SportsHockeyFlames

Calgary Flames are having a historically bad season in several categories

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
|
Nov 13 2025, 8:59 pm
Calgary Flames are having a historically bad season in several categories
Sergei Belski/Imagn Images

Despite it only being mid-November, the Calgary Flames’ playoff hopes have nearly vanished completely.

Through their first 18 games, the Flames have an NHL-worst record of 4-12-2 for just 10 points. That’s four points back of the Nashville Predators, who are 31st.

The Flames’ .278 points percentage is by far and away the worst in franchise history. To find the second lowest, you have to go all the way back to the 1997-98 season, where they ended with a points percentage of .409.

A big part of the Flames’ struggles this season has been a lack of goal scoring. They are averaging an astonishingly bad 2.06 goals per game. That is nearly half a goal less than the Seattle Kraken, who are 31st in the NHL with an average of 2.50 goals per game.

The worst goals-per-game pace the Flames ever finished a season with was 2.27 back in 2002-03, where they finished with a record of 29-36-13-4. Jarome Iginla led that Flames team in scoring with 67 points. Craig Conroy was second with 59.

Through 18 games, Nazem Kadri is the only player on this Flames team to have double-digit points with 11. He’s on pace for just 50.

The lowest leading scorer on a team in 2024-25 was Troy Terry of the Anaheim Ducks. He finished with 55, while his teammate, Mason McTavish, had 52.

The last NHL team to finish the season with their leading scorer having 50 or fewer points came back in 2022-23, where Max Domi had 49 points with the Chicago Blackhawks. Keep in mind, he wound up being traded after 60 games to the Dallas Stars. Patrick Kane was second on that Blackhawks team with 45 points, and also wound up being moved at the trade deadline to the New York Rangers.

blackhawks-leading-scorers

NHL.com

A big issue for the Flames when it comes to scoring is that they can’t score on the power play. They’ve done a good job generating power play opportunities with an average of 3.39 per game, but have scored on just 11.1 per cent of their chances.

The worst power play in the NHL in 2024-25 belonged to the Ducks, who converted on just 11.8 per cent of their opportunities.

We haven’t seen a power play as foul as the Flames since the 56-game 2020-21 season, where, yet again, the Ducks were dead last at a dreadful 8.9 per cent.

To no real surprise, given all their mentioned struggles, the Flames are on pace to finish the 2025-26 season with just 46 points. Their lowest franchise total to date over a full 82-game schedule came back in the aforementioned ’97’-98 season, where they finished with 67.

The silver lining in all of this is that should the Flames continue on this path, they will have a shot at selecting first overall at the 2026 draft. The Flames are the only NHL team aside from the Vegas Golden Knights to have never picked top three in a draft. Their highest pick came back in 2014, when they selected Sam Bennett fourth overall.

Getting the first-overall pick would allow the Flames to select Gavin McKenna, a forward who is being dubbed by some as a generational talent.

Landing McKenna, or perhaps another top prospect at next year’s draft, could go a long way in helping the Flames steer their franchise in the right direction.

ADVERTISEMENT