Compared to last season, where do Flames players stand at quarter-game mark?

With a record of 9-10-3, the Calgary Flames are over the quarter-game mark in the 2023-24 season. At this point last season, they held a 10-9-3 record through 22 games, putting them one win shy of where they stood a year ago. Several changes to management and coaching occurred over the offseason, so let’s take a look at how returning players have adjusted under new head coach Ryan Huska.

Elias Lindholm 

This season: 22 GP, 5 goals, 10 assists, 15 points
Last season: 22 GP, 6 goals, 10 assists, 16 points 

In his second season removed from his career-high 82-point season playing with the likes of Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm looks up to par with his start to last season with one less goal. With the pause set on contract negotiations, it’s still up in the air if we see the 28-year-old in a flaming C by the end of the season.

Nazem Kadri

This season: 22 GP, 4 goals, 10 assists, 14 points
Last season: 22 GP, 8 goals, 7 assists, 15 points

Eight games without a goal was the storyline early in the season for Nazem Kadri’s second year as a Flame. Kadri had a rough month in October only picking up two points, but things looked to turn around for the vet in November with the emergence of two rookies on his line, Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil. Playing in parts of 13 games with rookies Zary and Pospisil, Kadri has tallied three goals and 12 assists.

Jonathan Huberdeau 

This season: 22 GP, 4 goals, 9 assists,13 points
Last season: 19 GP, 4 goals, 8 assists, 12 points

Huberdeau is still looking to find his game in Calgary – at least with consistency. Kicking into year one of his eight-year $10.5 million contract, he currently has one more point in three more games at the quarter-game mark and looks to be on the right track after being benched and moved to a line with Mikael Backlund. As of late, he looks to be getting a bit more comfortable on the ice, putting up six points in the seven games since being benched and displaying more willingness to be physical in his game.

Andrew Mangiapane 

This season: 21 GP, 5 goals, 8 assists, 13 points
Last season: 22 GP, 4 goals, 5 assists, 9 points

Andrew Mangiapane is off to a better start this season. He has one more goal and four more points in one fewer appearance. After a stretch of six games without a goal, Mangiapane picked up his fifth of the season and 100th career goal vs the Kraken.

Noah Hanifin

This season: 22 GP, 4 goals, 6 assists, 10 points
Last season: 21 GP, 1goal, 9 assists, 10 points

Noah Hanifin leads all Flames defencemen with four goals and is now just three goals shy of his total of seven last season. Hanifin is one of those players we are keeping an eye on as his future in Calgary is still uncertain.

Rasmus Andersson 

This season: 18 GP, 3 goals, 8 assists, 11 points
Last season: 22 GP, 3 goals, 13 assists, 16 points

Missing four games due to suspension, Rasmus Andersson has tied himself in goals he had in the Flames quarter-game mark last season but is currently five points short. His biggest goal of the season was the overtime game-winner last week in Seattle.

Blake Coleman 

This season: 22 GP, 6 goals, 6 assists, 12 points
Last season: 21 GP, 3 goals, 6 assists, 9 points

Blake Coleman has shown up big so far for the Flames with six goals in his first 22 games, leading the team in both goals and plus/minus with a +7. Over his last 11 games, Coleman has scored four goals and picked up five assists.

MacKenzie Weegar 

This season: 22 GP, 5 goals, 6 assists, 11 points
Last season: 22 GP, 0 goals, 6 assists, 6 points

MacKenzie Weegar, in his second season with the Flames, has almost doubled his point total through the first quarter. Along with surpassing his total goal production of last season (four), Weegar now leads the team in goals by a defenceman, including a huge goal with 4.8 seconds left in Monday’s win overtime against the Golden Knights.

Mikael Backlund 

This season: 22 GP, 4 goals, 6 assists, 10 points
Last season: 22 GP, 5 goals 5, assists, 10 points

After being named the 21st captain in Flames franchise history, Backlund has started off a near-identical season with one fewer goal and one more assist. Being a Flame his whole career, the Swedish forward picked up his 500th point in his 926th career game on an assist on Andersson’s game-winning goal against Seattle on November 20th.

