Breaking down how the Calgary Flames offence is definitively the worst in the NHL

Every time we think the Calgary Flames’ Cinderella run is coming to an end, they string together a couple of wins to keep their 2024–25 playoff hopes alive. Now over three months into the season, the Flames remain firmly in the playoff hunt.

Perhaps what is even more impressive is the fact they’re doing this while holding the title of the NHL’s very worst offence since October 10. Yes, the Flames rank dead last in the entire NHL since the one-week mark of the season when it comes to producing goals. In other words, you can thank Dustin Wolf for the Flames’ performance so far this season, with every member of the offence owing him a steak dinner at the end of the year.

Sitting with the bottom feeders since October 10

As mentioned, since October 10th, just about a week after the NHL season began, the Flames have scored the fewest goals across the entire NHL. Let’s take a look at how the bottom 10 look right now since that date.

*A star indicates a team that is currently in a playoff spot.

Bottom 10 Teams by Goals For	Goals Since October 10
Ottawa Senators	114
San Jose Sharks	112
New York Islanders	110
Detroit Red Wings	109
Utah Hockey Club	109
Boston Bruins*	108
Anaheim Ducks	103
Chicago Blackhawks	102
Nashville Predators	100
Calgary Flames	99

As you can see, it’s not pretty. The Flames are the only team in the NHL to not have scored at least 100 goals. That’s even worse than the NHL’s two worst teams in the Blackhawks and Sharks, as well as bottom feeders like the Predators, Islanders and Ducks. Now the Flames have played fewer games which I’ll touch on in a bit, but that doesn’t change just how dreadful their offence has been in the past three months.

If you remember, the team came flying out of the gate with back-to-back six-goal performances to start the season on October 9 and 12, followed by a four-goal performance on October 13. However, after that start, the Flames’ offence fell off a cliff. The team went an incredible 25 straight games without scoring more than three goals between October 14 and December 10, a number that is now a Flames franchise record. They also went 30 straight games without scoring at least five goals, finally registering a five-goal performance on December 21st, going 70 days in between five-goal performances.

The Flames have played fewer games since October 10 than most teams, but that doesn’t mean their goalscoring looks much better. Here’s the bottom 10 adjusted for goals per game.

*A star indicates a team that is currently in a playoff spot.

Bottom 10 Teams by Goals per Game	GF/GP Since October 10
Ottawa Senators	2.85
Utah Hockey Club	2.79
Detroit Red Wings	2.73
New York Islanders	2.68
San Jose Sharks	2.60
Chicago Blackhawks	2.55
Calgary Flames	2.54
Anaheim Ducks	2.51
Boston Bruins*	2.51
Nashville Predators	2.44

While the Flames move up a couple spots, it still doesn’t look very pretty. The team ranks 29th in the NHL for goals for per game, ahead of only the 25th-ranked Ducks, 30th-ranked Predators, and the struggling Bruins. For reference how poor a 2.54 goals per game rate is, the NHL’s leader in the same category is the Tampa Bay Lightning with 3.69 goals per game—an entire goal ahead of the Flames.

Another good look at how poor the Flames are producing right now is to consider their goals per game over the last two seasons. In 2022–23 the team scored 3.15 goals per game, and in 2023–24 they scored at a 3.09 rate. It’s been over a decade since the team finished the season with a worse goals for per game rate than their pace over the last 39 games.

The least explosive offence in the NHL

As we discussed previously, the Flames went on an all-time bender earlier this season by going 25 straight games without putting the puck in the net four times. That horrendous stretch has left them at the very bottom of the league when it comes to 4+ and 5+ goal games this season. Let’s take a look at how the numbers look across the league.

I mean, those are some truly frightening numbers. The Flames have managed to score four or more times in only five out of 40 games this season. They’ve had two 4–3 wins come by the means of a shootout, and those aren’t counted here.

Calgary’s total is easily the worst in the NHL, with the rebuilding Sharks and Blackhawks being the only other teams in the NHL in single digits, yet still ahead of them by several games. Teams like the Hurricanes, Jets, Panthers, and Avalanche have over four times as many four-plus goal games compared to the Flames.

The Flames are currently on pace to score four or more goals just 10 times in 82 games this season. That full-season total would rank fourth worst in the NHL already at the halfway mark. For context, last season the Flames scored four or more goals 31 times, three times as much as their current pace this year.

At their current pace of just 10 four-plus goal games in a full season, the Flames are tracking to set a franchise record in all the wrong ways. The next lowest amount of four-plus goal games in a season would be the 2002–03 season when they had 17 four-plus goal games on the year.

Overall, the team is currently on track to produce 215 goals across an 82-game season. This total would be the fewest amount of goals scored in a full season by the Flames since the 1996–97 season when they scored 214 goals. The Flames have played 39 full seasons in their history, and this season’s current pace would rank 29th out of those 39 seasons.

A historically bad offence

You could argue this is the worst Calgary Flames offence of the 21st century right now. The team has failed to produce goals at an alarming rate, currently sitting dead last in the entire NHL since October 10th. On top of that, the Flames have totalled the fewest amount of four-plus goal games across the entire NHL so far. Call it what you want, but this very much looks like a rebuilding offence right now.