The Calgary Flames are in the middle of a solid season. At the moment, they are fourth in the Pacific Division, with 55 points, defending themselves from the assaults of the Vancouver Canucks, who chase them at 54. T
Elias Lindholm #28 of the Calgary Flames celebrate his goal with his teammates.
he Flames are closer to the fifth position than to the third. There is still a lot of hockey to be played in the National Hockey League, of course, and Calgary has slim chances to make the playoffs. That doesn’t mean they won’t try to get there, though, especially because they can count on some good players: Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Matt Coronato and, naturally, the goalie Dustin Wolf, the very same protagonist of our Wolf Watch. There is a lot of enthusiasm around this team.
The Wolf was born in Gilroy and his mother worked in Morgan Hill for many years, so he is something of a local superstar for the residents. Californian hockey fans sympathize with the Flames because of their goaltender. Of course, qualification for the playoffs doesn’t seem to be so obvious and the team must give its all in the upcoming games, hoping to be among the top three in their division or, at least, snatch a Wild Card qualification. Whoever wants to bet on the Flames’ chances to compete for the Stanley Cup can take advantage of bonuses and perks offered to online users. The bettor must simply surf the web and check out the list of bonus bets on Oddschecker, one of the most trusted comparators in the market, to find news, statistics and betting chances on hockey and other sports. By visiting the platform one can read all the latest news on the NHL in order to ponder his or her possible bet.
A great season for Dustin Wolf
The season so far has been certainly positive for the goalie. He managed to keep his team afloat and is now sixth in NHL Save Percentage and 10th in Goals Against Average. These are pretty good numbers. Wolf’s stats put him on The Athletic’s list of the 5 top competitors for the Calder Trophy, the award for the best rookie in the National Hockey league.
The Flames weren’t among the favourites for the playoffs at the beginning of the season but they showed they can be better than anticipated. Nobody beats the Winnipeg Jets, the best team in the league, by chance and the Flames did just that, a few days ago (as told in another episode of our very own Wolf Watch), in order to cement their chances for a Wild Card spot. What matters now is staying focused and avoiding injuries. The season is still long because the Flames will play at least until mid-April, but hopefully longer. In February, Calgary will play a lot of matches in the Scotiabank Saddledome, their home venue, and this seems like a fine chance to put together heavy points, especially if Dustin Wolf can keep playing so smoothly.
This could be a year to remember for the goalie
Obviously, in team sports a player’s season is successful whenever his team does well and obtains good results. In order to achieve individual accolades one must contribute to the collective success and help the franchise win the majority of its games. This will be the case also for Dustin Wolf. Probably the Calder Trophy will go to someone who plays in a winning team. Best rookie or not, Wolf can impose himself as one of the better young goalies in the league, if not the best.
The 23-years-old is already showing good presence in front of the goal line and has been clutch several times in this season. He is confident and shows a lot of talent, easy to point out even in a team that is exceeding expectations at this point of the season. Playoffs or not, Wolf is probably going to remember this season as the one in which his career took flight.
You must be logged in to post a comment.