It’s been an ugly start for the Calgary Flames, to say the least.

With seven games in the books, the red team sits at 1-6-0 on the year. Their two points in the standings came in game number one, a shootout win over the team to the north. This is the fewest points they’ve ever had through seven games in the history of the franchise, dating back to their days in Atlanta.

The Flames are currently riding a six-game skid during which they’ve mustered just eight total goals, and things look particularly bleak.

This wasn’t a high-octane offence last season by any means, ranking 29th in goals for. But the heroics of rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf kept them afloat in the playoff race, right up until the very end of the season.

This year, Wolf’s margin for error has been razor-thin, given the team’s league-worst 1.6 goals per game mark. They’ve been performing poorly in many areas, but the lack of scoring has given them virtually no chance to win, period.

Whether or not this has anything to do with the team’s poor play, there’s been very little continuity in terms of forward lines and defensive pairings, with the lineup essentially being put in a blender throughout the young season.

But regardless of who’s playing with who, the reality is that this roster has holes, and those holes were masked by the outstanding goaltending they received a season ago.

The box score may not tell the complete story, as the Flames’ atrocious puck luck has made their goal total somewhat misleading. They’ve hit countless posts and missed on a bunch of grade-A scoring chances thus far, so their scoring will inevitably improve. That said, it will take a few miracles for this team to get up off the mat and once again become a contender.

In the event that the Flames can’t turn the ship around after this unprecedented start, there will likely be implications in the Rasmus Andersson trade saga. If there was any hope before the season, it seems even more unlikely that Calgary and the Swedish blueliner will come to an agreement on an extension. The two sides are drifting away from each other in terms of desires as the Flames continue to sputter and Andersson continues to play into his prime. At this stage, a trade seems more imminent than it ever has.

Should the previously held hopes of this team playing their way into the playoffs continue to dwindle, the Flames’ brass may be forced to make some hard decisions on other veteran players in the hopes of getting some assets in return for them via trade. But who knows, there’s been a perpetual unwillingness to move off of players with term left on their contracts, and outside of Andersson, all of Calgary’s potential trade chips are signed beyond this season.

If you enjoy seeing young players play at the NHL level, then there may be some consolation for you in the potential of another missed postseason, as there will be an increased incentive to give NHL experience to the many drafted and developed players in the Flames’ pipeline. But again, who really knows?

The overarching caveat here is that it’s still early, and a long season lies ahead. We should get more clarity on the team’s direction as they get more games under their belt, beginning Wednesday night in a home match-up against a hot Montreal Canadiens squad.

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