With eight games under their belt, the Calgary Flames have only two wins and sit at the bottom of the league. But this is a rebuilding year so wins aren’t as important as individual progression. How is that going? It’s a mixed bag of delights and disappointments.
Delight: Matt Coronato
Prior to the season’s start, in The Win Column’s roundtable, six out of seven writers picked Coronato to lead the Flames in scoring. That’s looking like a safe bet. Now 23 years old and in his fourth season with the club, Coronato looks more assured and ready to make his mark. Beyond points, he’s emerging as a leader-by-example with snarl and a motor that keeps churning.
Cause for celebration? Yes, it feels like a permanent levelling up.
Delight: Adam Klapka
In previous seasons, Klapka was often a non-entity, but now he’s found his role this year. While the team was floundering, he stood out as the one not taking it lying down. He’s stepped into the fighter role vacated by Ryan Lomberg’s exit. His 23 hits rank him second to Martin Pospisil for team lead. And he’s scored two goals, one an absolute beauty…
Though not everyone is a fan, Klapka is finding ways to impact the game.
Cause for celebration? Klapka must keep it up to prove his play is sustainable.
Delight: call-ups Jonathan Castagna and Aydar Suniev
On October 7th, the Flames demoted Connor Zary (speaking about disappointments) and Brayden Pachal to the AHL Wranglers and, in their stead, called up Castagna and Suniev.
Castagna has the poise of someone who’s been in the league for a couple seasons already. The coach trusts him late in games, to kill penalties, and to win face-offs. As its centre, the fourth line has excelled.
Suniev meanwhile has provided a needed offensive spark with three points in his five games. He took Matvei Gridin’s spot on the top scoring line and indeed looks like he belongs there.
Cause for celebration? At just five games played, it could just be a hot start but it feels legit.
Disappointment: Matvei Gridin
According to head coach Ryan Huska, during their end-of-season exit meeting, Gridin declared he’d lead this edition of the Flames in scoring. Well, he’s off to a slow start. In his first seven games, he had just two assists. As mentioned above, his prime slot as the top line’s left wing has been usurped by Suniev.
Under the hood however, he’s playing well. On Sunday night, he ripped a shot bar down for his first goal so maybe the tide has already turned.
Cause for concern? No, he’s a young player figuring out the league. The points will follow.
Disappointment: Dustin Wolf
The numbers are ugly: 4.84 GAA, .834 SV%, and just one win.
Wolf started the season with three straight loses where he let in six, six, and four goals. He won his fourth game by allowing two goals. But this return to form was short-lived as it was back to another blowout loss a couple days later. Not all those goals were his fault but many of them were.
Cause for concern? Nope, it’s likely just a slow start. His track record is too strong.
Disappointment: team defence
As valid as the goaltending criticism is, the skaters sure aren’t supporting very much. Sure, the Flames are destined to lose often, but those losses were supposed to be closer to 2–1 than 6–1.
The defence corps is comprised of: two who joined over the summer (Simon Nemec, Jake Middleton), one who joined last trade deadline (Zach Whitecloud), and two sophomores who played off and on last year (Yan Kuznetsov, Zayne Parekh). It’s most senior member is Kevin Bahl who is only starting his third season with the Flames.
Cause for concern? No, the defence is very fresh. They need time to adjust.
Bonus delight: the junior prospects
Outside the NHL, recent Flames draft picks a seemingly all off to quick starts.
To highlight just a few:
- Cole Reschny was made the youngest captain in University of North Dakota history and he’s over a point-per-game.
- Chase Harrington was also named captain. He has piled up 15 points in eight games for the WHL Spokane Chiefs.
- Really piling up the points is offensive dynamo Ethan Wyttenbach for the NCAA Quinnipiac. He’s following up his Hobey Baker Memorial Award-nominated season with 11 points in five games so far.
Cause for celebration? It’s counting your chickens before they’ve hatched. But all we want is for them to show promise and they absolutely are. Yes!
Silver Linings
Not even three weeks into the season is too early for any grand pronouncements. But the early delights feel real and the disappointments feel like they’ll soon be rectified. Like the team as a whole, kinks must be worked out. These Flames will round into form.
