Over the past calendar year, the Calgary Flames have experienced massive turnover, watching numerous core players walk out the door through trades and free agency. Despite that, the team has kicked off the 2024–25 season in surprising fashion with a 5–3–1 record. The Flames are having a great start to the season, but what about the players who’ve left over the past 12 months?
Former Flames from 2023–24
As mentioned, the Flames saw a plethora of talent get dealt over the past year. The team traded Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev in the second half of the season last year and then moved out Jacob Markstrom and Andrew Mangiapane in the offseason. They also let Oliver Kylington walk in free agency.
Elias Lindholm
| GP | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 2 | 3 | 5 |
After spending the end of the season in Vancouver, Lindholm signed a mega contract with the Boston Bruins to become their new number one centre. So far Lindholm’s tenure has been a pretty big whiff. After kicking off the season with five points in three games, Lindholm has gone pointless in six straight games and currently ranks sixth on the Bruins in scoring.
On the Flames, Lindholm’s five points would rank tied for sixth with Mikael Backlund and Martin Pospisil. It really looks like the Flames dodged a major bullet by not signing Lindholm to a long-term deal last summer. It seems more and more likely each year that his 2021–22 breakout was an outlier and not the norm.
Andrew Mangiapane
| GP | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Needing a change of scenery, the Flames dealt Mangiapane to Washington at the beginning of the 2024 offseason. So far in 2024–25, Mangiapane continues to struggle to reach his 2021–22 offensive totals as a bottom-six piece for the Capitals. Through seven games, Mangiapane has posted two goals and three points, good for 10th on the Capitals in scoring. He’s also averaging just 13:47 a game so far this year, his lowest total since the 2019–20 season in Calgary.
Getting a second-round pick in return for Mangiapane was great work by Craig Conroy, and Mangiapane’s start to the 2024–25 season just makes the return look even stronger.
Noah Hanifin
| GP | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 0 | 3 | 3 |
Shipped out to Vegas right before last year’s trade deadline, Noah Hanifin soon signed an eight-year extension with the Golden Knights to remain in Vegas for the considerable future. Nine games into his first full season with the team, Hanifin has struggled to live up to his contract. Thus far he’s posted just three points in 10 games, a far cry from his 47-point pace from last season. It’s still early, but his current production puts him on pace for just 25 points which would be his lowest total since the 2019–20 season.
His underlying numbers have also been underwhelming. So far he’s failing to stay above water and Vegas has been outshot and outchanced whenever he’s on the ice. I’m sure he’ll start to turn things around eventually, but just like in Lindholm’s case, the Flames should be very happy they didn’t lock up Hanifin long-term.
Chris Tanev
| GP | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
It’s been written in the stars for a long time that Tanev would reunite with Brad Treliving in Toronto, it just made too much sense. So far this season, Tanev is up to his usual antics with the Maple Leafs—contributing pretty much nothing offensively but dominating defensively. Through 10 games the veteran has just two assists and no goals but has been a pillar in the Maple Leafs’ top four.
He’s currently leading all regular Toronto defenders in xGF%, xGA/60 and HDCA/60. Simply put, Tanev is still doing Tanev things in Toronto and is very much missed in Calgary.
Oliver Kylington
| GP | GOALS | ASSISTS | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
It’s fair to say Kylington’s agent’s work this offseason is looking like an all-time blunder. The 27-year-old had an offer on the table from the Flames where he would’ve been a regular in the lineup, but instead, Kylington’s camp held out for a long-term deal. That deal never came and he ended up going to Colorado on a one-year deal. So far his time in Colorado has been nothing short of a disaster. Kylington has skated in just two games, getting no points while also really struggling defensively. The Avalanche are even turning to play Kylington at forward. Here’s hoping he can turn it around soon.
Jacob Markstrom
| GP | W | SV% | GAA |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 4 | .895 | 3.01 |
The Flames biggest move of the offseason, the Markstrom deal looked like a potentially low return when it went down. Three weeks into the season it’s a completely different story. Markstrom has struggled mightily in New Jersey, failing to provide the stable goaltending they were looking for. Despite the Devils riding their number one so far with eight starts, Markstrom has just four wins and has posted dreadful numbers in those starts.
Among goalies with at least five games played this season, Markstrom’s .895 save percentage is actually tied with Dan Vladar for 20th league-wide. Needless to say, the Flames are doing perfectly fine between the pipes without Markstrom, especially considering how well Dustin Wolf has played.
The grass isn’t always greener
With the Flames embarking on a potentially long rebuild, players were right to want to move on. However, it’s not always surefire bets that things would go well on teams in different competitive timelines, and it’s not a guarantee that players would mesh with their new team.
For the most part, it looks like the Flames got some tidy business done with their
