The Calgary Flames Are Changing Drastically by the Month

The Calgary Flames have been a bird of many feathers 63 days into the 2022-2023 regular season.  

The team kicked off the season as seemingly a hopeless crew of a sinking ship in October. A 2-6-1 record had them celebrating Halloween in 31st place behind only the 0-8-1 San Jose Sharks. An anemic, 29th ranked offence at 2.11 goals per game held the group out of games after getting scored on early and often.

Their second highest player, Nazem Kadri, was earning a $7,000,000 dollar salary and had only a goal, an assist, and a glaring –11 plus-minus rating over nine games. Their MVP was starting goaltender Jacob Markstrom, who had a 1-5-1 record on the month.  

Not to mention the Heritage Classic. 

The team’s plumage seemed to change at the arrival of November. Rookie sensation Connor Zary was called up and scored his first goal on Nov 1. Fellow rookie Martin Pospisil was brought up and united with Zary and Kadri. The three provided an offensive threat that took pressure off the other three forward lines and those units in turn started scoring more.  Despite a truly bizarre habit of trialing after 40 minutes (they did so in ten out of 14 games) the team posted a record of 8-4-2 on the month. Good for fourth place across the NHL.

in terms of personal production, Kadri seemingly flipped a switch after being united with 21-year-old Connor Zary. The Cup-winning center put up 13 points in 14 games and a +4 rating.  

And then came December. So far it has been – chaotic. Four of six games have been nail-biting comeback attempts. Those same four games have closed out decided by one goal.  

Unfortunately for the Flames, cultivating your identity around fighting their way back into games inevitably leads to losses racking up.

Only one comeback has worked this month, and it was the most unlikely of the four attempts. Calgary wiped away a two-goal lead in the third period from the Carolina Hurricanes on Dec. 7 to take a 3-2 win in front of a roaring Scotiabank Saddledome crowd. 

So, while the team may have found a style along the way, their 1-4-1 record is oddly similar on paper to their 2-6-1 record in October.

The good news? The offence is running.

Nazem Kadri, Yegor Sharangovich and Blake Coleman are all producing at above a point per game over six December games. Rasmus Anderson and MacKenzie Weegar are only a game over a point per game with five-in-six each and Connor Zary has three goals over those six games as well.  

The Flames next play on Thursday in a rematch against the Minnesota Wild at 6 p.m. MST.

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Montreal Hockey Now: General Manager Kent Hughes answers some tough questions about former first overall pick Juraj Slavkovski’s development.