2023-24 season: 38-39-5, 5th in Pacific Division, 11th in Western Conference, 24th in league.
It's been tough to be a Calgary Flames fan, or worse yet, a Flame. A Stanley Cup gone MIA since 1989, a heartbreaking Stanley Cup Final ending in 2004, a struggle for consistency, and a next level breakthrough that never materialized throughout the later 2010s and early 20s. Now they are in the rebuild cycle, and they also had to deal with the loss of one of their own, Johnny Gaudreau and his brother Matthew. Johnny was a big part of the Flames biggest success stories in his tenure from 2014-2022, and Calgary's struggles over the last 2 seasons can be largely attributed to his and Matthew Tkachuk's departures. I remember him annihilating Vancouver in Game 6 of the 2015 1st Round, and being crushed that they blew a 3-0 to Calgary, and how he really came out as a gamer against the Stars despite their outstanding goaltending. Even in Columbus, Flames fans gave him a warm welcome back, and understood that he left to be closer to his family. As hard as this was across all fanbases, it cuts that much deeper for Calgary, who as a fanbase took a great liking to Johnny Hockey. I didn't want to string his name throughout the entire article, but since he was such a large part of the Flames for so long, and was very loved by every teammate, fan, and family member, it was only appropriate that I include a tribute to him in this paragraph.
That was difficult to write about, but as far as the on-ice business with Calgary, the product dramatically declined. They were a borderline Wild Card team last year, but lost the last spot days before the season ended, but this year they never came close. They finished with a losing record for the first time since 2020-21, indicating that they have come full circle, that their time as playoff contenders came and went, and now they are in a rebuild mode. When they traded Matthew Tkachuk to the Panthers in 2022, I was laughing, thinking that Bill Zito got fleeced, and that Calgary had actually come out of a losing deal stronger than before. With that being said, I forgot to reference the history books, knowing people said the exact same thing about the trade that made Ron Francis a Penguin. Mackenzie Weegar was part of Calgary's return package, and he turned out pretty well, but Jonathan Huberdeau has been a disappointment. He set the record for largest single season point drop off by going from 115 points in his last year as a Panther to 55 points in his first year as a Flame. It wasn't a one-off either, as he duplicated that effort with 52 points, but his +/- dropped from +2 to -29. The star power in Calgary is non-existent, and it is cashing checks completely unearned, but they are ready to shed the baggage of over the hill players who still have use elsewhere in the league.
The Flames did a lot of trading to get rid of some of their better players to contending teams, and the result in terms of obtaining draft picks was pretty successful. Nikita Zadorov went to Vancouver for their 2026 3rd round pick, and Chicago's 5th round pick in 2024. Elias Lindholm also went to Vancouver for a 1st round pick in 2024 (Matvei Gridin), Hunter Brzustewicz, Joni Jurmo, Andrei Kuzmenko, and Philadelphia's 4th round pick. They also managed to do 3-way deals to send Chris Tanev and Noah Hanifin to Dallas and Vegas, and in return got Artem Grushnikov, a 2nd round pick (Jacob Battaglia), a conditional 3rd round pick in 2026, Daniil Miromanov, a conditional 1st round pick in 2025 or 26, and a conditional 2nd or 3rd round pick in 2025. They also unloaded Jacob Markstrom to New Jersey for a 2025 1st round pick and Kevin Bahl, and they sent Andrew Mangiapane to Washington for Colorado's 2025 2nd round pick.
Right now Calgary is in Craig Conroy's sweet spot as the GM of their team, where he has a lot of tradeable assets to accelerate a rebuild around certain core players, but he also has a young team capable of competing for a spot. They don't have the goaltending to keep up, and their blue line is mediocre, but their forward group could surprise a lot of people this season who aren't expecting much from them. Last year's performance, however, doesn't indicate a strong 2024-25 season, and my prediction is a record of 30-37-5, 7th in the Pacific Division, 13th in the Western Conference, and 25th in the league. An unshakeable contract with Huberdeau, as well as his underperformance, are what will do them in this year, unless Dustin Wolf can bring his AHL game to the next level in net.
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