Heading into this season, there were many doubts about the goaltending situation for the Calgary Flames. With a tandem of Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar, many people had this team being a bottom-feeder, particularly because of their rebuilding status and inexperience in net. Well, it’s safe to say that the Flames situation in goal isn’t looking as bad to start the season, with Wolf being a major storyline so far.
Wolf has dominated throughout every level he’s played in. After all, he is the future in net for the Flames. When it comes to the NHL, goaltenders develop differently than forwards or defencemen. It’s common knowledge that Wolf’s transition into being a starting goalie wasn’t going to be easy, but his play so far has to be quite remarkable. Calgary in general has been a major surprise to start the season going 4–0, and Wolf was a major reason for that.
While the Flames have been on a skid, Wolf currently sports a 3–2–0 record with a 0.907 save percentage as well as 3.19 GAA. It’s still quite early, but if Wolf continues to play strong between the pipes, then Calder Trophy consideration has to be in the cards for the 23-year-old.
Wolf is no stranger to elevating his play every time he reaches the next level and winning awards along the way. Going into the world’s hardest league with a below-average team in front of him means he’s going to have to elevate his play again.
Wolf has been the backbone for the Flames so far
Wolf’s play has stood out the most with the Flames slowly returning to reality. He’s been a huge reason why the Flames have been able to hold on to wins. Sure, his game against Utah where the Flames lost 5–1 wasn’t pretty, but the team in front of him didn’t exactly give themselves a chance to win.
The goaltending in general has held strong so far, considering that people were expecting a lot worse. Young goaltenders are always expected to go through a harsh learning curve and Wolf is certainly no expectation. However, given the amount of adversity he’s gone through regarding his height, he’s fit in just fine.
You need to look at the bigger picture. No hockey prospect ever makes a truly smooth transition into the pros. The struggle is a part of the process, and it’s about how a player rebounds from it that will truly determine their success. Wolf has not let his bad games define him, as every NHL goaltender will sometimes experience tough nights. Obviously, there’s going to be more panic on nights that Wolf does struggle, as he’s young. Needless to say, his struggles shouldn’t be a concern as from what I’ve seen as a fan, Wolf’s performances have quieted the doubters.
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The Flames may look to goaltending again to steal wins this season
Jacob Markstrom was a major reason why the Flames would steal wins last season. On many nights, there were times when the team didn’t deserve to win games but ended up with the victory due to the good goaltending. The Flames may follow the same trend this year based on how the season has started.
It’s pretty crazy to think that a rookie goaltender would need to steal wins, but it seems like a trend that will be pretty common throughout this rebuild. Defensively, this team is not going to be very good which will just put more work on the goalies. As for the offence, it seems like during some games that team will be rolling while during other nights the offence will completely fall off a cliff.
The point is that there’ll be bigger challenges for the Flames goaltenders this season, which means there’ll be some nights where wins will be determined by how good they play between the pipes.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
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