Calgary Flames: Five best players through the first 15 games
The Calgary Flames are 15 games through their season. There have been some players who have impressed and others, not so much.
We’re getting close to 1/5th through the season. I feel like it’s flown by. But the Calgary Flames are now 15 games into their season. There have been players who have been impressing and who are starting their season much better than their start last season. And others… not so much. But here, we have the best five players through 15 games of the season. This was somewhat hard to narrow down, which is definitely the best kind of problem someone could have.
Be sure to check out our site tomorrow for the worst five Flames players through 15 games.
Honourable Mention: Micheal Ferland
This wouldn’t be a true Flame for Thought list if we didn’t include an honourable mention. And in this case, it’s Micheal Ferland. The reason he didn’t make this list is that while he hasn’t had an incredible first 15 games, he’s had a great second half of that.
Micheal Ferland started the season slowly but has been fantastic of late. pic.twitter.com/g3wuwdHNC4
— Todd Cordell (@ToddCordell) November 8, 2017
Ferland right now has five goals and two assists in 14 games with the Flames this season which is tied for sixth on the team. However, in the last eight games, he has four of those goals and both assists. And is third on the team in points with six since then. He only had one goal in his first six games.
Ferland is already a third of the way to his goal total from last season, which was a career high for him at 15 goals. What changed? Well, he got put on a line with Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau and that trio has great chemistry.
Last season after being put on a line with Gaudreau and Monahan in late February, it sparked a ten-game win streak – a high in Calgary Flames franchise history and a tie for a high in Atlanta Flames history. After Ferland was put on a line with those two last season, he had seven goals in 17 games. Before that, he had eight goals in 55 games.
Clearly these three gel well together.
But of course, this is this season. But he still deserves an honorary mention and he’s a very underrated player, which his teammates say so too.
Via Calgary Herald:
“He’s sneakily skilled,” Gaudreau said of Ferland. “Guys look at him just as a fighter and a big tough guy, but he’s smart with the puck. He’s intelligent, he can read the play and he has a great shot, too. “All the coaches tell me, ‘When you have a chance to shoot the puck, just shoot the puck,’ ” Ferland said. “I think last year and the year before, too, I would always look to pass first before I would look to shoot. And now, I think, just being kind of selfish and shooting the puck more.”
Now, let’s get on to the list.
Five: Dougie Hamilton
It was somewhat hard to narrow down which defenceman to include, but ultimately, I went with Dougie Hamilton. Dougie so far has two goals and five assists in 15 games. Not a whole lot, but he also contributes in other areas of the ice.
While T.J. Brodie has been contributing offensively, he has somewhat quieted down a little bit these last few games, and like I mentioned, Dougie contributes elsewhere. He’s currently third on the team in CF% at 5v5 at 58.10%. However, one of the players ahead of him is Jaromir Jagr who’s only played in six games this season (stats courtesy of Natural Stat Trick).
Not including Jagr since he’s only played in six games, Dougie has the best CF% Rel. on the team at 9.22%. While it’s not incredibly high, this still means that the team basically performs better and generates more shot attempts with him on the ice. He’s also fifth among all defencemen in the NHL in that category. And while this would be higher with defencemen since they spend the most amount of time on the ice, he’s still leading the Flames in that category.
Related Story: Dougie Hamilton Ranked 16th Best Defenceman by NHL.com
Dougie is also leading the Flames in iCF with 83 (5v5), which is 24 higher than the second highest and his partner, Mark Giordano, for essentially the same amount of TOI. In high-danger shot attempts at 5v5, Dougie has two which isn’t a whole lot, but it’s still the highest among the defencemen on the Flames.
In fact, Dougie is second among all defensemen for iCF, right after Brent Burns, and is third among all skaters in the NHL. He may not have a lot of points, but the more he continues this up, those points will come. He’s not generating as much offence as he was last season, he but’s still a factor on the ice when the Calgary Flames have success. And for that, he’s number five on our list.
Four: Matthew Tkachuk
Matthew Tkachuk is definitely not having a sophomore slump. In a successful rookie year with 48 points in 76 points, he’s currently on pace to beat that record this year. He has 10 points in 15 games so far which is third on the Calgary Flames.
So far this season (and in his career), Tkachuk is 2/2 in the shootout which have both been the winning shootout goals. Once against the Nashville Predators and one against the New Jersey Devils.
Calgary Flames
Right after Jagr, he’s second on the team in CF% at 58.56%. However, him along with his other two linemates that make up the 3M line, they also start more faceoffs in their own-zone. Tkachuk’s offensive-zone starting % is 40.63%. Meaning that even though the team starts more faceoffs in their own zone with Tkachuk on the ice, they’re still generating more shot attempts than they’re allowing (5v5).
This was actually difficult to not choose all three members of the 3M line, but that would be cheating, so I had to pick just one. Among forwards, Tkachuk is second on the team with CF% Rel. at 8.61% (but the player ahead of him is Jagr, who has played in fewer games).
Among all forwards who have played min. 100 minutes so far 5v5, Tkachuk is 12th in CF%. However, every single player ahead of him has a higher oZS% and all except for three have above 60% oZS%. So they essentially have an edge over Tkachuk.
