Since taking over as interim head coach, Geoff Ward’s Flames have soared.



Riding a six-game win streak, the Johnny Gaudreau trade discussion has subsided and the talk has turned to the team’s chances of getting back into playoff contention in the Western Conference. Calgary now sits third in the Pacific Division with 38 points in 33 games and can focus on improving their playoff seeding.



Even more encouraging, perhaps, is the (positive) regression that has dragged the team’s shooting percentage back towards league average. Two weeks ago, the Flames owned the NHL’s worst shooting percentage at 5v5. Now, the team is on the move as their shooting normalizes.



And, best of all, the team is returning to full-strength in the midst of this surge. As Darren Haynes wrote recently, Ward’s Flames have the enviable problem of looking for homes for all of their forwards as Sam Bennett and Austin Czarnik become available for the forward...