Calgary Flames

Pacific Division, Western Conference · 24 reports in the 2026-27 edition.

The club

2025-26 · 82 games · 188 for, 223 against

How it played

Shot attempts share, five-on-five: 49.2% 17th of 32
Expected goals share, five-on-five: 47.0% 28th of 32
Power play expected goals per sixty: 6.33 30th of 32
Penalty kill expected goals allowed per sixty: 7.39 20th of 32

Where the record lies

Finishing goals scored above what the chances were worth: -12.3 26th of 32
Goaltending goals prevented beyond what the chances allowed were worth: -1.0 18th of 32

Calgary Flames scored 12.3 fewer goals than their chances were worth — 12 goals of the record that the underlying play does not explain, and it regresses.

Roster shape

Points-weighted, so these are the ages and origins of the production rather than of the sweaters.

Average age: 27.2; weighted by points
From 33 and up: 11.5%; of skater points
From under 26: 50.0%; of skater points
Homegrown: 36.0%; drafted by this club
Continuity: 72.3%; of last season's five-on-five minutes

The read

the numbers, and the eye

212 goals, fewest in the league, off the 30th-ranked power play and a 28th-place chance share.

The eye and the numbers

Sighted

The book

32nd of 32

The numbers

29th of 32

The two place this roster within 3 spots of one another. Every report underneath was written with these numbers on screen, so the agreement is not corroboration — the arithmetic is on both sides of it.

Both bars rank this club among the 32 in the edition. The report bar is the mean of its players' grades, weighted by the five-on-five minutes each of them played; the numbers bar is their expected-goal share on the same weighting. It counts 22 of the 24 reports on this roster — the rest have no five-on-five record long enough to weigh — and it reads the roster as it stands rather than the club's own last season.

Who the words reach 21 of 24 · 91% of the five-on-five minutes who is left out (3)

The bars above counted every man on the roster with enough ice time to weigh. The paragraphs name whoever they name, and no rule says who that should be — so this says who it was, over the write-up as a whole. Each section below reaches far fewer than this, which is the figure that matters: the section is where the selection happens, and the count sits under each one. The share is of the five-on-five minutes played by the 22 men on this roster who have a measured record.

Not named: Joel Hanley, Ben Jones, Maxim Tsyplakov.

Who this names 9 of 24 on the roster · 38% of their five-on-five minutes details

Both columns above are searched, and a name counts on the same terms the page links it: in full always, by surname only when one man in the edition wears it. Nothing here says who ought to be named — only who was, so the weighting can be seen rather than guessed at.

Not named here: Mikael Backlund, Kevin Bahl, Hunter Brzustewicz, Devin Cooley, Joel Hanley, Jonathan Huberdeau, Ben Jones, Yan Kuznetsov, Jake Middleton, Simon Nemec, Brayden Pachal, Martin Pospisil, Ryan Strome, Maxim Tsyplakov, Zach Whitecloud.

What the Quant Says

The thinnest team in the league. Calgary scored 212 goals, fewer than any other club, on a 47.0 per cent chance share, 28th, and 2.40 expected goals per 60 at even strength, 23rd — then finished 12.3 goals below even that, 26th.

It is 22nd at preventing chances and 30th on the power play. The goaltending was the one neutral phase, a single goal worse than the chances faced. Continuity is 72.3 per cent, twentieth, and the men who left — Andersson, Weegar, Coleman, Kadri — were the top of the roster. What remains is 2 teenagers on the blue line and a 22-year-old goaltender.

What the Scout Says

A poor hockey team with 2 genuinely interesting young players and a goaltender who is not the problem. Zayne Parekh escapes pressure by turning through it and walks a blue line changing the shooting angle without giving up the puck, and he cannot clear a crease or hold a man out of the slot. Matvei Gridin is 19, removed from pucks at will, and the second reason to watch this club at all. Dustin Wolf survives on technique and quickness, manages his depth better than almost anyone, and cannot take away net simply by existing — every save has to be an actual save.

The rest is a roster whose forwards mostly will not go where scoring happens. Matt Coronato shoots more than anyone here and from the wrong ice; Yegor Sharangovich has a real shot and never developed the willingness to use it from anywhere useful; Joel Farabee cannot hold a wall against a top-4 defenceman. The men who do go inside — Adam Klapka at 6-8, Connor Zary, Morgan Frost — are the club's most instructive pages.

Who this names 8 of 13 forwards · 80% of their five-on-five minutes details

Not named here: Matvei Gridin, Ben Jones, Martin Pospisil, Ryan Strome, Maxim Tsyplakov.

What the Quant Says

The thinnest attack in the book. Calgary scored 212 goals, fewest in the league, on 2.60 expected goals per 60 at even strength — 23rd — and a 47.0 per cent chance share, 28th. Then it finished 12.3 goals below even that, 26th.

There is no top line. Morgan Frost led the club with 22 goals and was minus-16; Joel Farabee scored 20 with the best forward chance share on the roster, and that share was 48.4 per cent, the 39th percentile. Matt Coronato took nearly 200 shots for 18 goals and finished minus-29. The encouraging shot charts belong to men who are not scoring from them — Frost from a median of 20 feet, Connor Zary from 18 with 12 goals. Mikael Backlund at 37, in his eighteenth season, was plus-7 on a team outscored by 43, in the hardest minutes on the roster. That is the most impressive line on the page and it is not a plan.

What the Scout Says

A group with 1 man standing in the right place and several who will not. Morgan Frost has the best shot selection on the club and it is the model of what the others are not doing: same roster, same power play, and he is the one standing where the puck goes in. Connor Zary gets to the net front and then gets moved out of it, which is a strength problem rather than a positioning one and the most fixable thing on the roster. Adam Klapka is 6-8, gets to the net because nobody can move him once he arrives, forechecks at a genuine NHL pace and fights.

Against them, Matt Coronato has a quick release and good hands in tight when he gets there, and does not win pucks on the wall or reach the net front against men who do not want him there — which is precisely why his shots come from so far out. Yegor Sharangovich is not winning pucks, not going to the net front, and not making life difficult for anybody. Jonathan Huberdeau still sees the seam pass before the seam opens and is finished on the wall before the battle starts, and he has sensibly stopped trying to beat people wide. Mikael Backlund shoots from the outside because he spends his shifts in his own end by design.

Who this names 8 of 9 defencemen · 89% of their five-on-five minutes details

Not named here: Joel Hanley.

What the Quant Says

22nd in even-strength expected goals against, with a blue line being asked to do more than it can. Kevin Bahl played 1,390 5-on-5 minutes — the most on the club — at the 11th percentile in chance share, with the expected goals running 51.3 to 64.1 against him. He is 26 and getting a top pairing because the alternatives are worse, which is not the same as being one.

And the 2 men who carried the reputations are gone: Rasmus Andersson to Vegas, MacKenzie Weegar to Utah. What is left is Bahl, Jake Middleton at a twentieth-percentile shot share, Zach Whitecloud with no offence whatsoever, and Yan Kuznetsov, who played 20 minutes a night in his first full season because somebody had to. Simon Nemec, 2nd overall in 2022, arrives on his second club still waiting to be what that meant. The interesting name is Zayne Parekh, 20 years old, 9 points in 37 games and the 8th percentile in chance share — the most interesting player on this roster and, on the evidence so far, nowhere near ready for the minutes a rebuilding club will be tempted to give him.

What the Scout Says

2 teenagers, a set of honest veterans, and no puck-carrier who can survive the hardest minutes. Zayne Parekh is the point of the whole thing: excellent feet, real vision from the line, and no ability yet to clear a crease or hold a man out of the slot, so he has to end plays before contact becomes relevant and there is nothing behind it when he cannot. Hunter Brzustewicz is a puck-mover by trade and not yet by result, with no defensive-zone physicality at all.

