One-time All-Star goalie suffers fractured finger

Calgary Flames starting netminder Jacob Markström is out week-to-week with a fractured finger, the team announced. The injury won’t require surgery, and Calgary has recalled Dustin Wolf from its AHL affiliate.

Markstrom, 33, last played in a loss to the Vancouver Canucks on December 2. He’s played in a total of 16 games this season and has an .896 save percentage. That’s only a slight improvement off of last season’s form, as he posted an .892 in 59 games in 2022-23.

The year before, Markstrom was an elite goalie, posting a .922 save percentage in 63 games, a performance that made him the Vezina Trophy runner-up. When he plays at that level, the Flames appear to be a genuine Stanley Cup contender, but as he’s struggled to match that form in recent years the team’s overall trajectory has fallen.

Now Markstrom faces a setback in returning to his elite form in 2023-24, though he does have some runway to work with. Making $6MM per year through 2025-26, Markstrom has some time to figure things out and will hope to return from this injury fresh and ready to play as well as he did earlier in his career.

Replacing Markstrom on the Flames’ active roster is Wolf, who is one of the best goalie prospects in the sport. The 22-year-old 2019 seventh-round pick is an undersized, highly athletic puck-stopper who has won just about everything a goalie could hope to win before he makes it tot the NHL. Wolf is a two-time AHL Goalie of the Year, the reigning AHL MVP, a World Junior Championship gold medal-winner, a two-time WHL goalie of the year and a one-time CHL goalie of the year.

So far this season, Wolf has a .920 save percentage in 13 games with the Wranglers. He has a career save percentage of .927 in 118 AHL games. In the NHL, he has made two career starts and has a .919 save percentage. With  Markstrom now out for an extended period, Wolf is lined up for the most extensive NHL opportunity he’s ever received to this point in his young career.