The Calgary Flames, all things considered, are off to a really good start to their 2024-25 season. Sure, they’ve lost three times (twice in regulation), but if the only thing they were going to accomplish this season was to set a baseline expectation for being a hard team to play against, they’re well on their way to doing that through eight games.
In the mailbag this week, we delve into some of the nuances of this season thus far.
A disclaimer: I’ve been in Spain for my cousin’s wedding so I have a bunch of full-game video to review when I return to Canada. But from the video I have seen and the numbers I’ve dug into, the simple answer is “Not really.”
Structurally and from an underlying standpoint, the Flames have been remarkably consistent so far. Yeah, they’ve given up a lot of shots, but they’re trying to keep secondary chances and rebounds to a minimum and box out traffic and tips. If you can gobble up rebounds and head up ice with speed, you can be a pretty effective counter-punch team and it prevents the opponents from committing too much manpower in the offensive zone. They’ve had mixed success doing so, but you can kind of see what they’re going for.
We’ll get into the details of Matt Coronato’s particular situation down the road, but there’s a balancing act the Flames are attempting to navigate, and for a lesson on why they’re doing this, let’s refer back to the Edmonton Oilers and their vaunted decade of darkness.
The Oilers were a bad team. Initially this was by design, as they got rid of most of their veterans and dressed one of the younger outfits in the entire NHL. So every year, they drafted high and dropped a fresh-faced 18-year-old child onto their roster to save the Oilers. And every year, these kids had their introduction to the NHL be getting beaten soundly every single night. There’s no way that can’t be demoralizing for the kids – or the entire team – and repeating that merry-go-round every year could not have been fun.
The Flames are trying to avoid throwing their youngsters to the wolves this season – and probably beyond – by placing older players in key spots. In the grand scheme of things, does it matter if Anthony Mantha is on the wrong end of a few close games? Or even on the wrong end of a few blowouts? Nope. He’s finished his development, so playing him 12-15 minutes a night in losses doesn’t hurt him. They can throw him to the wolves and it does not matter, and so he becomes a useful tool for bench and roster management. And if they get a mid-round pick (or better) for him in March, that’s a bonus.
But the Flames obviously feel that Coronato can be an important figure for them long-term. So they’re understandably wanting to make sure he’s fully cooked before they carve out a full-time role for him. If you look at the developmental arcs for guys like Dustin Wolf, Martin Pospisil and Connor Zary, you can see what they may have in mind; all three spend a decent amount of time in the AHL before making the jump, and you can argue that there’s not much left for each of them to accomplish with the Wranglers.
In short, the Flames seem to be using the Detroit model more than the Edmonton/decade of darkness model. And the Detroit model is not without its pain points.
I wouldn’t say that Rasmus Andersson is a surprise, since he’s always been really good. But it’s been really exciting to see him grab hold of games this season. When Andersson’s at his best, there’s a swagger about him that’s undeniable, and it’s been palpable when he’s been on the ice. When your teammate has a “give me the puck, boys, and I can do something awesome” energy to him, it gives the entire team a jolt of energy.
For the other end of the spectrum, I hope we see more from Daniil Miromanov this season. So far he hasn’t been all that bad, but he hasn’t really done anything to stand out to claim full-time ownership of a roster spot, either.
So far, the Flames have split goaltending starts 50/50 between Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf. And I would expect that to continue for awhile, in part because both guys need games but also because neither has really completely grabbed hold of the starting job yet. Competition between the two netminders for starts, especially given the arc of the Flames these days, can only be a good thing.
I will say, though, Wolf has been superb in his outings and if we’re keeping score, he may be slightly ahead of Vladar in the goaltending derby.
Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/X at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan [at] TheNationNetwork.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)

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