This summer, the Calgary Flames weren’t as player-heavy when it came to moves around the organization. They traded Tyler Toffoli to New Jersey for Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick and signed Jordan Oesterle, but besides that, most of their moves were based around the major organizational roles. Both Brad Treliving and Darryl Sutter were out and were replaced by Craig Conroy and Ryan Huska respectively. Kirk Muller’s contract was up and after failing to achieve the head coaching role, he left to join the Washington Capitals as an assistant.
With the promotion of Huska and the departure of Muller, the Flames were now down an assistant and associate coach. Huska handled the defensive side of things while Muller controlled the power play. To replace the two, the Flames brought in Nashville Predators’ assistant Dan Lambert and former player Marc Savard.
Many were excited that Savard was joining as an assistant to handle the power play. He had previous ties to the organization and was the head coach behind the Windsor Spitfires teams that placed second and third in the OHL. Also, all the teams he had served as a coach for had placed top three in power play percentage. As an assistant with the St. Louis Blues, he handled a power play ranked third in the league with a 24.3% efficiency and as the Spitfires head coach, their power plays were ranked third in 2021–22 and second in 2022–23 with 26.1% and 25.9% respectively. There was fair reason to be hyped about this hiring. Unfortunately, so far reality has been the exact opposite of expectations and the Flames power play ranks near the bottom of the league.
How the Flames’ power play stacks up
The Flames sit 30th in the league in terms of power play percentage. All data comes from games ending on December 22, i.e. their game against the Los Angeles Kings and other games played on December 23 aren’t counted. They have put up a success rate of 11.5%. Only two teams place lower than the Flames, those being the Philadelphia Flyers (10.8%) and St. Louis Blues (9.9%). Out of 104 power plays, the Flames have scored 12 goals, the most buried by one player is Elias Lindholm with two goals. He’s also their highest power play producer with five points. MacKenzie Weegar, Nazem Kadri, and Noah Hanifin are all tied in second with four points.
Statistical breakdown
| Metric | CF/60 | xGF/60 | SCF/60 | HDCF/60 | HDSH% | SH% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Calgary Flames | 103.97 | 8.08 | 51.31 | 25.48 | 14.00 | 8.39 |
| League Rank | 22nd | 18th | 28th | 15th | 28th | 29th |
When you break it down deeper, the power play looks slightly better, but not by much. They only place in the top half of the league for one metric and that’s HDCF/60 which is a positive. Their xGF/60 is almost in the top half which would make sense since the more high-danger chances you produce, the more expected goals will be generated. Despite this, the other two stats ranking in the bottom half is a strong concern especially SCF/60 ranking in the bottom five. The lack of base scoring chances is a concern as it can highlight the inability to get the puck to the net.
The higher placing of the high-danger chances and lower placing of scoring chances does go with the eye test that the Flames attempt to set up the best chances instead of taking large amounts of shots, the only problem is the Flames can’t finish. This is put in the spotlight by not only watching but also the placement of their power play shooting percentages. They place 28th and 29th when it comes to high-danger shooting and overall shooting percentages. This presents the idea that the Flames are either unlucky or lack the finishing talent to capitalize on their chances. Both seem to play a factor but I lean more toward the latter being a bigger problem.
All these problems can be blamed on the power play structure and not having the talent to produce. Savard hasn’t necessarily done too much to try and find a clicking power play, but I wouldn’t completely blame him as the Flames seem to lack the players to fill roles. Most successful power plays have a quarterback/player it runs through, a bumper, a net-front presence, a slot shooter, and a one-timer option. This fits the 1-3-1 strategy and while they’re others most have some mixture of set-up man, shooters, net-front, and quarterback.
Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk were fantastic for the power play. The whole thing functioned through Gaudreau and Tkachuk was the perfect net-front. Since they’ve left, no one has stood up to take their roles. Jonathan Huberdeau was supposed to be that guy on the power play, but his struggles have made that not possible. Elias Lindholm was a great slot shooter but without a man to pass him the puck, it makes playing that role difficult.
They’ve also decided to try Lindholm in other roles as well and that just hasn’t worked. There really isn’t a clear-cut quarterback, net-front presence, or shooters, all of which have caused many, many problems. The only constant has been Nazem Kadri playing bumper and he has worked fine there. Players such as Connor Zary, Yegor Sharangovich, and Martin Pospisil have emerged as some potential fixes but nothing has clicked yet and Pospisil hasn’t even been tested on the power play.
Potential to finish as one of the worst power plays
As it currently sits, since the salary cap was introduced in 2005–06, the Flames have the sixth-worst power play percentage. When we count only full 82-game seasons, it falls to fourth worst. Now to be fair, two of the teams behind them are those same Flyers and Blues teams from this season mentioned earlier so the Flames aren’t even the worst this season—yet.
If the Flames don’t find a solution soon, they will have a solid chance at finishing as not only the worst power play this season, but one of the worst in the salary cap era. They are on pace to score 29 goals on the man advantage all season. The lowest total in an 82-game season belongs to the 2013–14 Florida Panthers who had 27. Second place belongs to the 2021–22 Arizona Coyotes with 28. If the Flames were to keep their pace they would result with the third lowest as the number at third is currently 30.
Power play problems that need to be fixed
The Calgary Flames looked to improve their struggling power play with the hiring of Marc Savard. Unfortunately, things have gone south so far. The Flames rank near the bottom of the league when it comes to power play percentage sitting at 11.5%. Underlying numbers don’t help paint a prettier picture. Coach and players can both be looked to to blame but the lack of ability to produce on the power play has become prominent. If the Flames can’t find a solution soon, they could find themselves with some of the worst power plays of the salary cap era.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
