2020–21 Calgary Flames season

The 2020–21 Calgary Flames season was the Flames' 41st season in Calgary, and the 49th season for the Flames' National Hockey League franchise that was established on June 6, 1972. The Flames attempted unsuccessfully to make the playoffs for a third straight year after getting eliminated in the First Round of the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs by the Dallas Stars.

2020–21 Calgary Flames
Division	5th North
2020–21 record	26–27–3
Home record	15–12–1
Road record	11–15–2
Goals for	156
Goals against	161
Team information
General manager	Brad Treliving
Coach	Geoff Ward (Jan. 14 – Mar. 4) Darryl Sutter (Mar. 4 – May 19)
Captain	Mark Giordano
Alternate captains	Mikael Backlund Sean Monahan Matthew Tkachuk
Arena	Scotiabank Saddledome
Minor league affiliate(s)	Stockton Heat (AHL) Kansas City Mavericks (ECHL)
Team leaders
Goals	Johnny Gaudreau Elias Lindholm (19)
Assists	Johnny Gaudreau (30)
Points	Johnny Gaudreau (49)
Penalty minutes	Matthew Tkachuk (55)
Plus/minus	Christopher Tanev ( 15)
Wins	Jacob Markstrom (22)
Goals against average	Jacob Markstrom (2.68)

Due to the Canada–United States border restrictions brought in as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Flames were re-aligned with the other six Canadian franchises into the newly formed North Division. The league's 56-game regular season was played entirely within the new divisions, meaning that Calgary and the other Canadian teams played an all-Canadian schedule for the 2020–21 regular season as well as the first two rounds of the 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Flames were eliminated from playoff contention on May 10 after the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4–3 in overtime.

Standings

Divisional standings

North Division

Pos	Team	GP	W	L	OTL	RW	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	y – Toronto Maple Leafs	56	35	14	7	29	187	148	39	77
2	x – Edmonton Oilers	56	35	19	2	31	183	154	29	72
3	x – Winnipeg Jets	56	30	23	3	24	170	154	16	63
4	x – Montreal Canadiens	56	24	21	11	20	159	168	−9	59
5	e – Calgary Flames	56	26	27	3	22	156	161	−5	55
6	e – Ottawa Senators	56	23	28	5	18	157	190	−33	51
7	e – Vancouver Canucks	56	23	29	4	17	151	188	−37	50

Source: National Hockey League
Rules for classification: 1) Fewer number of games played (GP, only during regular season); 2) Greater number of regulation wins (RW); 3) Greater number of wins in regulation and overtime, excluding shootout wins (ROW); 4) Greater number of total wins, including shootouts (W); 5) Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded; 6) Greater goal differential (GD); 7) Greater number of goals scored (GF)
e – Eliminated from playoff contention; x – Clinched playoff spot; y – Clinched division

Schedule and results

Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.

