The Calgary Flames had yet another disappointing season. They missed the playoffs again but instead of being the best to miss like last year, they were the ninth worst team in the NHL. Expectations weren’t necessarily high for the Flames but most were expecting them to bounce back in some way. Looking back, I had set a few forwards to resurge while most were to continue down their career path. The Flames lost players who were and added players who weren’t a part of these expectations.
Let’s take a closer look at how each forward fared.
Jonathan Huberdeau
Expectation: 70–80 points, build 5v5 offence
Jonathan Huberdeau had a rollercoaster of a season. He’d go on stretches where he looked like his Florida self and then stretches where he looked awful. He almost went the entirety of December not getting a single point, getting one on the last day of the month. Entering the new year, Huberdeau looked pretty good for about 25–30 games. He then tailed off to end the season.
In 81 games, he finished with fewer points than he did last year with just 52. When you look at underlying numbers, his 5v5 offence completely resurged but really doesn’t mean much if it didn’t look like it half the time.
Verdict: Expectations not met
Nazem Kadri
Expectations: 50–60 points, good underlying numbers
One point in eight games is how Nazem Kadri‘s season started. He seemed set to decline but did a complete 180 for the rest of the year. He played in all 82 games scoring 29 goals and 75 points, meaning he had 74 points in 74 games after his rough start. This season was the second best in his career only behind his crazy 2021–22 year with the Colorado Avalanche. His analytics didn’t really hinder either, posting similar results to prior seasons. When it comes to Flames’ MVP, he’s in the argument and he definitely was the forward MVP.
Verdict: Expectations surpassed
Andrew Mangiapane
Expectations: 20+ goals, 50+ points, fix defensive game
Andrew Mangiapane was coming off a disappointing 2022–23 season and many were hoping he would regain some of that 2021–22 shine. Mangiapane started off flip-flopping between looking like the best version of himself and being invisible.
As the year went on, Mangiapane seemed to feed into the negative results of the game and didn’t have the greatest year. In 75 games, he had 14 goals and 40 points. His defensive game did improve but not to that elite two-play he had before.
Verdict: Expectations not met
Yegor Sharangovich
Expectations: 20 goals, 40 points, build 5v5 game
The nicest surprise of the Flames season, Yegor Sharangovich had a fantastic year. Comparing it to 2022–23, Sharangovich had an 18-goal and 29-point increase. He played in all 82 games finding the back of the net 31 times and getting 59 points, setting national records along the way. It was his first time scoring 30 goals and 50 points in his career. He brought a scoring touch that the team seemed to like in prior seasons and picked up chemistry with quite a few players. Looking at the numbers, Sharangovich had the best 5v5 season of his career and improved a lot in that aspect.
Verdict: Expectations surpassed
Mikael Backlund
Expectations: 40–45 points, strong two-way play continues
Mikael Backlund‘s first season as the Flames captain has concluded and it wasn’t pretty. Backlund himself had an alright year putting up 39 points and suiting up for a full 82-game season. His two-way play continued and while it wasn’t as strong as past years, it was still good. He was one point shy of my point expectations but I’m not going to lose sleep over that. Backlund filled the role he’s always had.
Verdict: Expectations met
Blake Coleman
Expectations: 30–40 points
While Sharangovich was the nicest surprise, Blake Coleman was definitely the craziest. Coleman had seemed to set his role as a 15–20 goal, 30–40 point guy for the Flames so I wasn’t expecting him to change from that. Then his point totals launched. By the midway mark, he was one point off of his career-high and was on pace for 70. He obviously tailed off considering he finished with 54 points. Goal scoring also increased as Coleman had his first 30-goal season, getting his 30th in the last game of the season.
Verdict: Expectations surpassed
A.J. Greer/Dryden Hunt
Expectations: 10–15 points, energy guy, good defence
At the midway mark, Dryden Hunt was in the minors and A.J. Greer had taken his spot on the fourth line so I combined the two. Greer then went down with injury and Hunt was called up and by the end of the year, they were playing together. Greer put up 12 points in 59 games, Hunt put up eight in 28. Both filled their role of energy guy with good defence.
Verdict: Expectations met
Walker Duehr
Expectations: 20 points
Walker Duehr made the opening roster and was coming off a hot end to the 2022–23 season. Many were expecting him to take that role of fan-favourite fourth liner but the claim of Greer and the surprises of Zary and Pospisil took away his spot in the line-up. He was serving as a healthy scratch most of the time and didn’t look that effective when playing. He finished the year with seven points and 40 games before being sent to the Wranglers.
Verdict: Expectations not met
Matt Coronato
Expectations: 35 points in a smaller role, 45–60 points in a top-six role
Matt Coronato‘s preseason did a lot for his hype. He had secured an opening night spot and high expectations from fans, myself included. Coronato would struggle to start the year not picking up many points so he was sent to the Wranglers in the AHL.
He lit it up scoring 42 points in 41 games while making the AHL All-Star game. He was called up again in the home stretch of the season. He wasn’t exactly utilized properly but also looked like he was still struggling to find his footing in the NHL. He finished off with three goals and nine points in 34 games.
Verdict: Expectations not met
Connor Zary
Expectations: N/A
Connor Zary didn’t make the opening night roster so I didn’t set expectations for him. Zary pretty much did what many were expecting Coronato to do. Upon joining the Flames, the team seemed to improve and he found himself in the Calder Trophy conversation. Zary’s production did drop near the end of the season but he still finished with 14 goals and 34 points in 63 games. He surprised the whole fan base with what he did this season.
Verdict: Expectations surpassed
Martin Pospisil
Expectations: N/A
Just like Zary, Martin Pospisil wasn’t on the opening night roster so no expectations were set. Pospisil was called up shortly after Zary and it surprised many that he was their first choice. His production started off well with five points in seven games and he brought that energy the Flames needed.
As the season went on, Pospisil’s scoring dropped but he still continued to be a high-energy player. Despite missing 19 games, he had 109 penalty minutes and 238 hits, over 40 more than second on the Flames. At season’s end, in 63 games Pospisil had 24 points.
Verdict: Expectations surpassed
Andrei Kuzmenko
Expectations: N/A
Coming in as a cap dump in the Elias Lindholm trade, there was potential with Andrei Kuzmenko but also valid concern. He had 39 goals and 74 points in 2022–23 with the Vancouver Canucks, but when acquired he only had eight goals and 21 points in 42 games while also facing healthy scratches.
In the first little bit, Kuzmenko was solid for the Flames, nothing crazy. In the final 11 games, he went off scoring nine goals and 17 points. By game 82, Kuzmenko had more points (25) in 29 games with the Flames than with the Canucks.
Verdict: Expectations surpassed
A discovery year for Calgary
The Calgary Flames discovered themselves this year. They aren’t a team built to make the playoffs. It shows that despite how many surprises they had with forwards this season but still finished in the bottom 10. They lost forwards this year such as Elias Lindholm too. It sucks to watch and hurts to lose but a step in a younger direction is what this absolutely needs.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
