In the National Hockey League, much is often discussed among pundits and prognosticators about a club's "window" to win and compete for the Stanley Cup. For the Calgary Flames, this period was in recent years largely considered to be past its due date. Three years ago, the late Johnny Gaudreau departed for Columbus in free agency and superstar Matthew Tkachuck requested a trade. Longtime captain Mark Giordano had also left the season prior, joining the newly-formed Seattle Kraken. Other small departures over the years like Elias Lindholm to Vancouver and Sean Monahan to Montreal, on top of the firing of coach Daryl Sutter in 2023, overshadowed the additions of Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri and marked what many believed to be the closing of a contention window.
However this season, head coach Ryan Huska and general manager Craig Conroy should be proud of the way their well-balanced roster has stayed in contention in what has otherwise been a stalwart Western Conference. Propped up significantly by a 5-0-0 start, Calgary sits in the second wild card position despite their leading scorer Huberdeau only tallying 22 goals and 21 assists in 57 games. And while scoring has been an issue, rookie goaltender and Calder Trophy candidate Dustin Wolf has put together an impressive campaign, going 20-11-3 in 34 starts with a .913 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average. Similarly, newcomers Ryan Lomberg and Kevin Bahl have fit in nicely and young gun Matt Coronato has recently been elevated to play on the top line.
Even with these bright spots, Calgary fans have been quick to put water on the proverbial fire, pun intended. There's a magnitude of caution and expectation management in a season marked so far by overachievement. Many voices around the league are also not hesitating to discount the Flames chances in the postseason if they make it there, especially considering a potential first-round matchup with their archrival Edmonton Oilers.
A Opportunity To Play Spoiler
Conventional wisdom would suggest that these concerns are entirely valid. Edmonton is a buzzsaw and made easy work of a better Flames roster in the 2022 playoff series. However, higher expectations in a Battle of Alberta rematch would certainly fall on Edmonton this time. After all, the Oilers were the preseason darling and are led by some of the best players in the world. They have Stanley Cup aspirations following their loss last summer to Tkachuk's Florida Panthers.
But no one would expect Calgary to win the series anyway, so the pressure would fall on Edmonton to win, much like it did the Boston Bruins against Florida in 2023, who ended up losing the series after holding a 3-1 lead.
The Flames are clearly ahead of schedule and their focus still should be on the future, but why not welcome a chance to thwart your rivals and gain playoff experience in the meantime? Some Flames fans may understandably worry about provincial bragging rights if the series goes poorly for Calgary, but imagine the feeling if an upset occurred? The Red Mile would come alive and Calgarians would be hanging out of windows to cheer rather than talking about them.