2020–21 game log
January: 3–3–1 (Home: 2–2–0; Road: 1–1–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 1 January 14 Calgary 3–4 Winnipeg OT Markstrom 0 0–0–1 1 2 January 16 Vancouver 0–3 Calgary Markstrom 0 1–0–1 3 3 January 18 Vancouver 2–5 Calgary Markstrom 0 2–0–1 5 4 January 24 Toronto 3–2 Calgary Markstrom 0 2–1–1 5 5 January 26 Toronto 4–3 Calgary Markstrom 0 2–2–1 5 6 January 28 Calgary 2–4 Montreal Rittich 0 2–3–1 5 7 January 30 Calgary 2–0 Montreal Markstrom 0 3–3–1 7
February: 7–7–1 (Home: 2–2–0; Road: 5–5–1) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 8 February 1 Calgary 4–3 Winnipeg SO Markstrom 0 4–3–1 9 9 February 2 Calgary 2–3 Winnipeg Rittich 0 4–4–1 9 10 February 4 Calgary 1–4 Winnipeg Markstrom 0 4–5–1 9 11 February 6 Edmonton 4–6 Calgary Markstrom 0 5–5–1 11 12 February 9 Winnipeg 2–3 Calgary Markstrom 0 6–5–1 13 13 February 11 Calgary 3–1 Vancouver Markstrom 0 7–5–1 15 14 February 13 Calgary 1–3 Vancouver Markstrom 0 7–6–1 15 15 February 15 Calgary 4–3 Vancouver OT Markstrom 0 8–6–1 17 16 February 17 Vancouver 5–1 Calgary Markstrom 0 8–7–1 17 17 February 19 Edmonton 2–1 Calgary Rittich 0 8–8–1 17 18 February 20 Calgary 1–7 Edmonton Markstrom 0 8–9–1 17 19 February 22 Calgary 3–0 Toronto Rittich 0 9–9–1 19 20 February 24 Calgary 1–2 Toronto OT Rittich 0 9–9–2 20 21 February 25 Calgary 1–6 Ottawa Rittich 0 9–10–2 20 22 February 27 Calgary 6–3 Ottawa Rittich 0 10–10–2 22
March: 6–8–1 (Home: 5–3–1; Road: 1–5–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 23 March 1 Calgary 1–5 Ottawa Rittich 0 10–11–2 22 24 March 4 Ottawa 3–7 Calgary Rittich 0 11–11–2 24 25 March 6 Calgary 2–3 Edmonton Markstrom 0 11–12–2 24 26 March 7 Ottawa 4–3 Calgary SO Markstrom 0 11–12–3 25 27 March 11 Montreal 1–2 Calgary Markstrom 0 12–12–3 27 28 March 13 Montreal 1–3 Calgary Markstrom 0 13–12–3 29 29 March 15 Edmonton 3–4 Calgary Markstrom 0 14–12–3 31 30 March 17 Edmonton 7–3 Calgary Markstrom 0 14–13–3 31 31 March 19 Calgary 4–3 Toronto Markstrom 0 15–13–3 33 32 March 20 Calgary 0–2 Toronto Rittich 0 15–14–3 33 33 March 22 Calgary 1–2 Ottawa Markstrom 0 15–15–3 33 34 March 24 Calgary 1–3 Ottawa Markstrom 0 15–16–3 33 35 March 26 Winnipeg 3–2 Calgary Markstrom 0 15–17–3 33 36 March 27 Winnipeg 2–4 Calgary Rittich 0 16–17–3 35 37 March 29 Winnipeg 5–1 Calgary Markstrom 0 16–18–3 35 — March 31 Calgary Vancouver Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 16.
April: 6–6–0 (Home: 3–4–0; Road: 3–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 38 April 2 Calgary 2–3 Edmonton Markstrom 0 16–19–3 35 39 April 4 Toronto 4–2 Calgary Rittich 0 16–20–3 35 40 April 5 Toronto 5–3 Calgary Markstrom 0 16–21–3 35 — April 8 Vancouver Calgary Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 19. — April 10 Vancouver Calgary Postponed due to COVID-19. Rescheduled for May 13. 41 April 10 Edmonton 0–5 Calgary Markstrom 0 17–21–3 37 42 April 13 Calgary 3–2 Toronto OT Markstrom 0 18–21–3 39 43 April 14 Calgary 4–1 Montreal Markstrom 0 19–21–3 41 44 April 16 Calgary 1–2 Montreal Markstrom 0 19–22–3 41 45 April 19 Ottawa 4–2 Calgary Markstrom 0 19–23–3 41 46 April 23 Montreal 2–4 Calgary Markstrom 0 20–23–3 43 47 April 24 Montreal 2–5 Calgary Markstrom 0 21–23–3 45 48 April 26 Montreal 2–1 Calgary Markstrom 0 21–24–3 45 49 April 29 Calgary 3–1 Edmonton Markstrom 0 22–24–3 47
May: 4–3–0 (Home: 3–1–0; Road: 1–2–0) # Date Visitor Score Home OT Decision Attendance Record Pts Recap 50 May 1 Calgary 1–4 Edmonton Markstrom 0 22–25–3 47 51 May 5 Winnipeg 4–0 Calgary Markstrom 0 22–26–3 47 52 May 9 Ottawa 1–6 Calgary Markstrom 0 23–26–3 49 53 May 13 Vancouver 1–4 Calgary Markstrom 0 24–26–3 51 54 May 16 Calgary 6–5 Vancouver OT Markstrom 0 25–26–3 53 55 May 18 Calgary 2–4 Vancouver Domingue 0 25–27–3 53 56 May 19 Vancouver 2–6 Calgary Markstrom 0 26–27–3 55
Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)

