|
Is Positivity Enough? – Historic – Looming Questions |
|
|
|
|
|
It’s been three weeks since the Calgary Flames wrapped their 2024-2025 campaign. With a bit of time to let things ripen, let’s start an autopsy on what was the most thrilling non-playoff season in franchise history.
The basics. A 96-point finish. Missed the final playoff spot in the Western Conference via the tie breaker to St. Louis. Despite starting golf season early for the third season in a row, the organization labels the campaign a success for a few key reasons.
Let’s start with the obvious one: they had their best non-playoff season since the introduction of the shootout.
Calgary Flames Top Four Non-Playoff Finishes Since 2005-06
2024-25: 41-27-14 .584
2010-11: 41-29-12 .573
2022-23: 38-27-17 .567
2019-20: 36-27-7 .564
Editor’s note: 2024-25 also happened to be Calgary’s best non-playoff season ever in terms of points percentage, but the shootout and meta evolving into teams seeking 3-point games, along with the expansion from 21 teams when they started to 32 teams currently, has made the old seasons uncomparable when it comes to standings.
OK, good season and a very tough break.
The team was one good bounce in any of their 14 overtime losses away from making the dance and giving the Winnipeg Jets a run for their money. We could get into some butterfly effect issues or perhaps the mental game that the team plays against themselves in that they only truly play their A-game when the odds are stacked against them, but that makes analysis a bit much.
They missed by a point, and if Jonathan Huberdeau hadn’t clowned himself on this play, we’d be watching the Flames take a 3-0 lead on the Dallas Stars this week and preparing ourselves for a Battle of Alberta Western Conference Final.
That was a joke. We can pick any number of Huberdeau misplays or missed saves or deployment issues—or even the fact that General Manager Craig Conroy signing Jake Bean and Tyson Barrie prevented Jeremie Poirier from getting a shot at the lineup and bringing his 72.7% career shootout prowess with him. Calgary lost out on two points via shootout during the campaign.
Missing the playoffs by less than a point leads to adding up the small stuff.
Another reason Conroy considers the season a success?
Vibes.
Never Work a Day in Your Life
The contrast in atmosphere between Locker Cleanout Day this April compared to two seasons ago in the dying days of the Sutter 2.0 Era was nothing short of a complete and total about face.
TSN’s Darren Dreger weighed in on the Sekeres and Price Show just days before Sutter’s termination back in late April 2023:
“And there are lower-level rumblings, and I’m not going to mention the players here, that there are some players who are willing to not come back, even under contract, if Darryl is still on the bench of the Calgary Flames.”
The script has certainly been flipped.
“Well, I mean, the big thing for our group that we've talked about is the belief in the culture,” said Flames defenceman MacKenzie Weegar on April 19 at Locker Cleanout Day. “And I think from, you know, my first year here, then the second year, we've taken big steps in that area, I think, you know, we got guys that want to be here. We got good players and now the youth is coming in and I think they've done an absolute great job.”
Calgary’s consensus #1 prospect, 2024 ninth overall selection Zayne Parekh, relayed similar sentiments during his media availability.
“I mean, being around that group of guys has been unreal,” the 19-year-old from Nobleton, Ontario reflected following his whirlwind nine-day stint with the team to finish the season. “And the culture in the room, I mean, just being around it for two weeks, there's no better people in hockey than those guys.”
Words can only express so much.
Those that took in the conclusion of Calgary’s playoff drive experienced a team truly playing for each other. Despite carrying the second lowest cap hit in the league by the time they passed the March 7 NHL Trade Deadline at $70.19 million, the team found a way to put up the best record in the Western Conference (11-2-3, 25 points) in the final 31 days of the season.
To keep things a bit easier to digest, we’ll be going into what went wrong and following that up with some weird stats, trends, and observations over the next couple weeks.
A few questions for the time being:
1.) Provided that most of the core remains, do you believe that the Flames are a playoff team next season?
2.) Rasmus Andersson had a tough season. If he is traded during the summer, how much will that affect the team’s playoff hopes in 2025-26? Can he be replaced internally?
3.) Does Zayne Parekh make the roster next season? If so, where does he slot among the blue line pairings?
Stats courtesy of the National Hockey League, Natural Stat Trick, Money Puck, and Puckpedia.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»