Tkachuk also leads the league this season in penalties drawn at 13. He has also somewhat controlled his discipline a bit and isn’t taking nearly as many penalties as he was last season and is nowhere near the same pace to hit his PIM from last season. If he keeps up his pace he’s at, he’ll beat his points from last season and hit that 50 point mark.
There seems to be no evidence of a sophomore slump happening with this 19-year old.
Three: Sean Monahan
Sean Monahan is starting off his best season yet. He currently has eight goals and six assists and is second on the team in points with 14 in 15 games. He’s also leading the Calgary Flames in goals with his eight. Four of his eight goals are game-winning goals, which is a tie for the league lead.
Monahan had four game-winning goals all of the last season. He has 23 in his career which is currently tied for ninth place in Calgary Flames franchise history. He also beat Jarome Iginla’s record of overtime winners last season when he scored his eighth overtime goal.
Since the start of Monahan’s career in 2013-14, he’s consistently had at least 20 goals a season. While he took somewhat a dip in his offensive production last season with 58 points, right now, he’s currently projected at getting his first 70-point season. If he keeps up his pace, he’ll also be on pace to hit his first ever 40-goal season.
Related Story: 23 Days Until the Season Starts: #23 Sean Monahan
Right now, Monahan’s on a five-game point streak. Against the Vancouver Canucks, he almost was on a five-game goal streak, but unfortunately, that goal was reversed after a coach’s challenge for offside.
Last season was Monahan’s first season of having a CF% of over 50%. He currently has a CF% of 54.18%. Monahan’s highest CF%. Rel. was in 2014-15 at 1.66 and that was the only time it wasn’t negative. He’s currently at 2.41 so far this season. It’s not that high of a number, but it’s still positive which is a good sign.
So far, Monahan’s the best Flames goal-scorer so far this season. So he gets number three on our list.
Two: Mike Smith
Honestly, if it wasn’t for the game against the Vancouver Canucks, Mike Smith would have been the number one best player for the Calgary Flames. But he took somewhat of a dip in his last couple of games and for this reason, he’s fallen to number two.
Heading into the season, Mike Smith was one of the Flames biggest worries. But when the season started, he was the least of their worries. And he was the difference maker. The Flames are in a better place than they were at this point last season, and that difference is because of Smith.
So far this season, in the games where the Flames were dominated, he was their backbone and was the reason they walked away with two points. He also helped the Flames win for the first time at the Honda Center since 2004 in a 2-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks in a 43 save shutout performance.
Related Story: Mike Smith top five best moments
Mike Smith is 8-6-0 so far in the season and is tied for sixth among all goaltenders in wins. He’s tied in ninth for SV% (min. 5 games) with 0.923%. But we know that the Flames special teams haven’t exactly been the best – especially their penalty-killing. His even-strength SV% is 0.930.
Like I said, he’s somewhat fallen in his last couple of games.
Before his last two games, Smith was 7-5-0. He was fifth in the league in SV% (min. 5 games) at 0.936. He was second in the league in EV SV% at 0.946.
Currently, while Smith’s low-danger SV% isn’t that great, his high-danger is what sets him apart. He’s currently seventh among all goaltenders in that category at 0.879 (min. 5 games), however, all the goalies ahead of him have played fewer games than him. If we look at it among goalies who have played at least 10 games, he’s fifth.
If Mike Smith can get back into what he was like at the very start of the season, he can continue to be one of the best Flames players all season long.
One: Johnny Hockey
Was this any surprise? Johnny Gaudreau‘s season this year is a complete 180 from his start last season. Last season, everyone mentioned how Gaudreau had somewhat of an offseason, where he still had 61 points in 72 games. Currently, Gaudreau is tied for fifth in points with 19. He’s tied for third in assists with 13.
His 19 points in 15 games projects him at over a 100-point season (*knock on wood*). Gaudreau is currently on a five-game point streak and has points in nine of his last 10 games. It’s no secret that the Calgary Flames have had offensive struggles this season. Right now, they have 36 goals for. Which means that Gaudreau’s point percentage on the team’s goals is at 52.8% which is the highest by any player in the NHL. That’s not exactly a great team stat to have, but it looks great on Johnny! It means the team generates more than half their points with him contributing.
Related Story: Johnny Gaudreau is already miles better than last season
Via Calgary Flames:
“I mean, that’s … Johnny,” reasoned Sean Monahan, as if the out-of-the-ordinary were the most normal, natural thing in the world. “We see it day-in and day-out. “He reads the game better than anybody I know. He sees the ice better than anybody I know. “That’s his hockey sense. Quick feet, quick hands. If you can get open in a quality spot, a quiet area, you’re going to get the puck.”
Right now, Johnny has a CF% of 54.39% at even-strength which is the highest he’s ever had in full NHL seasons.
Johnny hasn’t quite been talked a lot about so far this season. Not like players like Nikita Kucherov or Steven Stamkos or Connor McDavid (who has fewer points than Gaudreau). But if he keeps this up, they’ll be forced to start talking about him.
And there you go! Our top five (plus honourable mention) Calgary Flames players through the first 15 games. What do you think this order should be?
Next: Flames bottom-six need to start producing
Let’s just hope I didn’t jinx anything here.