Comparing the Calgary Flames’ 2026-27 start to 2025–26

In terms of overall record, the 2026-27 Flames have somehow risen from the depths of their 0-5 start to win three of their last four games. Against teams like the Hurricanes and Wild, no less. A big improvement over last year’s team, which was still sitting on just one single win after nine games and continued to dig a deeper hole.

In terms of goal scoring, this year’s team is slightly ahead with four more goals after nine games, but defensively they’ve been worse with four more goals against. It’s led to an identical and equally terrible -19 goal differential for both teams.

Flames standings comparison

Not last! The 2026-27 Flames have climbed out of last place after a terrible start and now sit in 30th in the NHL. They’ve also risen to 14th in the conference, and 7th in the division. Only the Canucks, and Blackhawks have been worse this season. Sound familiar?

At this time last year, the Flames were still firmly in last place. Progress, I guess?

Calgary’s underlying results

This is where things start to get interesting. Despite a better record, the 2026-27 Flames have worse numbers in most categories compared to the 2025-26 team. All numbers are courtesy of naturalstattrick.com.

As mentioned, the 2026-27 Flames actually have worse numbers in terms of xGF% and especially HDCF% compared to last year. Despite the team’s 1-7-1 start last year, their numbers were solid across the board.

One very interesting note is that the team’s offence and defence have basically swapped. Last year the team sat near the bottom of the league in terms of xGF/60, but was elite defensively, sitting 4th for xGA/60.

This year, however, the Flames have a surprisingly elite xGF/60, ranking fourth league-wide behind only the Hurricanes, Mammoth, and Devils. Defensively, however, they’ve been dreadful. They sit 26th for xGA/60 at 3.09, almost a whole goal worse than last year’s 2.17 total.

PDO

Oof. Back-to-back starts with some incredible bad luck. Both the 2026-27 Flames and 2025-26 Flames struggle to put the puck in the net and keep the puck out of theirs. As if last year wasn’t bad enough, this year’s team has taken it to a new level.

The 2026-27 Flames rank dead last for both percentages at 5v5. They’ve managed to top last year’s terrible numbers with even worse results in terms of shooting and goaltending.

Flames scoring leaders

With Kadri and Coleman both gone, some new names enter the team’s top five scorers after nine games. While the likes of Frost, Coronato and Farabee aren’t surprising given the huge roles they play on the team, Suniev has been a revelation so far this year.

The rookie has only skated in six games, but is currently sitting fourth for points on the team, a total that would’ve placed him tied for second on last year’s roster.

Back-to-back bad starts

The Flames managed to top last year’s terrible start with a 0-5 record, but a recent turnaround has them ahead of last year’s team by three points. While both renditions of the Flames are terrible, at least this team has shown a little more life in the early going than last year.