So far in October, the Calgary Flames have looked much better than most initially thought they would. The energy around not just the team, but the fanbase, media, and city as a whole has been very positive, and it has led to some great moments. We have seen Justin Kirkland getting his first NHL goal, Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar bring stability to the Flames goaltending, and much more. That begs the question, so far this season, what has been the best storyline with the Flames? We asked, you answered.
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The best storyline around the Flames’ start
We presented the below poll to our readers on Twitter/X.
What’s been the best storyline of the season so far?
- Andersson stare downs
- Vladar and Wolf
- Kirkland
- Winning R1 of BoA
In lieu of Twitter embeds currently being broken, click the link above to see the final results!
Rasmus Andersson stare down
Rasmus Andersson is off to an incredible start this season. He has 10 points in eight games played, and is leading all defencemen on the Flames in minutes played. With how often he has found a way to get his name on the scoresheet, it has led to some fun goal celebrations. His new signature celebration? Singling out and staring down a fan of the opposing team.
He has done it four times now. Once in Vancouver, once in Edmonton, and twice in Calgary towards a Penguins fan and a Jets fan. I have to say, it might be one of the best goal celebrations I have ever seen, and I hope he continues to do this all season long.
Vladar and Wolf
Going into the season, the Flames goaltending was looked at as a big question mark. In the past, Dan Vladar has struggled to solidify himself as a reliable backup in the league, while Dustin Wolf is a promising young goalie who has yet to have a real stint in the NHL.
Wolf is projected to be a fantastic goalie in the future, but nobody expected him to be as good as he is in the league right now. Prior to the Flames’ game against the Jets, he had won every game he had started in and held a .936 save percentage. That number has dropped now, but by no means did he look bad against the Jets at all.
Dan Vladar has also shown signs of improvement from last year. His save percentage may just be a .904, but much of that is due to the first game of the season against the Canucks. In his last 3 games, he has recorded a .962, .913, and .929 save percentage, respectively. It will be interesting to see if the two goaltenders can keep this up all year.
Justin Kirkland
What a feel-good story this is. Kirkland was drafted 62nd overall in the 2014 NHL draft by the Nashville Predators, however, he spent much of his career in the AHL. Unfortunately, while he was on his way to play his eighth NHL game with the Anaheim Ducks, he got in a car accident that put his career on pause.
Despite this, Kirkland didn’t let this get in the way, and once he got better, he continued his career in the AHL. This year, he finally got to play some more NHL games, and 10 years after being drafted, he scored his first NHL goal. Kirkland is getting a real opportunity on the Flames to prove himself as an NHL-calibre player and has recently been seeing increased minutes on the ice. It’s been an inspiring moment for the Flames to say the least.
Flames winning Round 1 of the Battle of Alberta
Well, who had that on their bingo cards? It was their third game of the season, and they already had to play a team that many have pencilled in as the Stanley Cup favourite. The Flames saw themselves fall behind initially, as Jeff Skinner scored just one minute into the game, but that didn’t deter the team at all.
The Flames found a way to dominate the rest of the game, and they scored four unanswered goals to win the game 4–1. It wasn’t even close. Not too bad for a rebuilding team hey? It definitely wasn’t an outcome that many predicted, as noted on our brand new Fuel and Fire podcast featuring Flames from The Win Column versus Oilers fans from The Oil Rig, but this team has shown time and time again not to count them out.
Lost of season left
It’s a good sign that there are already a good number of positive storylines with the Flames. At this point last year, it seemed like every single player was in trade rumours and the future looked dark. This year, although the team is not realistically going to be a Stanley Cup contender, it’s good to have such positive energy around the franchise, especially while the team is in a rebuilding stage.
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