Heading into a sophomore season can be a daunting task for an NHL goalie coming off a successful rookie campaign. The Calder Trophy runner-up last season, Calgary Flames netminder Dustin Wolf set the bar high on a team where expectations were generally low across the board. Ultimately, the team proved it overachieved a season ago and Wolf wasn’t able to bail them out this time around.

Heading into the season, expectations for Wolf were to continue improving and establish himself as one of the NHL’s top goalies. He almost single-handedly carried the Flames to a playoff spot in his rookie season before they narrowly missed the cut. When you follow that up with a 2.64 goals-against average and a .910 save percentage, it’s easy to expect more of the same the following year.

While expectations for Wolf were high, there was still that threshold of understanding that came with them. It’s difficult to expect a young goalie to carry a rebuilding team on his back in consecutive seasons. The hope was that his overall numbers would remain in a similar range while still showing signs of growth on the ice.

The Flames also entered the season with uncertainty surrounding the backup goalie position. There didn’t appear to be much confidence in either Devin Cooley or Ivan Prosvetov to start the year, so there was a strong argument that Wolf would shoulder a significant portion of the workload and potentially one of the heaviest workloads in the league.

Sporting a 23-29-3 record, Wolf’s numbers trended in the wrong direction from last season. His goals-against average increased by 0.35 to 2.99, while his save percentage dropped from .911 to .899.

While those numbers don’t look great on the surface, there is another way to view them. At home, Wolf was excellent. At the Saddledome, he posted a 17-10-3 record with a 2.45 goals-against average and a .915 save percentage. Both of his shutouts also came on home ice.

The real struggles came on the road. Away from home, Wolf posted a 6-19-0 record with a 3.78 goals-against average and an .881 save percentage. There doesn’t appear to be an easy explanation for the dramatic split. Perhaps he simply feeds off the Calgary crowd.

There were many elements of Wolf’s game that remained consistent and have become expected on a nightly basis. As always, he was quick in the crease with elite post-to-post coverage and excellent ability to read the play. However, some concerning trends also emerged. Wolf appeared to struggle getting locked into games early, allowing a significant number of goals in the opening stages, including multiple goals on the first shot of the game. There were also too many goals allowed that should have been routine saves.

The emergence of Devin Cooley as a solid, serviceable backup took a lot of weight off Wolf’s shoulders. After initially being projected to play perhaps 65 to 70 games, Wolf ended up appearing in 57, just four more than in his rookie season. Cooley’s rise also weakened the argument that his declining numbers were solely the result of playing behind a struggling team. Cooley’s numbers ranked among the best in the league. Ultimately, it points more toward Wolf experiencing a sophomore slump.

This appears to be an odd trend among second-year goalies who found success as rookies. Recent examples include Stuart Skinner and Alex Nedeljkovic, both of whom excelled in their rookie seasons but have struggled to consistently return to that level since. You could go back even further and look at Steve Mason, who won the Calder Trophy but never came close to replicating that success again.

Goalies have historically been unpredictable. Still, it’s far too early to panic. There remains a lot to like about Wolf’s game and there’s a strong chance he will continue to grow alongside this team as it works its way back toward playoff contention. There is no doubt he is still the Flames’ number one goalie.

The first season of his seven-year contract extension begins this fall, so there is plenty of time to figure things out. Flames fans should still be prepared for plenty of “Awoo!”s in the years ahead.