The 2011–12 Calgary Flames season was the 32nd season in Calgary and 40th for the Flames franchise in the National Hockey League (NHL). The Flames finished with a 37–29–16 record, finishing second in the Northwest Division and ninth in the Western Conference. The team failed to qualify for the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs, the third consecutive year the team did not make the postseason.
Three players reach major individual milestones during the season: Olli Jokinen appeared in his 1,000th game, goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff won his 300th game and captain Jarome Iginla became the 42nd player in NHL history to score 500 goals. Iginla was also named the Flames' lone representative at the 59th National Hockey League All-Star Game.
Questions surrounded the future direction of the organization at seasons' end, as head coach Brent Sutter's three-year contract was set to expire after three non-playoff seasons and as with previous seasons, Iginla's future with the organization was again questioned, particularly given his contract had one year remaining after the 2011–12 season.
Off-season
The Flames began their off-season by solidifying their management and coaching staff. Jay Feaster, who had served as interim general manager following the departure of Darryl Sutter in December 2010, was named to the position on a permanent basis on May 16, 2011, and Special Assistant Craig Conroy accepted a four-year contract extension. Feaster's first decision as general manager was to trade 2008 first round draft pick Tim Erixon to the New York Rangers in exchange for prospect Roman Horak and two-second-round picks. The deal was made hours before the Flames would have lost the rights to Erixon, as he refused to sign with Calgary despite being offered the maximum salary and bonuses available under the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Head coach Brent Sutter augmented his staff by adding two veteran coaches. Craig Hartsburg, who had 14-years experience in the NHL, was hired as an associate coach. Clint Malarchuk, a ten-year veteran as a player, was brought in to serve as the team's goaltending coach.
Following two seasons where the Flames missed the playoffs, the team made a significant change to their team over the summer. Robyn Regehr, alternate captain and long-time leader of the team's defence, was dealt to the Buffalo Sabres. The move was made in part to free up salary cap room to re-sign forward Alex Tanguay to a long-term contract. Veteran centre Daymond Langkow, who missed all but four games in 2010–11 due to injury, was also dealt.
Regular season
October – December Calgary entered the 2011–12 season with mixed expectations. In its annual preview, The Hockey News predicted the Flames would again miss the playoffs, anticipating that the team will finish 10th in the Western Conference. The magazine argued that the team had too many players who under-performed in all aspects of the game the previous season and that they could not afford similar performances and still hope to qualify. However, the National Hockey League's writers predicted the Flames would qualify for the playoffs with a sixth-place finish in the conference. They argued that the team's top-end talent, including Jarome Iginla, Miikka Kiprusoff and Alex Tanguay, were capable of bringing the team into playoff contention. They also predicted that if the team should fail to live up to this expectation, the franchise could find itself on the verge of a complete rebuild.
The Flames were expected to open the season in Helsinki as part of the NHL's annual European premiere series. However, given organizational changes following the departure of Darryl Sutter, the team opted against the trip, preferring to avoid the distractions of traveling to Finland to open the season.
Calgary dropped their first two decisions of the season before earning their first win in a record-setting game for goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff. The 4–1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on October 13 was Kiprusoff's 263rd as a Calgary Flame, moving him past Mike Vernon to become the franchise's all-time leader in wins. The team struggled to score early in the season, finding itself 28th out of 30 teams in NHL scoring 14 games into the season, leaving the team in 13th place in the conference. Feaster expressed frustration with the results, stating that the organization would not show a great deal of patience if the team did not improve.
Continued struggles in November gave rise to speculation that the Flames might trade captain Jarome Iginla, who himself had failed to meet expectations during the first part of the season. Feaster finally put an end to the speculation in early December, clearly stating that the team was not looking to move the franchise's all-time leading scorer. The team failed to move in the standings in November, remaining in 13th place at the end of the month. However, the Flames showed improved play toward the end of the month which continued into early December. A 5–1–1 stretch to December 8 allowed the Flames to move ahead of the Colorado Avalanche and out of last place in the Northwest Division.
