The Calgary Flames are just over a week away from kicking off their 2023-24 season with a home matchup against the Winnipeg Jets. Before then they will play two additional preseason games, however, the seemingly endless wait for the NHL regular season is nearly over. While the Flames saw a lot of change this offseason – from roster turnover to new hirings across management – fans should be optimistic that this season will yield better results than last. Here are some reasons why.
Young Talent
Several of the Flames’ top prospects appear to be NHL-ready and will look to make an impact on the ice this season. While top goaltending prospect Dustin Wolf will start the season in the American Hockey League (AHL), it does not seem probable that he will remain there for the long term. Wolf is a player who is likely to instantly make an impact at the NHL level: he has had a dominant AHL career and has looked comfortable in the NHL action he has seen thus far. When the Flames eventually call him up, he will be an upgrade at backup goalie over what the Flames had last season assuming he is anywhere near as good as advertised.
Another young player the Flames hope will make an impact this season is Matt Coronato. After a stellar collegiate hockey career at Harvard University, he made his debut in the Flames’ 2022-23 regular season finale against the San Jose Sharks. Coronato’s play going into 2023-24 has been a storyline that Flames fans should be excited about. He scored a hat trick in his first preseason game against the Vancouver Canucks, and has looked ready to contribute meaningfully at the NHL level in the team’s other exhibition games. Tyler Toffoli’s departure this offseason means that the Flames will need to find offensive production from other players and if Coronato is able to step up it would go a long way in terms of filling that gap.
Star Power
While it was easy to forget last season, the Flames have star players who, when at their best, can put the team on their backs and win games. Jacob Markstrom, Jonathan Huberdeau, and Nazem Kadri all struggled in 2022-23, however, all three of them should be expected to bounce back and be a large part of the reason that the Flames are a force to be reckoned with this season.
Outside of Toffoli, it felt as if the Flames lacked star power last season, not because they did not have big names on their team but because those big names failed to perform at the level expected of stars in the NHL. Heading into 2023-24, the expectation should be that those three players will be able to put 2022-23 behind them and perform at a high level; if this ends up being the case the Flames will look notably better than they did last season.
Coaching
The 2022-23 Flames were a better team than their record showed. They set records for the number of one-goal and overtime losses they had, some of which seemed to fall on the shoulders of former head coach Darryl Sutter, who made questionable decisions down the stretch in several pivotal games. With a new head coach comes hope that these mistakes will be avoided this season, and that the team will play their best rather than their worst when it matters most. On top of improved coaching, you need a fair amount of bad luck to set records in these categories; it seems highly probable that the Flames’ record in close games will improve from a year ago, which all else being equal may be enough to put them in the playoffs.
A Fresh Start
In all likelihood, despite the loss of Toffoli, the Flames will improve from a season ago and contend for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. The injection of youth which is inbound in Calgary should excite Flames fans, as should the prospects of their star players rebounding from last season and the start of a new era under Ryan Huska. The wait is nearly over, and it seems that the Flames are in store for an exciting season of hockey.
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