The Calgary Flames’ play has improved in November after a dismal opening month to the season.
Their shot and chance metrics have gone way up, but the wins have still been relatively hard to come by.
Goals are still at a premium. Calgary currently does not have a single skater on pace to crack the 50-point threshold in 2025-26. Heading into Wednesday’s game against the Buffalo Sabres, the Flames had scored just 45 goals in 21 games.
The try has been there. They haven’t been skated out of the rink most nights, which is an unusual thing to say about the team with the worst record in the NHL. But their lack of scoring has made digging out of their deep early season hole rather difficult.
Here are Flames power rankings at the quarter mark of the campaign:
TOP PLAYERS
1. Matt Coronato, RW
To say Coronato was poor out of the gate this season would be an understatement. Fresh off signing a six-year contract worth $6.25 million per year, the 23-year-old played some of the worst hockey of his young career in October.
However, he recently started to turn a corner.
Heading into this week’s slate of games, since Nov. 1 Coronato led the team in shots (33), points per 60 minutes of ice (2.11/60), and co-led in points (5). His shot rate of 13.42/60 is by far the best on the club, a good sign for a player who counts his shot as his No. 1 quality. And he added another goal on Tuesday vs. Chicago.
Coronato is at least starting to look like the player the organization signed to an extension this summer.
Blake Coleman, pictured celebrating a goal against the Vegas Golden Knights, has been one of the Flames’ most effective players on a nightly basis.
2. Blake Coleman, LW
Coleman may be 34 years old, but he continues to be one of the Flames’ most effective players on a nightly basis.
Despite frequently playing against the other team’s best players, Coleman’s expected goals for (XGF%) percentage has been north of 60 in November so far (think of this as a scoring chances for and against ratio), while his seven goals also lead the team.
Coleman will likely get a lot of interest if GM Craig Conroy decides to sell off some of the veterans by the trade deadline.
3. Brayden Pachal, D
Although he has spent some time in the press box this season, Pachal has been a stalwart for the club over the first two weeks of the month. His XGF% of 63.29% leads all Flames defenders in November, and he has even put up three points in eight games (tied with Rasmus Andersson among Flames defencemen over that period).
Pachal has also been tough to play against in the defensive zone and along the boards recently, which is usually his calling card. But if he can keep putting up excellent shot and scoring chance differentials on top of that (plus the odd point or two), he won’t be spending another night as a healthy scratch any time soon.
STRUGGLING RIGHT NOW
Connor Zary, C
This season has been a nightmare for Zary. Signed to a “show me” bridge deal by the club this off-season, Zary’s play has regressed. He scored in the first game of the season and hasn’t found the back of the net since.
Zary and Ryan Lomberg are the only two Flames skaters not to record a point so far this month. That’s not unexpected of Lomberg, but Zary was drafted as an offence-first center.
Since bouncing around the lineup in October, Zary has mostly spent time as a fourth-liner in November. His shot and chance differentials are the third worst on the club over that span, mirroring his abysmal offensive results.
None of the elusiveness or high-end puck distribution Zary flashed as a prospect or in the first two seasons of his career is evident right now. Zary and the coaching staff need to work together and find a way to get him back on track.
And it’s probably not going to happen skating eight minutes a night at the bottom of the rotation.
Nazem Kadri, C
Since scoring a goal in his 1,000th NHL game on Nov. 5, Kadri was held pointless in five straight contests.
Heading into Wednesday’s contest, he still led the Flames with 12 points in 21 games. But this team, with its lackluster offence, can’t afford to see Kadri’s offence disappear for long stretches like this.
The real question following him right now, though, is if (when) the team will offer him up for auction.
Yegor Sharangovich, C
Sharangovich is in the first year of a deal that pays $5.25 million for the next five seasons. Unfortunately for the organization, he has looked disengaged since the puck dropped, a problem that has worsened in November.
In the first half of this month, the Flames have been outscored at even strength six to three with Sharangovich on the ice, and his XGF% of 42.0% is the worst on the team. Unlike the other pure shooter on the club (Coronato), Sharangovich is barely getting any pucks on net. His six shots on goal this month were ahead of only Joel Hanley.
Sharangovich was a frequent healthy scratch for the New Jersey Devils despite his offensive talents. The Flames are starting to find out why.
MacKenzie Weegar’s underwhelming stat line is exacerbated by terrible luck.
HE’S PLAYING BETTER THAN IT SEEMS
MacKenzie Weegar, D
Weegar had just four assists in 21 games heading into Wednesday’s play, and a league-worst -16 rating to go with that underwhelming points total.
Some of his struggles are those of a frustrated leader and veteran trying to do too much to get the team out of the ditch.
But his stat line is also exacerbated by terrible luck. In the first half of November, the Flames outshot the opposition 83 to 53 with Weegar on the ice at even-strength. This expected goal ratio is a solid 54.3%. But Weegar has nevertheless been outscored six to two at five-on-five.
Weegar’s even-strength on-ice save percentage has been just 88.68% this month, about the rate you might expect short-handed, while Calgary has scored on just 2.4% of the shots taken with the defenceman skating.
At some point, those percentages are going to turn around.
Quinnipiac’s Ethan Wyttenbach is enjoying the best start to the season among Flames prospects.
PROSPECT SNAPSHOT
Ethan Wyttenbach, LW (6g-8a-14pt in 12 games)
Although he’s on the smaller side (5-foot-10, 185 pounds) and drafted in the fifth round, Wyttenbach is enjoying the best start to the season among Flames prospects. Just 18 years old and an NCAA freshman at Quinnipiac University, Wyttenbach leads his team in scoring and sits third in Eastern College Athletic Conference scoring.
Trevor Hoskins, C (4g-8a-12pt in 10 games)
Another mid-round pick making his mark in the NCAA is 21-year old Hoskins. He was an overage fourth-round pick by the Flames out of the relatively obscure Ontario Junior Hockey League, where he piled up 100 points in 52 games with Cobourg in 2023-24.
Hoskins has looked very comfortable in college hockey. He played with Niagara University last season before making the jump to Merrimack College of the Hockey East conference.
Like Wyttenbach, Hoskin leads his team in scoring, although as an older prospect, he has less room to grow and progress. Expect him to move on to pro hockey sooner rather than later.
Cole Reschny, C (2g-9a-11pts in 12 games)
Calgary’s first-round pick from the 2025 draft left the WHL to join the powerhouse University of North Dakota in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference. Teammates with (probable) future top-5 pick Keaton Verhoeff, the 18-year-old Reschny centers the top-line unit despite being the youngest forward on the team.
Reschny started the year out slowly but has begun to gain momentum in November with seven points in his last five contests.
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