Player statistics

Skaters

Regular season

Player	GP	G	A	Pts	/−	PIM
Johnny Gaudreau	56	19	30	49	2	6
Elias Lindholm	56	19	28	47	10	22
Matthew Tkachuk	56	16	27	43	6	55
Andrew Mangiapane	56	18	14	32	1	24
Mikael Backlund	54	9	23	32	−7	30
Sean Monahan	50	10	18	28	−6	10
Mark Giordano	56	9	17	26	5	14
Milan Lucic	56	10	13	23	−8	46
Dillon Dube	51	11	11	22	−1	20
Rasmus Andersson	56	5	16	21	−9	34
Noah Hanifin	47	4	11	15	−2	18
Derek Ryan	43	2	11	13	6	16
Sam Bennett	38	4	8	12	−14	19
Christopher Tanev	56	2	10	12	15	6
Juuso Valimaki	49	2	9	11	−2	26
Josh Leivo	38	6	3	9	−3	10
Brett Ritchie	32	4	4	8	−5	24
Joakim Nordstrom	44	1	6	7	1	6
Michael Stone	21	2	2	4	−1	6
Nikita Nesterov	38	0	4	4	−10	20
Connor Mackey	6	1	2	3	3	20
Byron Froese	6	1	0	1	1	2
Oliver Kylington	8	0	1	1	−1	0
Glenn Gawdin	7	0	1	1	−1	0
Adam Ruzicka	3	0	1	1	2	4
Dominik Simon	11	0	0	0	0	0
Buddy Robinson	9	0	0	0	0	0
Zac Rinaldo	4	0	0	0	−1	5
Matthew Phillips	1	0	0	0	0	0

Goaltenders

Regular season

Player	GP	GS	TOI	W	L	OT	GA	GAA	SA	SV%	SO	G	A	PIM
Jacob Markstrom	43	43	2,487:56	22	19	2	111	2.68	1,161	.904	3	0	0	2
David Rittich‡	15	12	745:05	4	7	1	36	2.90	374	.904	1	0	0	0
Artyom Zagidulin	1	0	28:13	0	0	0	2	4.25	11	.818	0	0	0	0
Louis Domingue	1	1	57:42	0	1	0	3	3.12	23	.870	0	0	0	0

^†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Flames. Stats reflect time with the Flames only.
^‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Flames only.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record.

Draft picks

See also: List of Calgary Flames draft picks

Below are the Calgary Flames' selections at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020 at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The draft was held October 6–7, 2020 virtually via Video conference call from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Round	#	Player	Pos	Nationality	College/Junior/Club team (League)
1	24	Connor Zary	C	Canada	Kamloops Blazers (WHL)
2	50	Yan Kuznetsov	D	Russia	UConn (H-East)
3	72	Jeremie Poirier	D	Canada	Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)
4	96	Daniil Chechelev	G	Russia	Russkiye Vitazi Chekhov (MHL)
5	143	Ryan Francis	RW	Canada	Cape Breton Eagles (QMJHL)
6	174	Rory Kerins	C	Canada	Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds (OHL)
7	205	Ilya Solovyov	D	Belarus	Dinamo Minsk (KHL)

Further reading

• Calgary Flames 2021 Media Guide. Calgary Flames. 2020.