With two seasons of track to analyze, it’s beginning to become clear that strong starts haven’t been a forte with head coach Ryan Huska running the Flames bench.
5-4-1 last October. A dreadful 2-6-1 the October before that.
While this current iteration of the Calgary Flames has shown that they have no issue getting up to speed, losing vital ground out of the gate costed the team a playoff spot last season – the group missed the dance by only a single point in the standings.
One area in particular that hit the Flames hard last season was their ability to kill off penalties. Calgary ended October with a 70.8% PK rate; good for 28th place. Among the forwards, Mikeal Backlund and Blake Coleman were bleeding goals, and any and all help was being given scraps for deployment.
Through one month: Calgary Flames PK Core – PK time – PK GA per 60
Mikael Backlund – 27:05 – 17.72
Blake Coleman – 26:08 – 13.78
Jonathan Huberdeau – 14:02 – 4.28
Justin Kirkland – 13:19 – 4.51
It wasn’t until three months into the season that fans and media caught a glimmer of hope.
Waiting for the click
By Jan. 22, 2025, the Calgary Flames had a 30th ranked penalty kill at 71.3%. Tack on that their offence was second-last in the NHL at the time, scoring a mere 2.60 goals per game, and it was truly a miracle that they were holding on to a one-point lead for a Western Conference Wildcard playoff spot with a 22-16-7 record.
Whether it was injuries, approach, or execution, Huska and the coaching staff had spent more than half of the season waiting for the penalty kill to click.
On Jan. 23, they finally heard the click. Hosting the Buffalo Sabres, the Flames killed all six of their penalties en route to a 5-2 win. The team totalled 29 penalty minutes, including a MacKenzie Weegar fight and a Kevin Bahl misconduct. The Flames simply refused to relent. Nazem Kadri led the way with two minor penalties, a goal, and two assists. One of those three points was a game-tying tally to even the score at 2-2 because, of course, the win was in signature comeback fashion.
Oh, the joy that is having the Buffalo Sabres in your division. Flames fans will never know.
That game is arguably worth its own deep dive, but let’s take that turning point and cut the season into segments to get a look at what was truly a remarkable turnaround.
The Rise of the Flames PK
October 9 to January 22: 71.3% (30th)
January 23 to March 17: 78.8 (14th)
March 18 to April 17: 90.3% (1st)
That’s right. The Flames didn’t make the dance, but they did get a pretty cool Worst to First arc when it comes to their penalty kill. Here are four key variables to the Flames surprising turnaround.
Mikael Backlund’s recovery
The Four Nations Break couldn’t have come sooner for the Calgary Flames and their captain.
With time off from Feb. 9 to 22 and only Rasmus Andersson attending the tournament, the Flames roster got some much needed R&R prior to their late-season push.
The oblique muscle is located above the hips on the side of the torso and is essential for shooting, passing, and skating.
Backlund was indeed firing muffins prior to the break and then needed a six-game break from March 12-27 after the Four Nations to get his arms around the injury.
Mikael was in true form upon his return, contributing to the best penalty kill in the NHL at 91.3% from March 27 to April 17.
Trent Cull’s Promotion
The PK turnover wasn’t immediate, but interim assistant coach Trent Cull’s energy and approach deserve credit for the Flames finding their way when down a man.
Assistant Brad Larsen took an indefinite leave of absence on Dec. 8, 2024 due to family reasons, opening the door for Cull’s promotion.
The first month of Trent’s time with the big team actually saw the Flames get (much) worse with the man disadvantage. The team went from 72.9% prior to 63.3% in their first 12 games with Cull running the PK. Perhaps rock bottom was a Dec. 12, 8-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning where the Flames were scored against on all three penalty kills. Nikita Kucherov silenced the Scotiabank Saddledome with a goal and five assists. Three of those assists came on the power play.
A rough start, but with enough time to make adjustments and key players finding their way back to health, Cull put the pieces together and eventually formed a group that was near indomitable at killing penalties.
The perfect PK forward unit
A team usually doesn’t post a 90.3% penalty kill over its final 16 games without a remarkable stat or two coming out of it. The most noticeable of those stats was from the forward PK unit of Kevin Rooney and Jonathan Huberdeau, who managed to go the entire stretch drive without getting scored on.
Zero PK goals against – Mar. 18-April 17 – 16 games
Jonathan Huberdeau: 23:12
Kevin Rooney: 24:14
Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman weren’t far behind, allowing only one and two goals against respectively while they were killing penalties.
Strong goaltending certainly helped, but Rooney and Huberdeau collective timing on loose pucks appeared to get better with each game together. Combine that with a healthy Backlund/Coleman combo, who have posted +90% PK numbers in the past, and the Flames certainly found their click.
Will the real Kevin Rooney please stand up
Much like Mikael Backlund, Kevin Rooney had a rough turn of luck over most of the 2024-25 season.
Most players will acknowledge that playing injured leads to more injuries. Rooney started the season on the wrong foot. Looking sluggish out of camp, the then-31-year-old paid the price in Game One on Oct. 9 against the Canucks.
