Calgary Flames: Five Players Who Exceeded Expectations
The Calgary Flames 2016-2017 season has been quite a whirlwind so far and we’re still only about a third way through it. Who are some players who have exceeded expectations this season?
The Calgary Flames season this year started off terribly. That isn’t even an exaggeration. When you lose 7-4 in your season opener and go 1-4-1 in your first six games, it’s hard not to be called terrible. But good news is that they’ve completely turned it around the last few weeks. They’ve gotten better in almost every aspect of the game.
Of course, like any team, many players struggled at the start of the season. But many were incredible right off the bat. And then there were some who had high expectations going into the season, and unfortunately, let many people down. However, those players have already turned their season around.
And then there are some players who weren’t expectant of much. Okay, that sounds mean. But there are some players who weren’t meant to be stars this season. They weren’t meant to basically steal the spotlight. But here they are, proving everybody wrong.
So who are the five players on the Flames who we here at Flame for Thought believe have exceeded expectations so far this season?
Keep reading to find out who made the list! Oh and disclaimer, if you’ve read any of our articles in the last few weeks, you probably have a good idea on who’s number 1.
Nov 16, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Arizona Coyotes goalie Mike Smith (41) guards his net as Calgary Flames right wing Alex Chiasson (39) tries to score during the third period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Calgary Flames won 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Ch-ch-ch-ch-chia
Let me start off by saying this isn’t me saying that Alex Chiasson has had an incredible, ground-breaking season and that he’s the Calgary Flames best player. However, based on what was expected from him from the Flames management when he was initially signed, he’s definitely gone above and beyond that.
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Compared to his last few seasons, he’s performing much better. During the off-season, he was traded to Calgary from the Ottawa Senators and the Flames signed him at $800,000 on a one year contract. He also is the lowest-paid Flame on a one-way contract.
Right now, he’s already on pace to beat the amount of points he had in his last two seasons with the Senators. Last season, he had just 14 points in 77 games. Right now, 29 games into the season and he’s at 11 points. He also has just one less power-play point (one) than he did last season (two). He’s also averaging roughly the same amount of TOI this season too, so we know it’s not because he’s getting a better opportunity.
When the Flames traded for him in the off-season, he was meant to be as a third or fourth line type guy. On the Flames “tough guy” line. Which he has been on for the most part, however when Kris Versteeg gets injured (which is a lot this season), he moves up to first line.
He was also projected at earning an average of 23.8 points this season. He’s just about halfway there and there’s still over 50 games left in the season.
Compared to his NHL career and this season, he has a CF% of over 50%. Whereas his average in his NHL career is below 50%. Comparing this season and last season, he had a CF% of 43.5% last season and this season it’s at 51.5%. Like I said, he was expected to be a bottom six guy. But lately, he’s been stepping up to a top six when the Flames needed him.
That’s why he made it into our top five.
Oct 14, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames right wing Michael Frolik (67) celebrates his goal with teammates against Edmonton Oilers during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Fro-yo
I’m a huge Froyo fan. Michael Frolik has been one of the most consistent players this season. Even if he’s not racking up a whole bunch of points (which he is) he still has a huge impact on this team. In the entire NHL, I can confidently say that he is one of the top five best two way players. Especially with his offensive stats this year too.
Right now, Fro has 15 points in 29 games. He’s projected at getting just under 41 points, but by the way the season’s going, I’m sure he’ll go above that. He’s one of the reasons the Calgary Flames penalty kill isn’t worse than it already is. Given that the Flames special teams have drastically improved over the last few weeks, but he’s one of the best penalty killers I’ve ever had the pleasure of watching.
Him along with his line-mate Mikael Backlund have some of the best stats among the forwards on the Flames. His CF% over the course of the last few seasons is always above 50%, including this season.
On the penalty kill, he’s leading the team in short-handed goals (two). He’s also tied for first in the league in that category. He’s second among Flames forwards for SH takeaways and leading Flames forwards in even strength takeaways.
Going into the season, he wasn’t meant to be leading for points. He was meant to help with secondary scoring and to kill off penalties. But he’s doing so much more and he has a huge impact on this team. He is in a bit of a scoring drought lately, but he’s still third on the team for points. Let’s just hope he can find the back of the net again and he can continue being one of the best Flame this season.
Dec 4, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames left wing Micheal Ferland (79) and Anaheim Ducks defenseman Kevin Bieksa (2) fight during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
Ferly
Like the other two players mentioned, Micheal Ferland is already on pace to beat his projected points. He currently has 10 points in 30 games, but he’s projected to earn 24 points this season. Similar to the situation with Chiasson, he also wasn’t meant to be getting a whole lot of points. He’s also meant on the “tough guy” line. Surprisingly, he’s been moving past that a little bit. He only has 15 PIM where last season, he had 45 PIM in 71 games.
We saw how much of an impact he had during the playoffs in the 2014-2015 season. This season, he seems to be a little more calm, but he’s still making an impact. And the Calgary Flames really do have him for a steal of a price, at being only the second lowest-paid Flame on a one-way contract.
Again, like Chiasson, this isn’t me saying that he’s the best player on the Flames. This is just that what was expectant of Micheal Ferland, he has definitely surpassed that and has proved to be a player that the Flames will want to keep.
Nov 18, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames left wing Matthew Tkachuk (19) collides with Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) at Scotiabank Saddledome. Blackhawks won 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Candice Ward-USA TODAY Sports
Tkachuky Cheese
How could we not have the kid who doesn’t know how to put a mouth guard in his mouth? I mean, just look at that picture. Any picture you take of him, there’s a 98% chance he’s chewing on his mouth guard.
