The Calgary Flames’ playoff hopes are hanging by a thread, with their case to secure a wild-card spot being hindered by the underwhelming play of the three most disappointing players as All-Star Weekend beckons. Every season has some pleasant surprises, those who improve and perform at an elite level. Contrastingly, as sure as at least one cold snap in a Calgary winter, there’s a handful on the other side of the spectrum, those who cannot match their own expectations, let alone the demands of a restless, impatient fanbase.
While other candidates exist, Jonathan Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm, and Dillon Dube take the ignominious tag of being the Flames’ three most disappointing players thus far. That’s nothing new for Huberdeau, who endured one of his worst seasons last year in his first as a Flame. Unfortunately for him and everyone affiliated with the hockey club, his level during the current campaign has worsened, a prospect Flames fans dreaded.
Huberdeau’s seemingly unavoidable collision course with Flames’ infamy has been exasperated by the substandard play of Lindholm, the team’s top centre. Lindholm has one goal in the last 15 games and two in a 25-game stretch, a rate of return more likened to a third-line centre. The Flames’ lone All-Star representative is teetering on the brink of his worst season in Calgary.
Dube struggled mightily before being granted an extended leave of absence. In his sixth professional season, all with Calgary, he was scoring at a .16 points-per-game rate, the lowest return of the regulars on the team and easily the worst of his career. Nobody knows if or when Dube will return to the ice for the Flames, but one thing is clear: the Flames’ chances of landing a playoff spot, an already improbable notion, becomes increasingly unlikely if Huberdeau and Lindholm can’t escape the doldrums in which they’re ensnared.
3. Dillon Dube’s Worst Season as a Pro
Speculation continues to swirl around Dube’s current situation. Before leaving the hockey club for an unknown duration, he was a shadow of his former self, scoring just three goals and four assists in 43 games. Two of his seven points came in the third game of the season against the Washington Capitals. The 25-year-old didn’t notch a single point in his last 23 games. Only Adam Ružička, who the Arizona Coyotes recently picked up after being placed on waivers, and A.J. Greer saw less ice time, a direct reflection on Dube’s on-ice malaise.
His face-off win percentage (53.1%) is the only notable stat that has improved this season. Dube’s subpar play feels significantly worse when you compare it to last season’s breath of fresh air. He floored most onlookers with an impressively consistent campaign, tying his career high in goals (18) and setting a career best in assists (27) and points (45). He averaged four additional minutes per game and scored at a .55 points-per-game clip, more than three times his 2023-24 return.
2. Elias Lindholm’s Play Contradicts All-Star Game Selection
The hope is that the NHL did Calgary a favour by selecting Lindholm to play in this weekend’s All-Star Game. Based on his play, he doesn’t deserve a spot among the NHL’s best. The centre’s production has been on a downward trajectory since enjoying his most fruitful season in 2021-21, in which he notched career highs in goals (42) and assists (82).
In retrospect, the statistics in his dazzling, highlight-reel-riddled season were inflated thanks to playing alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, both of whom finished in the top 10 of NHL scoring. Despite Gaudreau and Tkachuk’s undeniable influence, Lindholm’s career year elevated expectations, making his precipitous decline even more sobering.
Lindholm’s game-winning goal against the Chicago Blackhawks in the final game before the All-Star Break was his first in 15. He has nine goals, 23 assists, and 32 points, fourth on the team in points and seventh in goals. He is on pace for 15 goals and 54 points, which would be his worst season since 2017-18, his last in Carolina. The 29-year-old has scored at a .65 points-per-game clip through 49 games, only marginally worse than his .68 points-per-game return over the course of his 787-game NHL career.
Related: Elias Lindholm Tops Avalanche Trade Deadline Targets
It would be remiss to bypass his upside. While Lindholm’s lacklustre season hasn’t helped his trade stock, he’s still a valuable player who can significantly impact any would-be suitor. He is tied for the team lead in power-play goals (three), has the second-most game-winning goals (three), and has the most shots on goal (131). He averages the most ice time of all forwards (20:45) and leads the forwards in blocked shots (40) and faceoff winning percentage (55.4%).
1. Jonathan Huberdeau Topping All the Wrong Lists
One has to wonder how often Huberdeau has wished he was never traded to the Flames. The former Art Ross runner-up, an accolade he shared with Gaudreau in 2021-22, shares no resemblance with his former self. Utterly devoid of confidence, he is getting unnervingly close to crashing head-first through the point of no return.
Just two seasons removed from his career year in Florida, in which he notched 115 points, Huberdeau has mustered 81 points in 127 games with the Flames. In the current campaign, he has six goals and 20 assists in 48 games, a .54 points-per-game return. He is on pace to have his worst season since turning pro 12 years ago. To put that into context, the out-of-sorts 30-year-old averaged .68 points per game in 2014-15, his previous least-productive campaign.
His meteoric fall from grace has been headlined by a 12-game pointless streak and an even more grotesque 18-game goalless drought. Unsurprisingly, both rancid streaks are career worsts. The unsightly stats don’t stop there. Huberdeau is a rock-bottom minus-15, another career worst. He’s also seventh on the team in penalty minutes (25) and has a single power-play goal.
Huberdeau ended his 18-game goal-scoring drought against the Minnesota Wild on Jan. 2. While most attributed the streak-breaking goal to his promotion to the first line, Eric Francis credited it to Huberdeau changing his stick-tape technique. Francis’ theory has since been debugged, as Huberdeau has potted just one goal in 11 games since. He has improved recently, scoring 11 points in the last 13 games. Hopefully, that’s a sign of things to come for the much-maligned left winger. Otherwise, the Flames will have all sorts of trouble alleviating their $84 million migraine.
The Flames sit five points adrift of the final wild-card berth and would need to leapfrog four teams to get into the postseason. Even if Huberdeau continues the near-point-per-game streak he’s been on since the turn of the new year, the chances of the Flames clinching a playoff spot are slim, especially considering the increasing likelihood of Lindholm’s potential departure.
