One common narrative surrounding the Calgary Flames of 24-25 was that “everything had to go right” for the team to reach their 96-point finish. The argument is generally followed up with “They can’t do that again”, or “Winning like that isn’t sustainable”.
The point holds value. A team with a 29th-place offence (2.69 goals per game) doesn’t typically fight for a playoff spot.
Nor do teams with negative goal differentials in the double digits tend to reach the postseason. Minnesota (-11) and Montreal (-20) were the only teams to do it last year—and it’s worth mentioning that the Canadiens finished the season with five less points than the 96 that Ryan Huska and the Flames recorded.
It’s easy to gloss the details over an 82 game season. It’s even easier to just hold on to the good times and let the bad memories fade, but for a team that had “everything go right” on their journey to 96 points; it sure seemed like a lot went wrong.
Let’s kick off an extended list of nine things that went wrong for the 24-25 Calgary Flames with a big one.
1.) Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee Underperformed
When Morgan Frost put up a mere 12 points (three goals, nine assists) in 32 games and Joel Farabee put up a meagre six points (three & three) in 31, there was quiet disappointment among the fan base.
Both have played at least 300 NHL regular season games. Frost is 26 and Farabee is 25. These are players that should be at or entering their prime.
When they were acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers for the low price of Jakob Pelletier, Andrei Kuzmenko, a second round pick in 2025 and a seventh round pick in 2028, the deal looked like a fleece job by Flames general manager Craig Conroy.
Two developed prospects with histories of putting up offence. The season before last, 2023-24, Farabee put up 22 goals and 50 points. Frost has 41 and 47 point seasons to his name respectively in the two years prior to last year.
Simply based on their track record, we can expect to see those totals take a modest jump next season. Farabee averaged 16:11 per night during the year that he hit 50 points. Frost averaged 16:23 when he hit 47, so neither were a case of production via overdeployment.
2.) Rasmus Andersson was on a down year
Calgary’s most suddenly controversial player would surely laugh at anyone suggesting that everything went right in 2024-25.
Following a red-hot four goal, six assist October (over ten appearances), Andersson’s game plummeted. His quickness diminished, affecting his ability to break the cycle and defend rush attempts. In turn, the Malmo, Sweden product started blocking more shots. Seven goals and 14 assists over his final 71 games was respectable offensively, but his defensive game was simply not the same.
Beginning on Nov. 1, the six-foot-one right shot defenceman posted the second worst plus-minus in the NHL in his final 71 games at -40.
Only Boston’s Mason Lorei had a worse post-October season at -41, but that makes more sense for a 24 year old playing their first full campaign in the NHL.
Given that Rasmus is reportedly being shopped by Conroy, it was an easy decision to disclose that he battled through several injuries, including a broken fibula for the final 12 games of the season.
“I broke my fibula, against Seattle,” recalled Andersson on Locker Cleanout Day. “So, I played the last 12 games with a broken fibula. So, that felt great. Yep.”
The fibula is the bone at the front of one’s shin and the primary reason that hockey players call low-gear informal games, “shinny.”
While Andersson’s plus/minus has continued to go down year over year from +30 to +5 to -11 to -38, you can bank on that last one being an anomaly. The more noticeable deficiency in his game was his footwork in his own end, and that should recover with time off.
Whether he rebounds with the Flames or another team is a whole other matter.
3.) Martin Pospisil threw away offensive opportunities
With a three-year, $6,000,000 extension penned in late July and another year on his current deal remaining, Martin Pospisil is expected to be a facet on the Flames offence over the next four years.
“It’s just so important to be able to get in on forechecks,” said Flames General Manager Craig Conroy on Locker Cleanout Day about what the speedy Slovak provides. “Turn pucks over, and that’s what he does so well.”
Conroy expanded that he knows that Pospisil can do more. Pegged to represent Slovakia at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Martin had only four goals and 21 assists for 25 points last season—despite spending most of his time on the ice with team leading scorer, Nazem Kadri, who potted 67 points on the year.
“That is what I (said in the) end of year meeting,” Conroy continued. “I said, ‘Hey, four goals. I know I watch you every day in practice. You can score; you score all the time in practice. You got a great shot, great release, but you hesitate in a game, or you don’t do it, or you try to force plays or force pucks.’”
For more on Pospisil’s expected increased role next season, check the link.
[Flames Management Eyes Greater Role for Martin Pospisil Next Season]
With Pospisil’s hard line speed and forechecking game, it’s entirely possible that Pospisil scores more shorthanded goals than the four goals total he notched the season prior.
With 24 and 25 points in his last two seasons, we may have an idea of what to expect offensively, but if he keeps getting deployed with Nazem Kadri, a bump to the 40 point range isn’t out of the question.
4.) The team is still carving out an ideal offensive system
Head Coach Ryan Huska, like the rest of us, saw the team turn a page as they went 11-2-3 to finish the season.
