One day after the Calgary Flames sat idle past the 2025 NHL Trade Deadline, the Flames were back in action trying to determine what to make of this team. After a 2–2–2 road trip, the team returned to the Saddledome for a three-game stint. With the Montreal Canadiens in town, the Flames won the contest to the tune of a 1–0 final score. Dustin Wolf’s shutout set the Flames franchise record for shutouts by a rookie with three.
Beyond Wolf putting together a season worthy of Calder Trophy contention, he’s claimed his spot as the bona fide starter. The 32nd ranked team in the NHL for goals scored this season is in the playoff hunt past the trade deadline. This is due to the play Wolf—and Dan Vladar, too—in net.
Being in the wild card race with the league’s worst offence means almost all credit must go to the goaltenders.
Dustin Wolf’s shutout sets more than just a rookie record
No Flames rookie netminder has ever posted three shutouts in a season until Dustin Wolf. Doing this with minimal run support is also another level of play. In his three shutouts, the Flames have scored just six total goals—two against Nashville, three against Florida, and now just the lone goal from Joel Farrabee against Montreal.
Having no offence makes posting a shutout that much harder as letting in a goal could turn the tide of the game, and yet, as the season has gone on, Wolf has shown an otherworldly stoicism. Each game, each period, each goal given up, each shot he faces—Wolf takes in the situation as a lesson to improve and leaves all the nerves off the ice.
Now at the three-quarter mark of the season, Wolf and Vladar have done something for the Flames not seen since 2021–22. The Flames finally have at least five shutout wins in a season again—which boosts their goaltending in the top half of the league in this regard.
In 2021–22, the team had 11 (nine from Jacob Markstrom and two from Vladar) to lead the league outright.
In the season following the departures of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, the Flames posted just one shutout win; last season, they had just two. All three were courtesy of Markstrom. As a team, the Flames just couldn’t post shutout wins and that spanned two full seasons.
Calgary’s single shutout in 2022–23 was tied for second-last with three other teams. The Columbus Blue Jackets were the sole team that closed out the season with zero shutout wins. Last year’s two shutouts improved them into a four-way tie for… second-last in the league as every team posted at least one shutout.
Now between Wolf’s three and Vladar’s two shutouts, the Flames suddenly find themselves in a six-way tie for seventh in the league.
Calgary’s goaltending is now a position of strength
Any time you ask any team about their shutouts, it’s the default answer of it being a team win. That couldn’t be further from the truth for the Flames this season as their shutout wins have been from strong individual efforts.
This team would be front runners for the draft lottery without their goaltending performances. Last year’s lowest scoring team (Chicago Blackhawks) finished 31st in the standings, the year before that (also Chicago) they finished 30th. In 2021–22, the Arizona Coyotes finished with the fewest goals and landed 31st in the standings.
The Flames are currently 14th overall in the league with their 30–23–10 record. So yes, all credit to Calgary’s goaltending.
For the first time since 2021–22, goaltending is looking like a position of strength for Calgary and this can only be good news for the Flames as this is all happening in Wolf’s rookie year. With Vladar’s future with the team uncertain as a pending unrestricted free agent, it is all the more important for Wolf’s development to rack up these shutout wins despite the team in front of him.
If the Flames build their future from the backend out, they are in good hands with Wolf as their starter.
Photo by Brett Holmes/Icon Sportswire
