This past week marked American Thanksgiving, or for Canadians, Thursday. The date also has significance north of the border as a benchmark date that usually falls right around 25% of the way through an NHL regular season. It’s a day to look at your team and the standings and reflect a bit. For the Flames, the last four games have probably changed some opinions.
The latest road trip out east saw the Flames drop four games straight after briefly seeing the division lead after a strong homestand. With 25 games played, we wanted to know who fans think has been the Flames MVP at the quarter-mark of the season. We asked, you answered.
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Flames MVP at the American Thanksgiving mark?
We presented the below poll on Twitter/X to our readers.
Who is the #Flames MVP at the American Thanksgiving mark?
— The Win Column (@wincolumnCGY) December 1, 2024
Connor Zary
The sophomore NHLer and fan favourite narrowly earned second place in this week’s poll collecting 14% of votes. Zary has continued to be an impact player on a team that has lacked them in recent years. Despite an offensive lull at the beginning of the month, Zary has five goals and 12 points through 25 games.
Zary has shown flashes of incredible play and carried the offensive load at times this season. He’s come up clutch time and time again and looks to be a core piece of what the Flames can build around going forward. Beyond his skills his intangibles are great and he’s really grown into an all-around NHL pro this season on and off the ice. I can speak for all fans here when I say I’m excited to see what #47 can accomplish during his tenure in Calgary.
MacKenzie Weegar
The vibes weren’t exactly immaculate for Weegar this week in the poll collecting only 2% of votes. It’s no question that Weegar has played great this season but fans didn’t side with their Team Canada hopeful defenceman. Weegar’s 13 points are fourth on the Flames in scoring while carrying an average ice-time of 23:27, second only behind Rasmus Andersson.
Weegar’s defensive impact and role have been much more apparent this year with the absence of Chris Tanev as well. He’s been physical, reliable, smart offensively and a great leader. Although Weegar didn’t get the attention this week, hopefully, he will get the opportunity to represent Canada and the Calgary Flames at the 4 Nations this spring.
Dustin Wolf
In a landslide victory, Dustin Wolf collected a whopping 71% of the vote this week. The Flames rookie goaltender has been criticized at every level of his career and he’s continually proved the doubters wrong. This season has been no different.
After the departure of Jacob Markstrom, Wolf and Dan Vladar have shared the crease this season starting 13 and 12 games respectively. Both goalies have played great, the best tandem in the league at 5v5 at points this season. Wolf has, however, exceeded expectations. The rookie is 8–4–1 with a 2.60 GAA, .918 SV% and a shutout. His GAA is 18th in the league while his SV% is sixth league wide.
You could argue Wolf should be the front-runner for the Calder at this point. His impact and close-out ability in tight games has been incredible. He truly has looked like the future of the franchise as everyone hoped and is already amongst some of the best goalies in the league.
Rasmus Andersson
Rasmus finished narrowly behind Connor Zary for third in this week’s poll collecting 13% of votes. Andersson has played some of the best hockey of his career this season. His 14 points are tied for second in team scoring.
Rasmus has scored five goals thus far giving way to the stare-down which captivated social media earlier in the season. Andersson leads the team in TOI with 24:55 a night. He also leads the team in blocks with 76 and has a strong impact on the power play.
Looking ahead
Dustin Wolf was the runaway victor this week and will look to get the start Tuesday night when the Flames welcome the Gaudreaus back to Calgary for the first time since Johnny and Matthew’s passing.
It will be an emotionally charged game at the Saddledome and will undoubtedly be an intense matchup after the two teams played a rough one on Friday.
After the Blue Jackets are in town, the Flames host the Blues before heading on a two-game western road trip to Dallas and Nashville. The team will look to swing the momentum once again and take back some points in the standings.
Can Wolf continue to steal games and keep this team in the race or will it all crash and burn?
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