Flames Shut Out of Postseason Despite Strong 96-Point Campaign
CALGARY — The Flames came as close as a team can get without crossing the line. Ninety-six points usually secures a playoff berth, but in 2024–25 it did not.
Despite finishing ahead of Eastern playoff teams Montreal and New Jersey, the Flames missed the postseason after tying the St. Louis Blues for the final Wild Card spot in the West. The NHL’s first tie-breaker — regulation wins — tipped the balance. The Blues finished with 32, the Flames with 31. The narrowest of margins decided the playoff race.
The totals painted another layer of frustration. Calgary picked up 14 overtime or shootout losses compared to eight for the Blues. Those points padded the standings but carried no weight in the tie-breaker.
If there is disappointment, there is also optimism. The Wranglers’ pipeline continues to shape the Flames’ roster. Goaltender Dustin Wolf, after back-to-back award-winning seasons in the AHL, started 53 games for the Flames in 2024–25 and posted 29 wins, earning NHL All-Rookie Team honors while finishing just one victory shy of Mike Vernon’s franchise rookie record. Vernon, of course, later backstopped the Flames to their Stanley Cup championship in 1989, a reminder of how impactful a homegrown goaltender can become.
Connor Zary of Saskatoon has now appeared in 117 NHL games, recording 27 goals and 34 assists for 61 points with the Flames. Before cementing himself as a regular, he produced 58 points in 72 games with the Wranglers in 2022–23 and added 10 points in 6 games in 2023–24.
Martin Pospisil of Zvolen, Slovakia has logged 144 NHL games, contributing 12 goals and 37 assists for 49 points. Like Zary, he passed through the Wranglers on the way up, tallying 10 points in 20 games in 2022–23 and 6 points in 6 games in 2023–24.
Leadership is another storyline heading into 2025–26. Captain Mikael Backlund has already acknowledged that defenseman Rasmus Andersson may be on his way out, suggesting a trade could be inevitable. Andersson has been a fixture on the Flames’ blue line and a key part of the leadership group, but Backlund’s comments highlight the sense of transition surrounding the roster.
That connection between change and opportunity matters. As the Flames push to convert more overtime games into regulation victories, the solution may already be skating a few feet away in the Wranglers’ locker room at the Saddledome. And with only two years left before the team moves into its new home at Scotia Place, the theme of transition is unavoidable — in the roster taking shape, and in the very building where Flames hockey has lived for nearly four decades.