Jarome Iginla’s trade to the Pittsburgh Penguins was announced at the 11th hour during the 2013 trade deadline.
The face of the franchise for nearly two decades, Iginla’s painful departure left a void that seemed impossible to fill.
Jay Bouwmeester was traded shortly thereafter and Miikka Kiprusoff chose to retire a year later.
As their cornerstone players left, Calgary appeared destined for years of painful rebuilding, searching for their next franchise cornerstone through high draft picks and patient development.
What no one could have predicted was that Iginla’s heir apparent was already in the organization — a 5-foot-6, 140-pound fourth-round pick who was lighting up NCAA hockey at Boston College.
Johnny Gaudreau, the smallest player selected in the 2011 draft, would arrive just one year after Iginla’s departure to help write an unexpected new chapter in Flames history.
A decade later, the Flames find themselves in a similar position. Following the departures of Gaudreau himself, along with Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Jacob Markstrom, the team (again) seems primed for another extended rebuild.
But halfway through this inaugural “rebuild” season, another unlikely saviour seemingly has emerged — this time in the form of Dustin Wolf, a seventh-round pick.
Like Gaudreau before him, Wolf was overlooked due to his stature. But the parallels between the two extend beyond their size or draft positions.
Both dominated their respective developmental leagues — Gaudreau capturing the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey’s top player, while Wolf earned an unprecedented four consecutive Goaltender of the Year awards across the WHL and AHL.
Both arrived when expectations for the team were at their lowest, only to help engineer improbable playoff pushes.
In 2014-15, Gaudreau’s rookie campaign saw him rack up 64 points, leading a young Flames team to the playoffs and a first-round win over the Vancouver Canucks.
Now Wolf is authoring a similar story. The 6-foot, 175-pound goaltender is performing like one of the NHL’s elite netminders, posting the second-best even-strength save percentage (.935) in the league while keeping the Flames in playoff position despite having the third-worst offence in the NHL.
Gaudreau’s success also helped open doors for smaller, skilled forwards, proving that elite talent could come in any package.
Now Wolf is challenging the prototype of the modern NHL goaltender, where sub-6-foot-3 netminders have become increasingly rare.
His stellar play — ranking seventh in save percentage (.916) and eighth in goals saved above average (+11.92) — has him in consideration for the Calder Trophy as the top rookie.
Beyond individual achievements, both players share the rarest quality in professional sports — the ability to single-handedly accelerate a rebuild.
In 2014-15, Gaudreau’s emergence pushed the team back into playoff contention years ahead of schedule. In 2024-25, Wolf’s brilliant goaltending has Calgary eyeing an unexpected playoff berth, despite an offence that has managed just 128 goals, ranking 28th in the league as of Jan. 27.
The symmetry is impossible to ignore. Ten years apart, the Flames struck gold with late-round picks that the entire league passed on multiple times. Both players arrived during presumed rebuilds, armed with eye-popping amateur credentials and questions about their size. Both have answered those questions emphatically, proving that in hockey, as in life, greatness comes in all sizes.
For Flames fans, Wolf’s emergence offers a powerful reminder of Gaudreau’s early days — when an undersized player with oversized talent helped turn despair into hope, writing a new chapter in franchise history.
A decade later, another small giant appears ready to do the same.