The Calgary Flames recently re-signed goaltending prospect Dustin Wolf to a two-year contract extension. This contract officially makes way for the Wolf era between the pipes as he’s done everything he could in lower levels of play, from junior through to the AHL.
The idea that Wolf could become the Flames’ goaltender of the future is quickly turning into him becoming the goalie of the present, and there’s no better time than 2024–25 to get Wolf acclimated to being an NHL goalie. The developmental path has entirely lined up for this coming year to be Wolf’s biggest to date. With that said, just exactly what type of goalie split do the fans want to see? We asked, you answered.
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Figuring out the Flames goaltending split
The following poll was presented to give options for how the Flames could line up in net. Presumably, the Flames are going ahead with the tandem of Wolf and Dan Vladar as their NHL goaltenders. While Devin Cooley could make a couple of NHL appearances, it’s unlikely for him to go on any sizeable run unless the Flames face injury woes.
So again, assuming that the tandem is Wolf and Vladar, the Flames have a few options. They could give one goalie the bulk of the starts and have a defined starter versus backup, or they could opt for a workload management approach and have a 1A/1B system.
There are a few caveats as to what might actually happen for the Flames. Since Vladar is coming back from hip surgery, it could bode well for him to have a lighter workload, which makes it a lot more justifiable to give Wolf more starts. Or the team could be even more risk-averse and actually use Cooley for different legs of their season, or reward him if he gets a good stretch of AHL play.
However, if the goalies remain healthy and there aren’t major setbacks to any of their seasons, the Flames effectively have the four options from the poll.
Wolf’s the starter
Almost a third of the votes went towards making 2024–25 the year for Wolf to be the outright starter. Flames fans have waited patiently to see what Wolf can do and with the door wide open for him to become the team’s next long-term goalie, the sooner he gets that role, the better.
Wolf has appeared in just 18 NHL games so far in his career, and it’s about time to see him get way more NHL time. He’s deserved it, and giving him more reps in front of a bad team will only make him a better goalie for when the team’s Cup contention window reopens.
Giving him the starting role could see him play 50+ games next season, and that would basically triple his current total. The fans want to see him play at the highest level and having Wolf between the pipes will definitely be a big draw to the Flames.
Wolf splits as the 1A
With about half of the total votes, the bulk of the people want him to take a 1A role. This gives him some sheltering as needed, and offers him time to adapt his game and improve—something he’s known for doing at every level. He should still see a sizeable number of games and coming in around that 40-game mark would double his current total.
There’d still be plenty of minutes for Wolf, and there’s a good workload balance of the season. This split could be the perfect way to transition everyone into their new roles and see what the Flames have without overworking anyone.
Vladar takes the 1A
The opposite side of the coin is to not have Wolf be the primary goalie and keep Vladar in that role instead. As mentioned, he’s coming off of hip surgery so it might be better to ease Vladar back into the game rather than worrying about Wolf’s workload.
However, there are considerations for the future too. The Flames’ goalie pipeline isn’t exactly great right now, and with Vladar being under contract for just one season, he could be someone the Flames look to send to the market come the trade deadline.
He didn’t have a great showing last season, so getting him into more games could be the exhibition it’d take for another team to want his services when it’s time to push for the playoffs. This isn’t a bad option at all if you look at the Flames in a much bigger time scale.
Vladar’s the starter
This is the least popular option and rightfully so. The Flames were essentially blocked from giving Wolf too many NHL starts as they had two NHL goalies and Jacob Markstrom and Vladar already in net. With Wolf easily movable between the NHL and AHL, he was the expendable goalie that the team could afford to send to the Calgary Wranglers.
Now that the blockage is out of the equation, there’s absolutely no reason to have Wolf be an NHL goalie without getting in enough games to test him. The Flames need to see what they have in him over the course of a full season and doing so in a backup role just won’t cut it.
Wolf isn’t expected to come into the Flames and be a Vezina-calibre goalie right off the bat. He’ll be afforded mistakes as long as he learns from them. Whatever his record is this season shouldn’t even matter in the grand scheme. Right now, it’s all about getting in more experience against the world’s best hockey players to see if Wolf has what it takes to already be, or to become one of the world’s best goalies.
Simply put, don’t burn a season of his progress by making him play backup.
No more goalie dilemmas
Everything has lined up for Wolf and his patience will be rewarded. This is his season to show 30 NHL teams that they were wrong to pass on him and to show the Flames that they were right to draft him. It’s a great time to be him with the Flames’ embracing the rebuild a lot more explicitly. A zero-pressure entry into the NHL while being one of the league’s top goalie prospects? What more can you ask for?
It’s Wolf’s net now.
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