NEW YORK — Dustin Wolf‘s hometown stinks and he knows it.

The Calgary Flames goaltender is a native of Gilroy, California, which proudly bills itself as the “Garlic Capital of the World.” Drive through its farmland, open the windows and the pungent odor of the garlic harvest envelops your olfactory system like malodorous blanket.

“That’s the smell of home,” Wolf told ESPN.

That a star rookie goalie would emerge from Northern California was unlikely. Before Wolf, there had been only four other California-born goalies in NHL history, including San Diego native Thatcher Demko of the Vancouver Canucks, a Vezina Trophy runner-up last season. Wolf’s 60 career appearances rank second on that exclusive list.

Also unlikely: That a goalie his height would break through in 2025. Wolf, 23, is listed at 6 feet tall during an era of towering netminders. Connor Hellebuyck, the reigning Vezina Trophy winner and Team USA’s starter at the 4 Nations Face-Off, is listed at 6-foot-4. So is Nashville’s Justus Annunen, second in wins among rookies this season.

Making those odds even longer: There also aren’t many goalies — or players for that matter — drafted as late as Wolf who go on to have relevant NHL careers.

He was the 214th player selected in the 2019 NHL draft. Only three players were taken lower than him to finish off the seventh round. To put that in perspective: Hockey Hall of Famer Henrik Lundqvist, heralded as the ultimate diamond in the rough, was taken 205th overall.

That draft was held in Vancouver, Canada. Wolf drove from Everett, Washington, where he was playing junior hockey with the Western Hockey League’s Silvertips. And then he waited. And waited. Through seven rounds of picks, he sat there in his suit.

“It was kind of at a point of, ‘OK, let’s try to figure out where I can get invited to an NHL camp.’ And next thing you know, you hear your name called,” he said. “I don’t think anyone expected for there to be people still waiting to be drafted in the arena. The stands were empty. They’re packing everything up. It’s actually kind of wild how quickly they pack everything up.”

Wolf defied those odds in making the NHL and has defied expectations in his first season as a starter. Wolf has backstopped the Flames to the Stanley Cup playoffs bubble as a rookie, with a 22-14-5 record, a .912 save percentage and a 2.62 goals-against average through 41 games. His 9.63 goals saved above expected places him near the top 10 for all netminders in 2024-25. He has accomplished this on a team that has ranked dead last in goals per game for most of the season.

“It’s obviously no secret that he’s a big reason why we’re fighting for a playoff spot right now. He’s got a lot of swagger and confidence,” Flames forward Blake Coleman said. “He’s the reason we’ve won a lot of games, maybe some we shouldn’t have.”

In the process, he’s solidified himself as a contender for the Calder Trophy, given to the NHL’s top rookie. In the latest NHL Awards Watch, Wolf was second to San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini among the voters surveyed.

“If we’re talking about who has truly been the best performing rookie over the balance of the season, it has to be Dustin Wolf,” one PHWA voter surveyed said. “What he’s done in Calgary is remarkable. He’s the only rookie in the discussion who’s been consistently at the top of his game all year.”

FOR MANY OBSERVERS, Wolf just burst onto the scene this season. But Calgary coach Ryan Huska said there has been a meticulous growth plan in place for the young goalie: four years in the WHL; parts of four seasons in the American Hockey League; and a 17-game taste of NHL life last season, when Wolf shared time with current Flames creasemate Dan Vladar and Jacob Markstrom, who was traded to the New Jersey Devils in the offseason to clear a path for Wolf.

“He’s grown up within our organization. Like it or not — and some players hate it — sometimes playing in the American League a little longer is a really good thing,” Huska said. “Coming back after the summer, it was fully our expectation that he would have another great season and take another step, which he’s done.”

After playing a significant number of games annually during his minor league career, Wolf said he had to adjust to last season’s role, shuttling back and forth from the AHL and not getting much action in the NHL until March and April.

“Coming into this year, I had a better idea that I was going to get an opportunity. But you still had to earn it,” he said.

From November through January, Wolf earned it: 16-6-2, with a .919 save percentage and a 2.37 goals-against average. The Flames, picked by many to miss the Stanley Cup playoff cut, were very much in contention in the Pacific Division.

Entering Thursday night’s game against New Jersey, their playoff hopes were still flickering: Stathletes gave them a 16% chance of making the postseason, odds that had been impacted by a torrid St. Louis Blues run to the final wild-card spot. Wolf does what he can for the Flames on the ice, and then is at the mercy of rival teams as he watches the out-of-town scoreboard.

“Yeah, you’re kind of hoping for some results. But it’s fun. You want to be in these scenarios where you’re fighting for your life. Granted, you probably want to be more solidified in the spot,” he said. “I think if we slip in, I have no doubt that it’ll make it tough on whoever we play.”

Every game matters in the standings, but some games matter beyond that. The Flames visited Toronto on Monday for a game televised nationally across Canada. It ended up being Wolf’s most humbling outing of the season: He gave up five goals on 26 shots and was pulled for the first time this season.

In Wolf’s defense, the Leafs tallied two power-play goals from Auston Matthews and another from William Nylander. He saw plenty of high-quality shots. But Wolf wasn’t accepting excuses after the game. He especially wanted Matthews’ second goal back. “I was all over it, and I just didn’t get down fast enough,” he said. “That’s one that I’m going to have all day long and just didn’t have it.”

