne Parekh and Matvei Gridin, both of whom have, at times, looked really comfortable, and other times, looked like 19-year-olds in the NHL. Nevertheless, it’s been worth tuning in to watch both guys play and see how they can potentially help this team in the goals-for category both now and in the future. Additionally, 20-year-old Sam Honzek, a former Calgary first-round pick, has looked good with the opportunities he’s been given, following a so-so rookie season with the Wranglers in 2024-25.

Ultimately, the Flames should be prioritizing the development of these young players and embracing the growing pains that are inherent with that sort of thing.