How can Dustin Wolf get out of his sophomore slump?
The Calgary Flames have stumbled out of the gates so far this season, failing to build upon last year’s surprising run to a 41-27-14 record that saw them rack up 96 points and just barely miss out on a stacked playoff field in the Western Conference.
Those results were an over performance of the quality of the roster powered largely by the outstanding play of rookie goaltender Dustin Wolf, who went 29-16-8 with a .910 save percentage and a 2.64 goals against average. The Flames saw enough to commit to Wolf as their franchise goaltender, working out a seven-year, $52.5 million contract extension.
To this point in the new season, the Flames are 1-6-0 with Wolf posting a .867 SV% across his six appearances. While he was solid Monday night in a tight 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets, Wolf has not been able to match his form from last year in the early going.
On Tuesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed Wolf’s cold start and what he can do to try to get back on track.
Tyler Yaremchuk: The Calgary Flames continued their early season struggles. It is a 2-1 loss to the Winnipeg Jets where Dustin Wolf was very good, however Connor Hellebuyck was a little bit better, and that Flames offense once again couldn’t find the back of the net. They’re seven games in, 1.6 goals per game.
Carter Hutton: You look at Dustin Wolf’s start last year, he came in on an absolute heater. He was 8-3 to start the season; he’s 1-5 right now, and he was the MVP of this team. This was a team that gave up a lot of chances… I think at some point you have to start platooning Devon Cooley out there a little bit more… give Dustin Wolf a chance to get his feet underneath him again. It’s not like it’s his fault, he played very well last night. I think [he] just needs to be protected in his sophomore year. I reflect on my career and I start thinking about what gave me sustainability, it was when the emotional part of my game went away… I think for Dustin Wolf, that’s what he’s going to graduate to.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…