Flames' Dustin Wolf Has 'Chip on his Shoulder' Entering 2025-26

Calgary Flames goaltender Dustin Wolf is fully aware he's still very young and inexperienced, but that doesn't mean the expectations are low, as he's expected a huge year from himself, one he enters with a serious chip on his shoulder.

Wolf, 24, posted a 29-16-8 record last season, with a 2.64 goals against average and .910 save percentage. Wolf caught up with NHL.com's Derek Van Diest and opened up about his vision for the future. 

“For me, last year is last year; you can’t replicate the same thing,” Wolf said at the Canyon Meadows Gold and Country Club on Saturday during the Rogers Legends of Hockey event. “Your objective is to come to the next season, have a good summer and be better. I think the term I like to use right now is, ‘not to be complacent.’ I’m still super young, trying to learn my way around the League.

“I have one full year under my belt, but that means absolutely nothing. I want to come in here with a chip on my shoulder. We have a lot to prove as a team.” The former seventh-round pick from 2019 has found his own in Calgary, and is now the goaltender of the now, and the future. He's proven himself numerous times at the AHL level, winning the league MVP back in 2023, and after his first full season with the Flames, Wolf has shown the rest of the league he belongs. Now he must sustain the results. 

“I think there’s less time for error (in the NHL); the guys are crisp with the puck on and off their stick, they’re good at the netfront,” Wolf said. “Not to mention the lifestyle changes. You’re flying to every city, going coast-to-coast, playing every other night, so it’s just managing that, learning how your body wants to handle it and how you can be the best version of yourself each and every night. It’s a learning process, but I think if you can go out there and help your team win every night, that’s all you can ask for.”

The Flames are an interesting team to follow heading into next season as they've added a serious amount of youth to their lineup, but the task at hand is still making the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which admittedly, could be a tall task for how their roster is currently constructed. If the Flames wind up in the NHL's second season, Wolf will have a lot to do with it.

Photo credit:  Sergei Belski-Imagn Images