Skaters | Grades | Explanation |
Forwards | | |
Mikael Backlund | B | His play fell off late in the season, but I'm trying not to hold it against him considering how the team fell apart. Still one of the better defensive players in the league, but his offense REALLY dried up towards the end of the season. |
Sam Bennett | D+ | Aside from his 10 game hot streak in December, he felt mostly invisible. He has talent, but it seems like he can only use it every once in awhile. I wish he would've been given a chance to play on the top line when Ferland was struggling. |
Troy Brouwer | D | He does a decent job on the PK, but he's too slow to be very useful at even strength now. |
Micheal Ferland | C+ | About what I expected from him this season. His massive cold streak at the end of the year brings his grade down, but he's an alright complimentary player for Monahan and Gaudreau. |
Michael Frolik | C- | Still a great defensive winger, but his offense was basically non-existent when he came back from injury. |
Johnny Gaudreau | A | Carried the offense for most of the year. I find that he tries to force passes a bit too often, but it's hard to complain about a guy who contributes so much to the team's scoring. |
Tanner Glass | D | Honestly a bit better than I expected, but still not a player worthy of the full-time lineup. |
Freddie Hamilton | F | I've always thought he was one of the slower players in the league. There's better players to be given the opportunity as our 13th forward. |
Garnet Hathaway | C | I thought he was deserving of a spot over Bouma last season. He's not a 3rd line player, but I think he'd be fine on the 4th line. |
Jaromir Jagr | D+ | He still has great puck protection skills, but he's so slow that he's not very effective overall. It was kinda funny how many times I saw him pat younger players on the back as they flew by him on the backcheck. Cool experience having him as a Flame. |
Mark Jankowski | C+ | He's shown that he has a good shot and decent hands. I hope he can continue to develop in a 3rd line role. |
Curtis Lazar | D | Skates fast, but that's about it. No offensive skillset; very replaceable. I was hopeful when we traded for him, but tbh I'd rather just have our 2nd round pick. |
Ryan Lomberg | D+ | He absolutely flies on the forecheck, but that's pretty much all I noticed about him. |
Andrew Mangiapane | C- | Kinda reminded me of a lesser-skilled Gaudreau that had no idea where to be on the ice. He's quick with good skills. Playing with Stajan and Lazar didn't help. |
Sean Monahan | A | I'm shocked at how little some Flames fans value Monahan. There's not many players in the league with his ability to score in tight. He's not flashy, but he gets the job done. I've always thought he was better defensively than alot of people give him credit for as well. |
Nick Shore | N/A | Didn't really watch him enough. |
Matt Stajan | D+ | His first half was pretty brutal, but he picked it up later on. I'm thinking this might've been his last season in the league. Great guy |
Chris Stewart | N/A | |
Matthew Tkachuk | A | He's been exceeding all expectations so far. Super strong down low/in front of the net. Great IQ and passing abilities. Super pest who's very good defensively already. He took his promotion to the top PP and ran with it; he's definitely the best Flame at tips/redirections. If he can quicken his shot release a bit, he could definitely be a much better goalscorer than expected, though I think his playmaking is even better. |
Kris Versteeg | C- | It feels like so long ago since I got to watch him play that it was difficult to pin down an exact grade for him. |
Defensemen | | |
Rasmus Andersson | C+ | I liked what I saw from him. Good skills. I hope he gets a shot at a full-time spot next season. |
Matt Bartkowski | D | Not very good. Fast though. He's as smooth as any player on the Flames rushing the puck through the neutral zone, it's just that he doesn't know how to play hockey on the other side of the blue lines. |
T.J. Brodie | D+ | I was hoping for a comeback season after his good play in the 2nd half of last season, but no such luck. Every once in awhile he has a good game, but for the most part it looks like he's lost defensively. His play along the boards has gone way downhill. |
Mark Giordano | A- | Still as solid as you could expect for a player of his age. He's a rock defensively and it's scary to think what the Flames defense would be like without him. Does anyone else feel like he looks faster this year than last? |
Dougie Hamilton | B+ | I was hoping for more, but he's steadily improving bit by bit. 2nd year in a row where he started off slow. He has a wicked shot and I honestly feel like his upside is Burns (though I'm not just expecting him to be that good). |
Travis Hamonic | C | Struggled early on, but was steady after a weak start. He's big and strong, and I think he has more to give offensively than he showed this year. |
Brett Kulak | C | I don't think I'm as high on him as most Flames fans. I don't see him as ever being more than an okay 3rd-pairing guy. Decent skater, but that's about all I can say about him. You don't notice him much, but that's actually probably a good thing for a 3rd-pairing defenseman. |
Michael Stone | C | He was mostly solid. He can throw some good hits every once in awhile. His play dropped off a bit towards the end of last season and I feel like he continued that level of play into this season. |
Goaltenders | | |
Jon Gillies | D+ | Even when he was making saves I always thought he looked shaky. Athletic, but at his current level of play I wouldn't be comfortable with him in the NHL. I watched his start against Colorado live at the Saddledome where he made 28 of 29 saves (the one goal he let in was a shot from MacKinnon from behind the blueline), and even though his stats were good, I thought his play was sketchy. |
David Rittich | C- | Started off really well, but really faltered late in the season. He seemed like one of the better backups the Flames have had in awhile early on, but now I'm not so sure. |
Mike Smith | A- | MVP for the first bit of the season. Much better than I was hoping for, and his puck skills are probably the best I've ever seen from a Flames goaltender. He's a more athletic goalie than you might expect for a guy his size. A bit questionable in goal after returning from injury, from so was the entire team. |