How Big a Load Can Dustin Wolf Carry for the Flames?

Some teams have rosters where you look and immediately see where the strength is. With the Calgary Flames, that might be the goaltending. That's a pretty good thing to have. It's also a little concerning.

Dustin Wolf gets his first preseason start Tuesday against the Vancouver Canucks after Devin Cooley handled Calgary's preseason opener. And while preseason numbers don't mean much of anything yet, what happens with Wolf this season means quite a bit.

Wolf Has Already Shown He Can Keep Calgary in Games.

Wolf had a difficult 2025-26 season on paper. He went 23-29-3 with a 3.01 goals-against average and an .899 save percentage over 57 games. Those aren't numbers anybody is going to put on a poster. But they don't tell the whole story.

There were plenty of nights when Wolf kept the Flames in games they probably had no business still being in. That's part of what makes this season so interesting. If Calgary improves in front of him, Wolf's numbers should improve too. That's the hope, anyway.

And the Flames aren't starting from a bad place in goal. Cooley is a pretty good partner for him. If the two of them give Calgary dependable goaltending, the Flames have something they can build around. Actually, they may have their best asset.

But How Long Can Goaltending Carry a Team?

That's the question I keep coming back to. Good goaltending can hide a lot of problems. A goalie makes a big save, and suddenly a bad defensive shift doesn't matter. Another night, he steals a game that probably should have gone the other way. But eventually, the goalie needs some help.

The Flames can't expect Wolf and Cooley to spend six months cleaning up everybody else's mistakes. At some point, Calgary needs the players in front of them to step up. That's particularly true for Wolf.

He's 25 now. This isn't really about finding out whether he belongs in the NHL anymore. It's about seeing what he can do if the team in front of him gives him a little more support. Maybe that .899 save percentage becomes something considerably better. Maybe 23 wins become 30.

Can the Flames Give Their Goalies Some Help?

Maybe the Flames don't have to ask Wolf to be spectacular every night. That would be a pretty good development. The funny thing about having strong goaltending is that you can sometimes forget how much you're relying on it.

Calgary may have one of its better goalie situations in a while. Now the rest of the team has to make sure it doesn't waste it. Wolf doesn't need to carry the Flames all season. In fact, the real test may be whether Calgary can finally give him a reason not to.