Yesterday we gave out letter grades for how each Flame forward has performed this season. Today, we’re giving out some report cards for the defencemen and goalies.

14GP – 4G – 7A – 11P

Rasmus Andersson has been the best player on the Calgary Flames this season. Full stop. There is no debating that statement.

He leads the Flames in assists (7) and points (11). He leads the Flames in average ice time. He leads the Flames in PK ice time. He leads the Flames in blocked shots. The Flames have outscored their opposition 14-8 at 5-on-5 with Andersson on the ice. He’s been nothing short of incredible and the Flames wouldn’t be where they are if it wasn’t for the play of their #1 defenceman.

14GP – 0G – 6A – 6P

We didn’t know what to expect from Kevin Bahl after he was acquired as part of the Jacob Markstrom trade in June. He was coming off what looked like a disappointing season in New Jersey.

But he has been rock solid for the Flames in the first 14 games of the season. He and Rasmus Andersson have made up a very good first pairing that gets put on the ice in tough situations at 5-on-5 and the PK. The Flames have outscored their opposition 12-8 when he is on the ice at 5-on-5. And he’s tied for 3rd in +/- with a +4.

He’s even put up a little bit of offence. He’s tied for 2nd on the Flames in assists with 6.

14GP – 0G – 1A – 1P

Here is a stat that says everything you need to know about Brayden Pachal’s season. He is one of four Flames defencemen to play in every game this season. I don’t think many Flames fans would have expected that this season. Daniil Miromanov, Jake Bean, Tyson Barrie, and Joel Hanley have all been healthy scratches.

And he’s been in the lineup because of his reliability and physicality, which is the most important part of his game. The best part of Pachal’s game is his physicality. He leads Flames defencemen in hits with 42 and is only one off the team lead in that category. And they aren’t just little body checks. He is crushing guys. That’s important because the Flames blueline is not the most physical group.

14GP – 3G – 3A – 6P

I think MacKenzie Weegar has been good, not great. He hasn’t played at the level he was at last season. But is that his fault? Or is it because the Flames haven’t found him a consistent defence partner?

Daniil Miromanov, Jake Bean, Brayden Pachal, Tyson Barrie and Joel Hanley are not top four defencemen in the NHL.

Moving forward, the Flames need to find a high-quality defenceman to play with Weegar to help get the most out of him.

Weegar’s underlying numbers are solid. But you’d like to see a little more offence out of Weegar. The Flames don’t need him to score at a 20 goal pace, but he needs to be a better puck mover and play driver, especially on the power play.

12GP – 0G – 2A – 2P

I would argue that Daniil Miromanov has been the most disappointing Flame defenceman this season. There was some hope that after a strong finish to last season that he could breakout and turn into a full time NHL defender. But he has yet to show that this season.

For me, it’s the pace of his game that’s not at an NHL level. His skating puts him behind the play at times. His decision making with the puck is not where it needs to be.

You can tell that there is some talent there. He has a decent skillset. But he just hasn’t been able to put it all together just yet.

Tyson Barrie and Jake Bean have only played in seven games each. They’ve been in and out of the lineup throughout the season. Because of that, it’s been difficult to truly evaluate their games this season. I would say they’ve both earned passing grades.

Barrie is starting to look more comfortable with the Flames. He leads the Flames in HDCF% with 67.74% which is impressive.

Bean has 3 points in 7 games. The Flames have outscored and out chanced the opposition with him on the ice at 5-on-5. You’d like to see him get some more ice time moving forward.

Both goalies deserve an above average grade for the way they’ve started the season. Goaltending was the biggest question mark heading into the year. But they’ve both proved that they are NHL calibre goalies.

The numbers may not show it, but I think Wolf has been the more impressive of the two. His quickness and athleticism in the crease is extremely impressive. He may get beat high every now and then (like all goalies), but he makes up for that with some of the down low saves he makes because of his quickness moving side to side and ability to track pucks.

Vladar has been solid, a steadying presence in the crease. And his numbers are impressive when you take into consideration the incredibly difficult opponents he’s faced. He’s faced Vancouver, Edmonton (x2), Carolina, Vegas, and New Jersey. That’s a murderer’s row of offensively gifted teams. And he’s held up just fine in those games.