In year two of a rebuild, the Calgary Flames have a slew of promising young forwards. However, they’ve struggled to create the offence the Flames have needed all season. Now, heading into the most important stretch of the season, they seem to be hitting a low point.
Homegrown Forwards Slumping
Heading into the 2024-2025 season Calgary had a few key young forwards they were hoping would become major contributors. However, all 3 of them have struggled at different points this season, and now with every game becoming more important, they need each of them to step up.
Connor Zary
Connor Zary had a breakout season last year. The Flames first-round draft pick from 2020 unexpectedly burst onto the scene. Following an early season recall, Zary carved out a full-time role playing in 63 games and scoring 34 points. To start the season, Zary continued his success, proving he had the makings of a full-time NHL player. Zary has the ability to create offence on his own with his high skill, as made evident by his opening night overtime winner. He’s on pace to finish with a half-point per game which isn’t bad for a second year forward. Unfortunately, Zary suffered a knee injury that saw him miss 15 games. Since returning from injury, Zary has been held without a single point. The Flames will need the young forward to find his game quickly if they are going to turn their offence around.
Martin Pospisil
Pospisil had a nearly identical breakout season to Zary. He made the Flames out of nowhere and suited up for 63 games scoring 24 points. Pospisil played the majority of the season alongside Zary and veteran Nazem Kadri in a top-nine role. Coming into this season, the Flames had high hopes for Pospisil. He started the season centering a line with Jonathan Huberdeau in the top-nine. Unfortunately, the experiment at centre didn’t go too well. Then, after moving to the wing Pospisil still struggled to be as impactful as he was last season. Now, he finds himself on the Flames fourth line. It appears this could be the right slotting for Pospisil, at least this season. He’s had a couple of good games on the fourth line, and if he can continue to be effective in this role, he could salvage what’s been a largely disappointing season to this point.
Young Forward Acquisitions Struggling To Contribute
On January 30th, the Flames made a major trade. The team sent former first-round draft pick Jakob Pelletier and Andrei Kuzmenko to Philadelphia in exchange for former first-round draft picks Morgan Frost and Joel Farabee. At the time, the trade seemed like a huge win for Calgary. They addressed two areas of concern, centre depth and scoring. However, to this point, neither Frost nor Farabee have contributed as much as Calgary would have liked.
Morgan Frost
The 25-year-old centre was the key target for Calgary in the massive trade. He addressed a few areas of need for Calgary. Mainly adding centre depth to a team that only had two true NHL centres on the roster in Nazem Kadri and Mikael Backlund. The addition of Frost adds a legitimate centre, one who is also more in line with the age range of the Flames new core. Frost hasn’t quite developed offensively the way his round status would indicate. The Flames are banking on him reaching his full potential after acquiring him from the Flyers. However, through his first 9 games, Frost has managed just 3 points despite being on the first power play unit. It may be understandable that Frost is struggling as he looks to find chemistry with his new team. Unfortunately for Calgary, if Frost doesn’t start contributing soon their playoff hopes could be over.
Joel Farabee
Similarly to Frost, Farabee comes to Calgary in his mid-twenties as a former first-rounder. The Flyers invested in Farabee after he showed his scoring touch early in his career. However this season he struggled in Philly. He fell out of favour with head coach John Tortorella and the Flyers preferred to move off of him and his $5 million per year cap hit. The move to Calgary was supposed to be a fresh start for Farabee. Unfortunately, despite the change of scenery he hasn’t been able to find his scoring touch. Farabee has recorded just 1 point in his first 9 games in Calgary. After starting his time in Calgary on the top line with veterans Huberdeau and Kadri, the Flames are trying him with a familiar face in Frost in hopes that it gets him on track.
Flames Running Out Of Time
Most of the forwards in this article have valid excuses for not being as productive as the Flames’ have hoped. However, with just 23 games left in the season, the Flames need them to start producing. Calgary currently only has one line providing any offence. The combination of leading scorers Huberdeau andKadri, alongside the Flames best young offensive forward right now, Matthew Coronato. If Calgary has any chance of making the playoffs they’ll need a big-time lift in secondary scoring, which means they need their young core to step up in a big way.
Main Photo: Sergei Belski- Imagn Images
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