With a 1-0 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday, the Calgary Flames continue to be one of the NHL’s biggest surprises this season. While it hasn’t exactly been pretty, they sit at 30-23-10 through 63 games. Not bad for a team that was supposed to be in the first year of what many expected to be a gruelling rebuild.
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The Flames aren’t the most talented team, but they can never be questioned in regards to their compete level. The entire group, including head coach Ryan Huska, deserve kudos for their success to this point. That said, everyone who has watched this team is well aware of why they sit in a playoff spot with only 19 games remaining.
Wolf Has Been Outstanding
There was some concern heading into 2024-25 as to how Wolf would perform in his rookie season. After all, the Flames were expected to struggle tremendously, and his potential safety blanket in Jacob Markstrom was traded to the New Jersey Devils in the offseason. That had many thinking Wolf may be fed to the wolves (pun very much intended).
Not only has the 23-year-old shown he belongs, but he’s already looking like a star. Wolf has taken over the number-one role in Calgary in his rookie campaign, and it looks like he will remain in such a role for many years moving forward.
His incredible play was on display on Saturday night versus the Habs, as he stopped all 26 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season. The strong start improved his numbers, as he now sits with a 2.52 goals-against average (GAA) along with a .915 save percentage (SV%) through 38 appearances. He’s also now won 22 games on the season.
Wolf’s .915 SV% is fifth amongst all NHL goalies. Only Connor Hellebuyck, Anthony Stolarz, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and Logan Thompson are ahead of him in that category. It’s quite ridiculous to think about just how impressive he has been.
Flames Bottom of Standings Without Wolf
If it weren’t for Wolf, the Flames would be nowhere near a playoff spot. In all likelihood, they’d be duking it out for the draft lottery. It’s quite apparent just how good he’s been when you look at his counterpart Dan Vladar’s record, which sits at only 8-11-6.
Further proof of how bad the Flames would be comes when taking a look at their scoring this season. Their 2.56 goals per game rank dead last in the NHL. You read that right. They are scoring fewer goals than teams like the San Jose Sharks (2.62) and the Chicago Blackhawks (2.77).
Meanwhile, Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri lead the Flames with just 46 points. For comparison’s sake, Nathan MacKinnon recently recorded his 100th point of the 2024-25 campaign. Those 46 points are the lowest total of any team’s leading scorer throughout the NHL.
Wolf Outperforming Calder Competition
For a large portion of the season, there have been four rookies that have distanced themselves from the competition: Macklin Celebrini, Lane Hutson, Matvei Michkov, and Wolf. At this point in time, it seems as though Celebrini and Hutson are in a battle for first, while Wolf has a strong chance of coming in third.
While finishing third for the Calder is an outstanding achievement in its own right, seeing Wolf finish anything other than first would be a massive disappointment. For Celebrini’s sake, as good as he has been, it hasn’t helped the Sharks win games. They sit dead last in the NHL standings by a big margin.
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As for Hutson, he deserves plenty of credit, as the Canadiens have put together a solid season. That said, they, unlike the Flames, sit outside of the playoffs right now. And, as impressive as his 49 points are, they are less than the Habs’ two leading scorers in Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki. That’s not a knock on Hutson in any sense, but it goes to show that there’s an argument to be made that Hutson hasn’t been the most important player on the Habs this season. There is zero doubt that Wolf holds that title for this Flames team.
