The Calgary Flames are on track to have their lowest leading scorer in franchise history

The Calgary Flames once again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat last night, earning a comeback win over the Carolina Hurricanes. Despite the game seeming out of reach for nearly the entire night, the Flames flipped a switch in the third period and on the back of a standout performance from Dustin Wolf picked up a big win. Despite the win, it’s hard to ignore the issues the Flames are currently having scoring goals. Whether it’s individuals or as a team, the team flat-out can’t score most nights. Here’s a further breakdown of just how bad it’s been from a historical point of view.

No stand-out performers for the Flames

As the title suggests, the Flames are currently on pace to have their lowest leading scorer in franchise history. In recent years the Flames have typically had at least one stand-out performer even in down years, whether that was Tyler Toffoli last year or Johnny Gaudreau or Jarome Iginla for most of the 2000s. This year however it’s a different story. There hasn’t been a single player on the roster that has had a strong season or stood out offensively. For that reason, the team is currently on track for a historically poor year. Here are the top five Flames in scoring right now.

Player	Games Played	Points	Current 82 game pace
Elias Lindholm	26	17	53.61
Nazem Kadri	26	17	53.61
Blake Coleman	26	15	47.30

Those are just some hard numbers to look at. 53 points as a leading scorer in today’s NHL is unheard of for a team with the Flames payroll. 53 points would be Elias Lindholm’s lowest full-season total since 2017–18 when he was still in Carolina. Nazem Kadri‘s current 53-point pace would be his lowest full-season total since the 2018–19 season when he missed nine games with an injury. In other words, the Flames’ leading scorers are both having some of the worst years of their careers. Not a great sign when those are your leading scorers.

At this point last season, 26 games into the year, the Flames’ leading scorer was also Lindholm with 22 points in 26 games which translates to a 69-point pace across a full 82-game season. That should give you a better idea of just how bad things have been this year. Even during last year’s disaster under Darryl Sutter, the team was still on track to have a leading scorer near 70 points at the start of the year. As we all know, Toffoli’s 73 points led the Flames by season’s end. This requires Lindholm to post 56 points across the final 56 games to reach that total again. Good luck.

Historically low production

As mentioned above, the Flames have typically had at least one player leading the way at the top of their scoring leaderboard come year’s end, typically by the name of Gaudreau or Iginla. This season however with no elite talent to speak of, Lindholm and Kadri’s current 54-point pace would track as the worst full-season total in franchise history. Yes, in the 43 years of the Flames’ existence in Calgary, no other roster has had a worse leading scorer outside of one season that also had a 54-point scorer. Here are the five lowest leading scorers in franchise history.

Season	Player	Points
2023-24	Elias Lindholm	54* (Current Pace)
2013-14	Jiri Hudler	54
2016-17	Johnny Gaudreau	61
2011-12	Jarome Iginla	67
2005-06	Jarome Iginla	67

Like I said, if it weren’t for Gaudreau and Iginla during some dark years in the 2000s and 2010s the Flames very likely would’ve had some even lower leading scorers during those years. Regardless, the team has only ever had one leading scorer come in below 60 points in a full season and that was Jiri Hudler back in 2013–14. To no one’s surprise, this was the first season following Iginla’s departure and the year before Gaudreau’s debut. That team finished with the worst record in franchise history, ending the year fourth last in the entire league, which was 27th overall at that point in time.

That 2013–14 team was in full-on rebuild mode without a single star to speak of. They also had one of the lower payrolls in the league. In other words, this year’s roster that is up to the cap ceiling and trying to contend is on track to produce a leading scorer on par or even worse than the rebuilding 2013–14 roster.

In many ways, this is even worse with the average goals per game back in 2013–14 being 2.74, whereas it’s tracking at a significantly higher 3.14 so far this year. So while the NHL as a whole is seeing more goals and therefore more overall points, the Flames’ leading scoring today is producing at an even worse clip than their past leader from a rebuilding team a decade ago. A 54-point pace today is much worse than a 54-point pace back then.

Here’s a good look at the highest scorer on the team each season ranked from best to worst. This season is right at the bottom.

A battle at the bottom

Unsurprisingly, the Flames are also on track to have one of the lowest-leading scorers in the entire NHL. In fact, there’s only one team in the league that currently has a leading scorer with fewer points. Take a look at the five lowest below with their current 82-game paces.

Team	Player	Current 82 game pace
Washington Capitals	Alex Ovechkin	53
Calgary Flames	Elias Lindholm	54
Columbus Blue Jackets	Zach Werenski	63
Montreal Canadiens	Nick Suzuki	66
Philadelphia Flyers	Travis Konecny	66

Right now Alexander Ovechkin’s current 53-point pace would be the only team leader on track for fewer points than Lindholm. Even bottom-feeder teams like the Sharks and Blackhawks have at least one player leading the way points-wise. The Blue Jackets are currently fifth last in the NHL and even their leading scorer is on track for nearly 10 more points than Lindholm. Assuming Ovechkin turns it around eventually, Lindholm or Kadri very likely end the year as the lowest team leader in the entire league.

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Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire