Calgary’s play has steadily improved since start of the month, with some now sporting positive shot and chance differentials.

It wasn’t a pretty start to the season for the Calgary Flames.

With one win in their first seven games, Calgary fell to the bottom of the NHL standings. Perhaps more distressing for the coaching staff and players was the club’s minus-21 goal differential, better than only the hapless Philadelphia Flyers (-22) during the period in question.

In terms of silver linings, the Flames’ territorial play has steadily improved since the start of the month, with portions of the roster now sporting positive shot and chance differentials. It hasn’t led to a lot of wins, but it signals that the team’s fundamentals are getting stronger.

Calgary’s not going to be a competitor, but playing respectable, competitive hockey most nights is no doubt part of expectations this year.

Sharangovich – Backlund – Farabee

Suniev – Frost – Coronato

Gridin – Pospisil – Strome

Tsyplakov – Castagna – Klapka

Head coach Ryan Huska consistently juggled the lines in the face of the club’s persistent struggles.

With Connor Zary demoted to the AHL and Sam Honzek injured, space opened up for rookies like Jonathan Castagna and Aydar Suniev. Both have acquitted themselves relatively well, with Suniev even moving up to join the Frost and Coronato on the Flames’ scoring line.

Matvei Gridin struggled to score at even strength, resulting in the bump down the rotation. His on-ice shot and chance numbers were actually the best on the team at even-strength in the first seven games, but the puck just wouldn’t go in for him at 5-on-5, unfortunately (on-ice SH% of just 1.71%).

The player has looked understandably frustrated, but his snipe in a 3-2 win over Carolina in Calgary’s eighth game of the season may portend more points in he near future.

Yegor Sharangovich replaced Honzek on the Backlund unit, and the combination has been a strong one in aggregate (aside from Sharangovich’s errors versus Vegas last Thursday). They continue to be the coaching staff’s top choice to take on the other team’s best players. It looks like 37-year-old Backlund will spend another season defying father time.

Prior to Sunday’s game, when Morgan Frost overtook him, Joel Farabee co-led the team in scoring with Matt Coronato with just four points.

Much of their scoring has come in special teams, though, which reflects the club’ lack of offence at 5-on-5 so far this season. The team leader at even-strength scoring over this period was … Suniev with two goals and an assist.

Calgary’s shot volume went up over this seven-game stretch, but shot quality remained elusive.

Bahl – Nemec

Kuznetsov – Whitecloud

Middleton – Parekh

Unlike the forward units, the defence pairings have seemingly settled into something more consistent after an initial early season shakeup. The The Kevin Bahl-Simon Nemec duo currently is the Flames’ top pairing, anchored by Bahl’s incredible start to the season.

With Bahl on the ice, Calgary controlled more than 60% of the shot attempts and scoring chances at even strength during the first seven-game segment. That’s a remarkable ratio on most NHL clubs, but especially for the rebuilding Flames, given the depth and difficulty of his workload so far.

If Bahl becomes a legitimate top-pairing, shutdown option, the club’s blue line will become even richer than it already is.

The Zayne Parekh-Jake Middleton pairing was the only combination that was consistent during the first seven games. Unfortunately, it didn’t really work out well for either player and was broken up for Sunday’s game against the Hurricanes.

Both defenders had the worst shot and chance numbers on the Flames’ blue line despite being relatively sheltered. Parekh frequently flashed his offensive creativity, but with little to show for it on the scoresheet (just one assist in seven contests).

It’s no surprise that the coaching staff recently broke them up, with positive results versus Carolina.

Dustin Wolf (1-4-0, .835 SV%)

Devin Cooley (0-2-0, .818 SV%)

Perhaps the biggest surprise out of the gate is how poorly Calgary’s goaltenders fared.

It’s not a great surprise that the lowest-scoring team in the NHL last season is having trouble putting the puck in the net again. But few pundits would have picked puck-stopping as Calgary’s Achilles’ heel heading into 2026-27.

Wolf had the Flames’ lone quality start during this segment, a 4-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks. Otherwise, he looked nothing like the guy who put together a Calder-calibre season two years ago.

Wolf faced a lot of breakdowns and bad bounces, to be sure, but his starts have featured far too many stoppable pucks getting through him.

One of the defining qualities of the team through the first seven games has been its tendency to follow up a good shift with a goal against. Almost every time Calgary has tried to shift momentum through this portion of the calendar, it led to the next mistake, no matter how minor, ending up in the back of the net.

Getting sub-penalty-kill-level puck-stopping at even-strength is primarily why the Flames were run out of the rink to start the season. Better work from Wolf and Cooley will mean things will look a lot more respectable moving forward.

Wyttenbach has come out of the gate red hot for Quinnipiac University. After he led the NCAA in scoring last year, the Flames’ fifth-round pick entered the season having to prove it wasn’t a fluke.

With four goals and 11 points in five games, he’s on pace to do just that.