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3 takeaways from the start of the Flames season
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3 takeaways from the start of the Flames season

Originally posted on Flamesnation  |  By Robert Munnich  |  Last updated 10/16/24

Just like everyone predicted, the Calgary Flames are 4-0-0 to start their 2024-25 campaign. And they’ve done it in convincing fashion outscoring their opposition 19-10.

Here are three things that have stood out to me from a very positive first week of the season.

1. Rasmus Andersson & Kevin Bahl are the clear first pair

It’s become very obvious that the Calgary Flames have established their first D-pairing. And that is Rasmus Anderson alongside Kevin Bahl.

These two have been a dominant force over the first four games of the season.

The Flames have outscored their opposition 7-1 and high danger chances are 12-8 in favour of the Flames with Andersson and Bahl on the ice at 5-on-5. That pair given up more shot attempts than their opposition, but a lot of those shots are coming from the outside, are blocked, or miss the net.

You can see that Andersson and Bahl are a good fit. Andersson is the more dynamic, offensive player who can carry the puck up the ice and take some chances. Andersson’s six points in four games are an indication of that. Meanwhile Bahl is a pure shutdown defenseman who insulates Andersson well.

They’ve also been relied upon to play big minutes on the Flames penalty kill. They lead all Flames defensemen in ice time on the PK by a wide margin. Bahl having the most with 10:21.

MacKenzie Weegar and Daniil Miromanov’s average performance as a pairing at 5-on-5 has also made it easier to establish Andersson and Bahl as the first pair.

The Weegar/Miromanov pair have been outscored 2-0 and have an expected goal percentage (xGF%) of 41.64% at 5-on-5 through four games together. Their opposition has also also had more scoring chances and high danger chances when on the the ice against that pair.

Now, Weegar and Miromanov haven’t been terrible by any stretch. I’d say they’ve been average. But they haven’t been close to as good as Andersson and Bahl.

2. Is the old Jonathan Huberdeau back?

It’s obviously very early in the season. But man, Jonathan Huberdeau looks like a different player so far.

We are seeing glimpses of the player the Flames thought they were going to get from the Florida Panthers in 2022.

Huberdeau looks very confident with the puck on his stick. He is executing his passes at the highest rate we’ve seen in some time. He’s not turning the puck over as much. We’re not seeing those ridiculous 360′ no look spin passes. Huberdeau is playing a simple, yet very effective game executed at a high level.

One thing you have to like is his willingness to go to the front of the net. All three of his goals have come a few feet from the crease.

And we’re starting to see some of that Huberdeau magic. Just take a look at some of the passes he’s already made this season.

Hopefully Huberdeau is able to build off this great start to the season where he’s put up six points in four games. The Flames are a completely different team if he is able to be close to a point per game player.

3. There is a new buzz around this team

Something feels different about this edition of the Calgary Flames compared to the last couple seasons.

In 2022-23, there was an extraordinary amount of change with the departures of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk. Then the Flames brought in Huberdeau, Weegar, and Nazem Kadri.

It felt like the remaining players on the team weren’t able to get over the losses of Gaudreau and Tkachuk. On top of that you had a deteriorating relationship between the players and Darryl Sutter. The team played boring, uninspiring hockey. The whole season was a mess.

Then in 2023-24, all we heard about were the seven pending UFA’s, who was going to get traded, and if the players under contract wanted to be in Calgary long-term or not. You could tell guys like Elias Lindholm, Jacob Markstrom, and Nikita Zadorov were miserable last season. It was an exhausting year for the fans. I can’t imagine what it was like for the players in the dressing room who weren’t on the trading block.

But now we have a team in Calgary full of players who are committed to being here. They want to play in Calgary and take the next step forward in the evolution of the team.

There is an infusion of young talent like Connor Zary, Martin Pospisil, Sam Honzek and Matt Coronato which has been fun for fans to watch.

There are some great personalities in that locker room like Weegar, Kadri, Andrei Kuzmenko, Rasmus Andersson, and Tyson Barrie to name a few.

And like Kadri said last week, there is some sneaky talent in that locker room, and we are starting to see it with the Flames scoring 19 goals in their first four games.

This is easily the most likeable group we’ve seen at the Dome’ since the 21-22 team. It’s been a breath of fresh air to have some positive vibes around this franchise.

And the main reason for that is due to the job both Craig Conroy and Ryan Huska have done. They’ve been able to move out players with bad attitudes who didn’t want to be here and have set the tone for a new culture led by a solid core of committed, veteran players.

Simply put, it’s fun to be a Flames fan right now. The vibes are immaculate. And I say enjoy it and try not to worry too much about the future. It’s been a rough last couple years to be a Flames fan. But it looks like things are starting to change in a positive way.

This article first appeared on Flamesnation and was syndicated with permission.

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