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The Calgary Flames and their fans need to be patient with Dustin Wolf next season
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Photo credit: © Brett Holmes-USA TODAY Sports
Robert Munnich
Jul 29, 2024, 16:00 EDTUpdated: Jul 29, 2024, 11:29 EDT
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The Calgary Flames head into the 2024-25 season with low expectations. Part of the reason for that is because they have the least experienced goaltending trio in the NHL. Dustin Wolf, Dan Vladar, and Devin Cooley have played a combined 99 NHL games.
Almost all the attention of the fan base is going to be on Wolf as he heads into his first full season in the NHL. There is a lot of hype around the young goalie, and for good reason.
Prior to last season, Wolf won the goaltender of the year award for three straight seasons. Once in the WHL. And twice in the AHL. On top of that he won the AHL MVP award in the 2022-23 season.
Wolf is ready to take the next step and become an NHL goalie. However, the Calgary Flames organization and their fans need to be patient with Wolf over the next couple seasons.
As we all know, Wolf is undersized for today’s standard of NHL goalies. According to the Flames website, Wolf is 6’0″, 166 pounds. Because of his size, he exposes more net and has to rely on his athleticism to make saves. The game is faster. The players are more skilled. And The shooters are incredible.
Wolf is going to struggle at times, like he did last season. He faced 17 or more shots 15 times in the 2023-24 season. His save percentage was below .900 in eight of those 15 games. We could see those stats continue into next season as Wolf gets comfortable playing in the best league in the world.
The team assembled in front of Wolf most likely not going to help his cause either. This is not a very good Calgary Flames roster. Particularly the defence group. It’s hard to put together a high-end group of defenders when you trade the likes of Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev, and Nikita Zadorov over the course of one season.
From Mar. 9 (the day after the trade deadline) to the end of the regular season, the Flames gave up the second most goals against in the NHL with 77. And they were third last in goals against per game.
Finally, takes some goalies a long time to develop. Just take a look at the age when the top goalies in the NHL had their breakout seasons.
It took some of the best goalies in the NHL until their 25-to-28-year-old seasons to break out as a true starter. Wolf is going into his 23-year-old season in 2024-25. He might be one of these goalies who take a while to develop.
We can’t question Wolf after every single below average start like a lot of people did last season. Don’t give him a hard time every time he gives up a soft goal. Don’t get down on him if he gives up a goal above his shoulders. Be patient with him.
The great thing about the Flames being in a rebuild is that they can allow Wolf to have some growing pains in his game over the next couple years. They aren’t in a “win now” mode by any stretch of the imagination.
Because of that, give Wolf a couple years to prove himself. He has been an elite goalie at every level he has played. There is the potential that he could get there at the NHL level. But it’s most likely not going to happen overnight.

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