Dillon Dubé 

This season: 21 GP, 3 goals, 4 assists, 7 points
Last season: 22 GP, 4 goals, 5 assists, 10 points

Dillion Dubé has three fewer points playing in one less game than he’d played by this time a year ago and has seen some long stretches with little to no production a few times so far this season. For example, in his last five games, Dubé has one assist. His best outing was a two-point performance in the October 16th shootout loss to the Capitals.

Nikita Zadorov 

This season: 21 GP, 1 goal, 5 assists, 6 points
Last season: 22 GP, 4 goals, 2 assists, 6 points

Nikita Zadorov entered the season with one year left on his contract. So far, his point totals look mostly the same. The little difference from last season is the drop from four goals to only one this season, but picking up three more assists in one fewer game played. Unfortunately for the 6’6″ defenceman, he’s been limited to one point in nine games since his agent took to social media to issue a public trade request.

Adam Ruzicka 

This season: 17 GP, 3 goals, 3 assists, 6 points
Last season: 12 GP, 5 goals. 4 assists, 9 points

In five more games than he played a year ago, Adam Ruzicka has dipped from nine points to six. After going 10 games without a point, the 24-year-old was key to the Flames rally from a 4-2 deficit against the Dallas Stars when he got the Flames within one. Along with his goal, he picked up an assist in his second multi-point game of the season.

Chris Tanev 

This season: 22 GP, 0, goals, 5 assists, 5 points
Last season: 17 GP, 0  goals, 3 assists, 3 points

Chris Tanev is up to five points through 22 games and has yet to miss a game compared to last season where he missed some time due to injury. Along with staying healthy, the veteran has flipped his plus/minus of -3 to +4. As his contract is coming to a close, a healthy Tanev may be viable for a team looking to boost their blueline.

Nick DeSimone

This season: 8 GP, 0 goals, 4 assists, 4 points
Last season: 4 GP, 0 goals, 0 assists 0 points

Going from four games and zero points last year to eight games to start this season, Nick DeSimone has been able to pick up four assists on the Flames’ third defensive pairing. As of this past weekend, the Flames have assigned DeSimone to the AHL.

Dennis Gilbert

This season: 13 GP, 0 goals, 1 assist,1 point
Last season: 7 GP, 0 goals 1 assist, 1 point

Dennis Gilbert has the same total of points he had to start last year’s season in five more games.

Jacob Markstrom

At some points in this quarter season, Jacob Markstrom has kept his team in games with an improvement in stats from a .899 SV% and 3.03 GAA in 16 starts to a .901 SV% and 2.93 GAA in 14 starts. Unfortunately for Markstorm, his great play at times may not be reflected in his record of 5-7-2 in comparison to his 8-5-2 record to start last season.

Dan Vladar

As for Dan Vladar, he has been able to pick up two more wins from his last season’s start of 2-4-1, now improving to 4-2-1. In his one extra start, Valdar has let in five more goals this season, dropping from a .913 SV% and 2.70 GAA to a .883 SV% and 3.20 GAA. But despite his dip, things may be headed in the right direction as Vladar picked up a big win in a 27-save performance against the defending Stanley Cup Champions.

Other players to mention 

Yegor Sharangovich was acquired over the summer from New Jersey in a deal that involved Tyler Toffoli. Sharangovich is just two points shy of the 12 points he held at the 22-game mark with the Devils last season. Lately, the 25-five-year-old has found some success on the Flames top line and over the last five games he has scored three goals and two assists.

A.J. Greer, who was picked up off Waivers from the Boston Bruins, has been a solid addition on the Flames fourth line with four goals and four assists. Greer is just one goal and four points shy of his total of 12 points in the 61 games he appeared in last season for the Bruins.

Walker Duehr, who was a breath of fresh air and a fun player to watch at the tail end of last season, has since struggled to find the same success. In his first 27 games in the NHL, Duehr put up seven goals and 4 assists but has since dropped in production with one goal and three assists in his 14 appearances thus far.