The Calgary Flames are heading into the 2024-25 NHL season with uncertainty surrounding one of the most crucial positions — goaltender. After trading Jacob Markstrom to the New Jersey Devils, they now have a trio of Dustin Wolf, Dan Vladar, and Devin Cooley vying for the starting role.
In the words of general manager Craig Conroy, he admits that the goaltending position is an “unknown” for his team, via TSN.
“I want to see where the goaltending goes,” Conroy said. “That’s a little bit unknown. But I can’t worry about it. Talking to the guys, they all believe, ‘This is an unbelievable opportunity for me, and I’m going to grab the reins and run with it.’ That’s what I want, someone to do that. All three guys feel very comfortable they’re going to be that person.”
Dan Vladar, who has been the Flames’ backup behind Jacob Markstrom for the past few seasons, is set to become a free agent after this year. His 2023-24 performance was underwhelming, as he posted an 8-9-2 record with a .882 save percentage and a 3.62 goals-against average.
Meanwhile, Wolf didn’t fare much better, going 7-7-1 along with a .893 save percentage, and a 3.16 goals-against average. For Cooley, who is joining the Flames after starting his career with the basement-dwelling San Jose Sharks, he went 2-3-1 with a .870 save percentage and a 4.98 goals-against average in 2023-24.
The Flames should swing a deal for Anaheim’s John Gibson
Gibson, who has seen his name emerge in trade rumors the last handful of years, was taken by the Ducks with the 39th overall selection in the 2011 NHL Draft and has played his entire career for a squad that hasn’t qualified for the postseason since 2018. Meanwhile, 24-year-old Lukáš Dostál appears poised to take the starter’s reigns in the Anaheim crease.
Gibson is under contract for three more seasons with a $6.4 million cap hit, a figure the Flames can easily absorb with their remaining $19.98 million in cap space. At age 30, he has several more years of competitive hockey in him and is only a year removed from an alleged trade request, something that his agent later refuted.
A tandem of Gibson and Vladar/Wolf would allow Flames to feel much better about their goaltending heading into the season, while it would also give Gibson a needed change of scenery and a chance to re-establish himself as one of the game’s better players at the position.
The Ducks already boast a deep pool of goaltending talent, including Oscar Dansk, Tomas Suchanek, Calle Clang, and Vyacheslav Buteyets. Moving Gibson would not only give Dostál more opportunities to build on the promise he showed last season but also allow one of these prospects to gain experience by competing for the backup role.
Gibson has amassed a career record of 193-206-61 with a 2.90 goals-against-average and a .910 save percentage with 24 shutouts.
Can the Flames expect to compete with their current goaltending?
If the Flames elect to stand pat when it comes to goaltending, throwing Vladar and Wolf into the flames (no pun intended) of competing for the starters role that neither of them has experienced could spell another year outside of the postseason. In the meantime, Flames head coach Ryan Huska expressed his excitement at seeing the three-way competition unfold in exhibition play.
“I love it,” Huska added of the goalie competition ahead of Sunday’s game, per TSN. “You can talk about any player at the end of the year or if you’re having conversations with them during the year, often times you hear, ‘if I had a little bit more opportunity’ or ‘if I had a little bit more ice time I know I can show you I can do the job,’ and that’s a common theme for every player because they all want a little bit more. But in the net now, that’s what our guys have, is opportunity.
“It’s up to one of them to really step up and grab that job. I guess I’m excited to see who rises. I hope they all do. That’d be great for us. But we know we have good goalies, and we know they’re going to give us good games and the competition between all of them are going to be really good.”
After a 6-3 win over their provincial rival Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Monday night, the Flames will head even further west to take on the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.
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