Wolf pushing for spot in Flames' crease this season

CALGARY --Dustin Wolf is hoping to make life hard on Calgary Flames management this fall.

The 22-year-old, who won his second straight Baz Bastien Memorial Award as American Hockey League goalie of the year last season, wants to force his way onto the Flames roster despite a crowded crease that already features Jacob Markstrom and Dan Vladar.

"You're fighting for a job," said Wolf, selected by the Flames in the seventh round (No. 214) of the 2019 NHL Draft. "That's what makes it fun and that's what you enjoy. "You want to push yourself to be better and be better than the guy next to you.

"I don't know for sure what's going on (regarding the Calgary roster), but come the middle of September, you want to make sure you'll be putting yourself in a good position to succeed and if you do get that chance, that you do make the most of it and do everything you can to make sure they made the right decision."

Wolf (6-foot, 166 pounds) is coming off two strong seasons with Stockton and Calgary of the AHL; he's 75-19-6 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .928 save percentage in 102 games in that span.

His development curve, which also features consecutive Del Wilson Trophy wins as the top goalie in the Western Hockey League with Everett in 2020 and 2021, has Flames director of goaltending Jordan Sigalet believing he is ready for a larger role in the NHL.

It just might be tough to find space on the roster for him.

"To me he's ready to play in the NHL, but I also don't think he can't play too much in the American Hockey League," said Sigalet, who watched Wolf stop 23 of 24 shots in his NHL debut, a 3-1 win against the San Jose Sharks in Calgary's regular-season finale on April 12. "It's a good situation to have to have three really good goalies and three guys who can play.

"What else does he have to prove, right? He's just such a dialed-in, focused, mature kid for his age. Ever since he slipped to the seventh round he has a fire lit under him and he wants to prove everyone wrong and he's continued to do it. [He] did it the first year and everyone probably thought, 'Oh, it's just a fluke, he's not going to do it again,' and then he wins even more awards (the second year). Just a real impressive goalie."

Wolf led the AHL in wins (42), GAA (2.09), save percentage (.932) and shutouts (seven) last season, and was named the Les Cunningham Award winner as the league's MVP in addition to his honor as top goalie.

Markstrom, who was the runner-up to New York Rangers goalie Igor Sheshterkin for the Vezina Trophy in 2021-22, was 23-21-12 with a 2.92 GAA, .892 save percentage and one shutout in 59 games (58 starts) with the Flames last season.

Vladar, Markstrom's backup, was 14-6-5 with a 2.91 GAA and .895 save percentage in 27 games (23 starts).

"The one thing is with Dustin is he's such a focused individual," Calgary general manager Craig Conroy said during Flames development camp last month. "He's not worried about where he plays. He just wants to play. There's not that stress of 'He's got to be in the NHL right when camp starts.' He just knows 'I want to play games' and that's the big thing. As you move closer you never know. We'll work through that at our own pace. There's no hurry to do anything."

Still, Wolf understands it'll be his job to force Conroy and Calgary's management group into a tough choice in training camp.

"They know that I'm trying to push the barrier and make things hard on them to make decisions," Wolf said. "That's just been their message -- no matter what happens, if you start up or start down (in the minors) next season that you just keep doing what you're doing and your opportunity is going to come.

"Obviously you hope your opportunity comes sooner rather than later, and just try to keep pushing to make it hard on them."