“I don’t think we’re a trade chances team right now,” reflected the second-year head coach during Locker Cleanout Day on his squad’s current approach to producing offence. “I don’t think that’s in our best interests. But I think the way we work, I think we can go to the net much harder. I think there are stretches at the end of the year where we did that.”
Martin Pospisil, Jonathan Huberdeau, Joel Farabee—all three could see a jump in their goal total if they commit to finishing more net-front chances.
“And I don’t think that’s a coincidence that we saw our quality of chances improve as the year went on because we were much more committed to trying to score the ugly goals,” Huska elaborated. “But in turn, they turn into the high danger chances opportunities or goals where we’re making goaltenders move side to side. Those type of things where I think we can get better.”
“The second thing is power play. I mean, we need our special teams to be both top 15 in the league. If you want to win and if you want to get yourself into the playoffs, they have to be there.”
The power play remains a work in progress, but perhaps Zayne Parekh will turn the tides on a 19th-place 21% conversion rate year over year.
Speaking of special teams.
5.) The penalty kill spent most of the season in the basement
This one has its own dedicated article, but to summarize, Calgary’s PK went from nearly the bottom of the league to the best by the end of the season.
Both Backlund and Rooney playing through most of the season injured, a swap in coaching personnel, and the emergence of Jonathan Huberdeau as a penalty killing force.
HHS did a deep dive on the Flames’ remarkable PK turnaround. Here is the link.
6.) Yegor had an off year
The Flames are banking on Yegor Sharangovich’s 17-goal, 32-point season being an anomaly.
Injury issues led to confidence issues. The 27 year old Belarusian took up top nine minutes while playing soft on the puck. It was only at the end of the season that Sharangovich found his game; four goals and an assist for five points in his final five games.
“Yeah. Last couple of weeks, it’s, of course, it’s better than my all season,” Yegor reflected during his end of season press availability. “And I think if I’m playing the same way all season, it’s a little better.
Scoring 31 goals and 28 assists for 59 points the season prior, Sharangovich saw his point totals drop by 27 year over year. Expect a modest rebound next season.
7.) Coronato needed time to solidify his place
Matthew Coronato only played five of Calgary’s first ten games last season.
Despite potting two goals against Chicago in his second game, Ryan Huska wasn’t sure about Matthew’s place in the lineup. The 13th overall selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft was even sent down to the AHL for a stint in late October where he scored two goals in two games.
It wasn’t until a dramatic 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Nov. 5 that the Greenlawn, New York product seized the reins.
Coronato projects an increase on his production given that he’ll have a confirmed place in the top six and on the power play to begin the season.
8.) No Kuzmenko distraction
Andrei Kuzmenko’s season was a success story.
The 29 year old from Yakutsk, Russia tore it up down the stretch and ran the offence in the playoffs with six points in six games against Edmonton.
Of course, none of that was with the Calgary Flames. While, Kuzmenko did experience his turnaround in Calgary with five points in his final five games, his totals before that were miserable.
In the 32 games prior to that, he had a goal and nine assists for ten points. His effort level was low at times. His footspeed was more noticeable because he wasn’t getting touches on the puck.
It’s great for Andrei that he found success and earned a one-year, $4,300,000 deal with the Kings, but his underperformance contributed to Calgary going 24-18-7 while he was on the team.
9.) The Tyson Barrie Experiment is over
Barrie played his final pro season last year splitting time between the Flames and the Wranglers.
One of the engineers of Calgary’s destruction in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs with five assists in five games, Barrie took one final lap last season.
Tyson Barrie played under Ryan Huska on the Kelowna Rockets over four seasons. That included a year where he served as captain. It’s possible that the one year, $1,250,000 deal may have been a favour for an old friend.
Barrie played just 24 games between the AHL and NHL and went -12 at even strength. He hit a few posts and had Blake Coleman tip one of his shots that was already going in, but his three points in 13 games with the Flames couldn’t make up for how many steps he had lost.
His final six games saw Barrie go -6. His final NHL game was a Bobby McMann-themed nightmare. Barrie is wearing #8 in the clip below.
What a pinch.
Maybe it’s because Bobby McMann is from Wainwright (Oilers territory) and hates the Flames. Maybe he carried a personal vendetta. McMann hammered in the final nail on Barrie’s career on Feb. 5 in a 6-3 Leafs win over the Flames by means of mostly just ignoring Tyson’s presence.
Have we mentioned that the Flames missed the playoffs by just a single point?
Anything is possible, but the Calgary Flames probably won’t have to deal with a retiring veteran getting reps on the blue line next season.
Moving Forward
With the exception of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, there is no such thing as a perfect season in pro sports. You can expect down seasons from a couple members of the Flames next year—that’s simply the nature of any given NHL season.
But should you expect the captain to play through most of the season injured again, or a top four defenceman to go -38, or for five of the top-nine forwards to have off-years?
It’s fair to say that not everything went right for the Calgary Flames last season.
Stats via Puckpedia, Elite Prospects, and the National Hockey League.
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[KEEP READING: Five Former Flames Head Coaches: Where are they now?]
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