The Calgary Flames' offense has gotten worse for years now. Now, it's their biggest concern, and drafting and developing top prospects may be the most realistic solution.
The Calgary Flames look utterly flat on offense.
With 13 goals in eight games, Calgary's averaging a goal-and-a-half per match. Not even the New York Rangers' scoring is that low, and they've been shut out three times already.
The Flames are in danger of spoiling their season in short order if they can’t get beyond their 1-6-1 record.
Only the San Jose Sharks are lower than the Flames in the standings, with two points to Calgary's three. But San Jose is undergoing a very obvious rebuild. We’re talking bottom-of-the-barrel status for Calgary, with selling veterans and drafting top prospects in next year's draft becoming the more feasible route to long-term success.
It sure sounds like it’s starting to get to Flames players, including sophomore goalie Dustin Wolf, who spoke out after Wednesday’s 2-1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
“It’s tough – I can't generate offense,” Wolf said. “I do my job, try to keep the puck out of our net and hope that our guys can generate a couple.”
Now, Wolf hasn’t done exceptionally well this season at stopping the puck. He has a .875 save percentage and 3.61 goals-against average in seven games, and his minus-7.6 goals saved above expected is the league's worst, according to moneypuck.com.
But Wolf has gotten better of late, posting a .926 save percentage against the Winnipeg Jets on Monday and a .929 SP against Montreal. He only allowed two goals in each game.
So no matter how well Wolf plays, they need goals.
Calgary had an inspirational season in many respects last year when its offense and goaltending surged at the right times, yet the team still fell short of a playoff spot.
But Wolf's play last year may have actually masked how much more concerning the Flames' offense is than their goaltending to start this season.
Calgary's scoring fell in each of the past five seasons since they averaged 3.55 goals-for per game in 2021-22. Last year's 2.68 goals-for per game were the fewest since 2017-18. But after the Flames allowed 3.26 goals against per game in 2023-24, Wolf's emergence helped the team allow just 2.88 goals against per game in 2024-25.
In other words, this downward trend on offense is not new in Calgary, despite Nazem Kadri, Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar trying to be veterans leading the way in the offensive zone in recent years. This season, Kadri leads the team with four points, all assists, in eight games. Weegar has two points. Huberdeau has appeared in only three games, but one point isn't enough, either.
In a good kind of painful way, the Flames’ struggles give them a better chance of winning the Gavin McKenna sweepstakes in next summer’s NHL draft. McKenna is exactly the type of generational talent Calgary has lacked for many years now.
While the Flames would have to be consistently brutal to get to that possibility, they’re already showing the many holes in their roster.
The Flames have done well to have Matt Coronato, Morgan Frost, Joel Farabee, Connor Zary, Zayne Parekh, Samuel Honzek and Wolf in their lineup. While Huberdeau, Kadri, Rasmus Andersson, and Weegar have some form of trade protection, which prevents the Flames from going all-out on a rebuild, they could benefit from leaning into retooling even more.
In the meantime, the entire team has to pull its weight, including all forwards and offense-minded defensemen putting pucks in the other net. They’re the ones who should be feeling the heat, and Wolf’s comments only underscore that fact. If they are not fully rebuilding, they at least need to keep morale high by being competitive more often than not.
The Flames’ offense is the problem. And until they get dynamic young stars to lead the way for the next generation, Calgary is going to be mired in the misery that’s already starting to affect them.
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