Under the shadow of Dustin Wolf is a tough place to be in but Oscar Dansk embraced his role with the Calgary Wranglers in 2022-23 with grace. Dansk took some of the weight off of Wolf and split up his stretches of back to back games. He only had to come in relief for Wolf on two rare occasions all year. Not only that, he made an exceptional mentor and friend to Wolf, who is still developing his professional career. Wolf has thrived with goaltending partners with a few more years on him and some NHL experience to speak of to help him reach his ultimate goal.
Here’s how Dansk’s contributions looked this year.
By the numbers
Regular season
Through the regular season, Dansk played 17 games for a total of 959:37 minutes. He finished with an 8-6-2-2 record and went one for three in the shootouts he participated in. He was not the most trustworthy in net in a shootout only stopping two of the six shots he saw through his shootouts in net.
However, his other goaltending stats were not too shabby by any means. He finished with a 2.75 GAA and 0.905 save percentage. He didn’t play enough minutes to be considered a qualified goalie under the AHL statistical leaderboard for goaltenders, but he was quite consistent in the minutes he did play.
Dansk was also not an option in net all season due to injury. He faced a lower body injury in a game in early February against the Bakersfield Condors. He missed about a month of games and was back between the pipes on Mar. 7. This gave Daniil Chechelev a chance to play in a couple of match-ups that would have gone to the regular Wranglers back-up if he was healthy. This injury didn’t seem to be an ongoing concern after he returned.
Post-season
In the playoffs, Oscar Dansk only got into one game and it was the first game of their third round series against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. He played 31:36 in the Calder Cup Playoffs this season and came into a game that was pretty much over by the time he was out on the ice. The score was 5-3 and he was there to stop the bleeding and just get the team through the last half of the game.
His brief playoff stint landed him a 1.90 GAA after stopping seven of eight of the shots he faced in a period and a half. His postseason save percentage finished up at 0.875%.
Next season
Oscar Dansk is not currently under contract for the 2022-23 season and could be a victim of whatever goaltending changes (if any) hit the Flames this summer. If they plan to keep the Jakob Markstrom and Dan Vladar pairing as the go-to rotation for the Flames, Dansk is a very good option to keep at the AHL for depth.
There is an ongoing conversation and question around the possibility of Dustin Wolf making the jump to the NHL next season on a more regular basis. If that is the case, Dansk will either need to step up as the main netminder for the Wranglers or develop chemistry with their next starter if he is to re-sign. From what we saw of Chechelev this season, Dansk is still the better option between the two.
Rating
Dansk didn’t need to be a lights out goaltender to help his team win and eat up some time between the pipes. For his first year with the Wranglers, his rating is a B+.
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