After briefly moving above .500, a mid-December road trip in which the Flames failed to earn a win in four games again left them with more losses than victories. However, Calgary entered the Christmas break with three consecutive wins, each over a top team in the Western Conference: 2–1 over the Northwest Division leading Minnesota Wild, 3–2 over the Detroit Red Wings and 3–1 over the Vancouver Canucks. The first two victories came while Rene Bourque was absent from the lineup to serve a two-game suspension for a checking from behind infraction against the Chicago Blackhawks. The victory over the Canucks was the first of Leland Irving's NHL career. The rookie goaltender was recalled from the Abbotsford Heat early in December after Calgary's usual backup, Henrik Karlsson was injured. Irving was the American Hockey League (AHL) leader in wins, shutouts and games played at the time of his recall. The game against Vancouver was also the first of a season-long, seven-game road trip, during which the Flames' home arena played host to the 2012 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
In addition to Irving, several other players reached personal milestones around the midpoint of the season. Brendan Morrison scored his 400th assist on December 22 against the Detroit Red Wings and his 600th point on December 29 against the New York Islanders. Olli Jokinen appeared in his 1,000th NHL game on January 1 against the Nashville Predators.
January – April
A shootout win over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first game after the Christmas break gave way to five consecutive losses on the road as the Flames finished their road trip at 2–4–1. The trip ended with a 9–0 defeat to the Boston Bruins that Iginla described as "embarrassing" and "one of the worst games in memory". Of note, defenceman Chris Butler had a plus/minus rating of −7 in the game, the worst the NHL has seen since Doug Wilson was also −7 on February 19, 1993, in a game against Calgary. Adding to the Flames woes, seven regulars ended the trip out of the lineup due to injury, including three defencemen and first-line winger Alex Tanguay. Also missing was second-line forward Rene Bourque, who was serving a five-game suspension for elbowing Washington's Nicklas Backstrom.
Iginla reached a major NHL milestone in the Flames' first game back in Calgary, scoring his 500th career goal in the third period of a 3–1 victory over the Minnesota Wild on January 7, 2012. He became the 42nd player in NHL history to accomplish the feat, and only the 15th to score his first 500 goals with one franchise. He was subsequently named the Flames' only representative at the 59th National Hockey League All-Star Game in Ottawa. It was Iginla's sixth all-star appearance, and he scored one goal and two assists in the contest.
A Flames victory over the New Jersey Devils on January 10, 6–3 despite being outshot 38–14, was Calgary's seventh consecutive win on home ice and moved them back above .500. The Flames' home winning streak was ended at eight following a loss to the Los Angeles Kings on January 14, the first time the Kings won in Calgary in regulation time in seven years. Struggling on offence throughout the month, the team ended January with a record of 5–6–1 and remained outside of a playoff position.
Injuries continued to impact the lineup. Tanguay returned to action in late January, but Curtis Glencross and Lee Stempniak were sidelined with a knee injury and high ankle sprain, respectively. Stempniak's injury led the Flames to sign forward Krys Kolanos to a contract at the start of February. He had been playing for their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate on a professional tryout deal after missing 22 months following hip surgery. Kolanos had been leading the Abbotsford Heat in scoring at the time of his recall.
The team had already lost 238-man-games to injury by the time they faced the Vancouver Canucks in a February 11 game and suffered further losses when Blair Jones suffered a broken ankle against the Phoenix Coyotes before Mikael Backlund suffered a shoulder injury in the game against Vancouver. Both players were expected to miss up to six weeks. The loss of both players forced the Flames to move Michael Cammalleri back to centre, a position he hadn't played since 2005. Despite the losses, the Flames continued winning, posting a 3–2 shootout victory over the Canucks followed by a 5–1 defeat of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Following an overtime loss to the Dallas Stars the Flames defeated the Los Angeles Kings 1–0, in Los Angeles, on February 18 to move their record to 10–3–4 since the 9–0 defeat to Boston. The team moved into eighth place in the West, the first time all season Calgary occupied a playoff spot.
The team did not remain in a playoff position for long, as the Flames returned to the Saddledome and lost all four games of a homestand in the lead up to the February 27 trading deadline. A frustrated Jay Feaster criticized his team's veterans in an interview during a shootout loss to the Coyotes and threatened changes, only to backtrack a day later. Feaster ultimately chose to make no trades at the deadline, hoping that the return of Glencross, Moss and Smith from the injured list would be enough for the team to qualify for the post-season. A 4–2 victory in Phoenix on March 1 broke the team's losing streak, but the Flames lost a critical game the following night in Anaheim. Ryan Getzlaf scored the deciding goal for the Ducks in the final minute of a 3–2 victory that extended Calgary's regular-season losing streak in Anaheim to 15 games.