Rooney missed five games, and stumbled upon his return. The Canton, Massachusetts product was a “healthy” scratch two times over the following month and allowed five powerplay goals against in 7:59 of penalty kill over that span of 14 games.
It’s been a long three seasons for Rooney, who found himself floundering even in the AHL at points. Originally limited to just 17 games during Darryl Sutter’s final campaign with the Flames, a shoulder injury incurred during the preseason of year two (2023-24) put his NHL career into question. Heads were turned when the former Providence College Friar (who played with former Flames first round pick Mark Jankowski) was called up in early February, 2024, and given a roster spot in a gesture of faith from Conroy and the Flames coaching staff. In his next game, he scored a goal against his former team, the New Jersey Devils.
Originally brought in as a UFA to help the Flames PK, we finally got to see the player Brad Treliving signed, who stood out so greatly with the New York Rangers. Even if the Flames only got that for around a month. As much as some fans may despair to acknowledge, Rooney and Huberdeau were a force gone too soon.
2021-22 New York Rangers PK Core – PK time – PK GA per 60
Barclay Goodrow – 183:18 – 5.89
Mika Zibanejad – 148:46 – 7.26
Kevin Rooney – 129:23 – 4.64
Chris Kreider – 120:47 – 7.45
Rooney’s two-year contract expired on July 1, 2025, and he remains an unrestricted free agent as of the publishing of this article. The six-foot-two center finished the season with five goals and five assists in 71 games.
Moving forward
The Flames finished the season with a 76.1% PK rate over 82 games. That percentage ranks them 25th. You can look at that aggregated number and conclude that Huska’s crew struggled greatly in the area of penalty killing. Hidden within smaller samples is a greater story. One that might imply that the Flames are taking the proper steps towards contention.
With Rooney likely moving on, Craig Conroy has expressed his interest in Martin Pospisil moving to the penalty kill. Joel Farabee got a 13:19 PK tryout in Backlund’s absence, allowing two goals over that span. Larsen returns to the Flames bench next season, but will likely be moved to power play duty given Cull’s strong results.
“And our penalty kill the second half of the year was excellent, especially after the four nations,” reflected Huska during his Locker Cleanout availability. “I think it was right up there with the tops in the league. They got to be consistent right through the year, and we have to get ourselves to that level.”
Can the Flames carry on their PK dominance come October? Will Martin Pospisil find himself as a fit when the team is down a man? Can Mikael Backlund find a way to stay healthy enough to maintain a dominant go-to penalty killing unit?
That’s the fun part of sports. The answers will start to emerge in just a few weeks.
Stats via Puckpedia, Elite Prospects, and the National Hockey League.
Follow on ????: @Trevor_Neufeld
[KEEP READING: Five Former Flames Head Coaches: Where are they now?]
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Where you been cpltanto? We need more post from former buzz posters.
Thanks Trevor!
That miracle you are talking about, was the progression of Dustin Wolf. This kid is a franchise goalie, proving it in every league he plays in. Soon he’ll be the goalie for Team USA, and get the proper recognition he deserves.
I can live without Kevin Rooney, Flames fans have slagged the guy for 2 years. He’s easily replaceable from within the organization.
Conroy wanting bigger roles for some of the kids could suggest that maybe he’s looking at trading a Blake Coleman. Not that I’m in a hurry to see this, but getting max returns for some of these guys would be nice.
What’s the talk on Rasmus? I’ve heard different things from being traded, to being resigned. I really like RA, but I’d be really disappointed if Conroy handed him a retirement type contract. His play took a severe nosedive last year but I think partly was the way Huska used him. Playing with Bahl he had more defensive zone starts, Weegar replaced him on the #1 pp and with Parekh set to make the Flames, he may even get less time there.
Speaking of Parekh, let’s hope he gets eased into the powerplay and provides what Al MacInnis did when he broke into the league. Making the Flames powerplay more dangerous. I’d seriously consider playing a 2 man D pp, Weegar could help him get accustomed to the pace of the league.
The doldrums of summer, and you still find things to write about, thank you. Only a month til training camp opens.????????
Agreed 100%.
This has to be the season that Coleman gets moved. Tampa needs to get their bottom six in order and Blake would be a major step. No firsts until 2028, but Connor Geekie would be a hell of a target. Left shot but a RW/C.
Things were at a standstill with Ras as of last week when he did an interview with Swedish media. Most GMs are on vacation and are difficult to get a hold of according to Don Waddell in an interview (also last week).
Agreed on bringing more people over from the Buzz. That will come with time. That place is chaos these days. All of my old articles were altered by the turnover and the formatting is shot.
Eklund trying to be more like Hockey Hotstove with his front page layout. He’s stumbling through articles, having to write over 50% of them for lack of other writers.. Glad to see you didn’t give this up, was excited to see your work here, thanks again.
K-man
I feel like Ecklund tried to make his site look more like Sportsnet. Shame the guy is too busy trying to make the site a legit “Rumour Site” rather than just a place to talk hockey; he had a good thing (the comments section) and he messed it up.
Anyways, I cannot see the Buzz lasting that much longer.