Matthew Tkachuk has had a season to remember so far. First, he got the go-ahead that he would be staying up with the Calgary Flames for at least the first nine games. But his season didn’t start as well as he would have liked it to. Much like many of the other players on this team. Then he was a healthy scratch for two games in a row and didn’t know if he would be staying up after that ninth game. But, he got good news from the Flames coaching staff and man did he ever prove them right that they made the right decision.
He’s now tied for second on the team in goals with six of them and he has 12 points in 26 games, giving him 0.46 p/gp. Something notable about him though is, like his father Keith Tkachuk, how much he’s not afraid to get into scrums. When the season first started, people knew he would be getting into scrums. It was inevitable for him. But what we didn’t expect is for him to lead the team in PIM and get into some sort of fight/roughing penalty practically every single game.
But things like that tend to boost up the morale for the team. And lately, he’s been playing really well on the same line as Michael Frolik and Mikael Backlund (3M line). He also has two power play points and one game-winning goal.
He still has a lot to learn. Especially since he sometimes takes reckless penalties that can usually be avoided. But for now, he’s doing many things right and he’s not afraid to get under players’ skin.
Dec 4, 2016; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames goalie Chad Johnson (31) guards his net during the warmup period against the Anaheim Ducks at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports
The Chad
Like I mentioned earlier, if you’ve read any of our articles in the last few weeks, then you know he was going to be number one on this list. Chad Johnson has been absolutely incredible almost all season long. He had somewhat of a rough start, like any goaltender, but he picked up his game. I can confidently say he is one of the main reasons for the Calgary Flames season turning around lately. If they make playoffs (crossing my fingers), he is going to be a huge reason for that.
Last season when he played for the Buffalo Sabres, he played the highest amount of games he has ever played in a single NHL season. Generally, he would be more of a backup. When the Flames traded for Brian Elliott on draft day in June and later signed Chad Johnson to a one-year deal, fans and analysts alike were ecstatic. Elliott has one of the best records of goaltenders who have played at least 50 games a season since basically 2010. So safe to say that Elliott would be the primary starter and Johnson would be the backup.
Or so we thought.
After a rough start for Elliott as well, people weren’t worried. This is an incredible goaltender and he didn’t just have a fluke season for five consecutive seasons. That being said, he still hasn’t completely found his game. Not like Chad Johnson.
Johnson has surpassed all expectations. So much so that he is now ranked 27th on Yahoo’s Fantasy Hockey website. He is now also 69% owned and that percentage has gone up 12% just in the last day. He’s also now ranked fifth among all goaltenders on Yahoo Fantasy as well. An incredible feat for a goaltender who never really got the opportunity or was given the chance to be a starter.
Right now, he’s 12-4-1 and has a SV% of 0.932 and a GAA of 1.98. He had three shutouts in eight games, where his record for shutouts in a season is three. He is now on a five-game win streak and since his shutout on November 15th, he has the most wins out of all goaltenders (10), most amount of shutouts (3), and of goaltenders who have played at least five games since November 15th, he has the best save percentage (0.948) and the best GAA (1.57). He’s also perfect in December (like the Flames) being 4-0-0. I mean, he didn’t win a star of the month in November because the league is rigged (jokes), but he will always be the first star of my heart.
Dec 6, 2016; Dallas, TX, USA; Calgary Flames right wing Kris Versteeg (10) celebrates a power play goal against the Dallas Stars during the third period at the American Airlines Center. The Flames defeat the Stars 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
Kris Versteeg
I’m personally a huge fan of Kris Versteeg. Mainly because the Edmonton Oilers offered him a contract that he refused and came to Calgary for the same price. Of course, with Oilers being our rivals, how could you not love the guy?
The reason Kris Versteeg didn’t make it into the list and he’s left as an honorable mention is because injuries keep getting the best of this poor guy. First it was his groin that got him out of the lineup early November and would return November 23rd. Before the injury, he had just four points in 12 games. Then in his return, he set up the game-winner. Yay, the Calgary Flames get Kris Versteeg back, right?
Unfortunately, no. In that game, he got into a weird collision with teammate Troy Brouwer, but he remained the rest of the game. Even though he looked to be in a bit of pain. But then in practice the next day, he left early and the Flames later released it was due to an upper-body injury. He did (again) return to the lineup on November 27th. And he had a point in every game for five games. He had six points in those five games. Two of those assists came on the PP and he also scored in a shootout in the game against the Minnesota Wild on December 2nd where the Flames won 3-2.
He now has 11 points in 19 games, but a more impressive feat is he’s +8 for his +/- which is tied for the highest on the team. On the season, he has four goals on 25 shots which gives him a 16.0% shooting percentage which is the highest on the team. Just in December alone, it’s at 25.0%.
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But again, because it’s Versteeg and the Flames can never have nice things, he’s injured again and has been out of the lineup for one game so far.
But the fact that the Flames managed to scoop up Versteeg for a very good price ($925,000) and that he’s been an extremely dependable winger, how could he not make this list? I mean, technically he didn’t, BUT that’s only because of injuries. Let’s just hope he can stay healthy when he returns to the lineup yet again.
So there you have it folks. Some players who have exceeded expectations and have some sort of impact on this team who is climbing up the standings. Let’s just hope they continue to perform to the best of their abilities and continue to surpass expectations.
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