The weight is there and the mobility is not. Kevin Bahl is 6-6, defends the front of the net properly, closes with reach rather than speed, and blocks shots. Jake Middleton takes 76 penalty minutes with a genuine appetite for contact and a willingness to fight that is now rare in a top-4 defenceman, and concedes the outside deliberately. Brayden Pachal does the unpleasant work and is the one nobody wants to play against. Zach Whitecloud makes the simple pass and blocks shots, and on a club this poor his value is in what he shows the teenagers. Simon Nemec is the one who should be more: the skating and first pass are legitimate, he retrieves under pressure without panicking, and he will not win a net-front battle against a heavy winger.

The roster

Evidence 20 Full 4 Light 0 No record

Mikael Backlund

#11

C · Calgary Flames

1,148 games, and still first over the boards against the other team's best.

Kevin Bahl

D · Calgary Flames

22 minutes a night, and the 11th percentile to show for them.

Hunter Brzustewicz

#48

D · Calgary Flames

34 games at 21, and nothing yet that says which way it goes.

Devin Cooley

G · Calgary Flames

A .909 in 31 games, better than the starter, and nobody expects him to keep the job.

Matt Coronato

#27

RW · Calgary Flames

45 points, minus-29, and 200 shots taken from too far away.

Joel Farabee

#86

LW · Calgary Flames

20 goals, and a shot chart drifting the wrong way at exactly the wrong age.

Morgan Frost

#16

C · Calgary Flames

22 goals from a median of 20 feet, and a minus-16 underneath them.

Matvei Gridin

RW · Calgary Flames

20 points in 37 games as a 19-year-old, and the worst on-ice numbers in the book.

Joel Hanley

#44

D · Calgary Flames

86th percentile in shot attempts, and no goals in 74 tries.

Jonathan Huberdeau

#10

LW · Calgary Flames

807 career points, 25 of them last season.

Ben Jones

#64

C · Calgary Flames

3 points in 28 games, and the 1st percentile in shot attempts.

Adam Klapka

#43

RW · Calgary Flames

6-8, undrafted, 112 penalty minutes, and he can actually skate.

Yan Kuznetsov

D · Calgary Flames

20 minutes a night in his first full season, and a blue line with nobody better to give them to.

Jake Middleton

#55

D · Calgary Flames

210th overall, 381 games, and a shot share in the 20th percentile.

Simon Nemec

#71

D · Calgary Flames

The second pick in 2022, on his second club, still waiting to be what that meant.

Brayden Pachal

#94

D · Calgary Flames

Undrafted, 177 games, and a seventh defenceman who keeps playing.

Zayne Parekh

D · Calgary Flames

9 points in 37 games, the 8th percentile in chances, and the most interesting player on this roster.

Martin Pospisil

#76

C · Calgary Flames

22 games, 173 pounds, and a body that keeps stopping him.

Yegor Sharangovich

#17

C · Calgary Flames

116 career goals, and the 13th percentile last season.

Ryan Strome

#22

C · Calgary Flames

500 career points, and a season that reads like the end of the useful part.

Maxim Tsyplakov

#72

RW · Calgary Flames

4 points in 49 games, and the best on-ice rate of anyone joining this club.

Zach Whitecloud

#28

D · Calgary Flames

Undrafted, a Stanley Cup, 20 minutes a night, and no offence whatsoever.

Dustin Wolf

#32

G · Calgary Flames

166 pounds, taken 214th, and this club's starting goaltender.

Connor Zary

#47

C · Calgary Flames

53 per cent of his shots from inside 20 feet, and 12 goals to show for it.

How they were used

2025-26 · 82 games

Measured from shift charts at five-on-five, not projected. Units are built from the strongest partnership outward and ordered by how much they were used; the percentage is the share of the first player’s five-on-five ice time spent alongside each linemate. A low number means the club never settled on a combination. Players who have gone are marked — either to another club, or off an NHL roster altogether, which covers retirement and an unsigned summer alike.