He felt bad for needing Vladar to come on in relief. He also felt bad for, in his estimation, letting his team down. But his teammates weren’t going to let him stew in those emotions. Defenseman Rasmus Andersson, a nine-year veteran, sought out Wolf after the game, telling him that it wasn’t the last time this was going to happen as an NHL goalie, but that one game of disappointment doesn’t outweigh a season of keeping Calgary in the playoff hunt.

Which, Wolf admits, was nice to hear in that moment.

It wasn’t the first time Wolf has been pulled in his career. In fact, it’s how his career started, against a team from Toronto no less.

Wolf made his professional debut on Feb. 21, 2021, for the AHL Stockton Heat against the Toronto Marlies. That outing lasted just over 28 minutes, as Wolf gave up five goals on 11 shots before being lifted for Garret Sparks.

“I don’t know if I would call it a wake-up call, but just kind of like, ‘Welcome to the league.’ You’re thrown to the s— and the worst thing that could happen happens. You can’t go any lower than that, so all you can go from here is up,” he said. “So that’s the best part: You’re learning from it.”

Calgary traveled to New York after the loss to the Leafs. Plans were for Wolf to hang back at the team hotel in Manhattan on Tuesday morning, but he needed to get back on the ice. So he walked a few blocks to Madison Square Garden, where the Flames would face the Rangers that night, to work with his skills coach for an about an hour. Later, Wolf would analyze video from the Leafs game, parsing what went wrong.

“Sometimes you need to go back to stuff that’s helped you get this far,” Wolf said. “It doesn’t have to be anything crazy. Just get your feet back under you and feel good.”

Wolf said he never thinks about his AHL debut. That loss to the Leafs will eventually be memory-holed too, after it serves its purpose as a harsh education for a young player — one he believes he’ll be better for experiencing.

“I’m still figuring out this league and I’m going to be figuring it out for a long time,” Wolf said. “So it was just one of those steppingstones.”

He returned to the ice on Thursday night looking to rebound against New Jersey. Wolf surrendered three goals in the first two periods — one deflecting off his own defenseman and into the net — but he was there when it counted. That was especially true in the third period, when Wolf kept the score 3-2 by stopping a shorthanded breakaway by Devils center Dawson Mercer:

Dustin Wolf makes an incredible breakaway save!

🎥: Sportsnet | NHL#Flames pic.twitter.com/QKQszA1GDM

— Robert Munnich (@RingOfFireCGY) March 21, 2025

Soon after, the Flames would score twice in a minute to take the lead en route a critical comeback road win, 5-3.

“Sometimes you just need one save here or there,” Wolf said afterwards. “We have to find a way. We’re in do-or-die range right now.”

MORGAN FROST HAS TO remember sometimes that his starting goalie is a rookie.

“I don’t think that happens too often for that position,” the Calgary forward said.

Frost arrived via trade from the Philadelphia Flyers on Jan. 30. Back in the Eastern Conference, he had heard about Wolf’s Calder-worthy campaign for the Flames. Seeing it for himself was revelatory.

“It’s been fun to watch some of these games, especially where we’re lacking some goal scoring and you’ve kind of got to grind it out and win 1-0. You feel good when he’s back there for those,” Frost said.

Wolf is 4-11-2 in games where the offensively challenged Flames scored two or fewer goals this season.

“Granted, I’d like us to maybe score a couple more [goals],” he said. “But we have a lot of skill in this room, and if you put it all together, we work really well.”

The Flames have been a surprise to everyone but the Flames.

“Coming into the year, everyone had us written off as probably a bottom-five team, and I think anybody in this room could tell you that we didn’t believe that,” Wolf said.

His role in elevating the Flames has put Wolf into Rookie of the Year contention. Goalies are frequently part of the Calder Trophy conversation — Stuart Skinner (Edmonton), Alex Nedeljkovic (Carolina) and Jordan Binnington (St. Louis) were all finalists in recent years. Winning the Calder is another matter. The last rookie goalie to win NHL Rookie of Year was Steve Mason of the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2008-09. Over the past 40 years, five goalies have won the Calder: Mason, Andrew Raycroft of the Bruins (2003-04), Evgeni Nabokov of the Sharks (2000-01), Martin Brodeur of the Devils (1993-94) and Ed Belfour of the Blackhawks (1990-91).

It’s the same story for league MVP: The NHL hasn’t had a goalie win the Hart Trophy since Montreal’s Carey Price in 2014-15. After Dominik Hasek won the award in back-to-back seasons from 1996 to 1998, only one goalie captured the Hart besides Price: Montreal’s Jose Theodore in 2001-02.

Do goalies get enough awards love outside of their own trophy, the Vezina?

“Goaltending is the toughest job in sports in my mind. And do I think we should be appreciated more? Probably,” Wolf said. “It is the best position though. You wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. When things are going great, you’re on top of the world, and when things are not so hot, you’re kind of at the bottom of the stomping block.”

Wolf appreciates the support surrounding his Calder candidacy — “It’s cool to have your name out like that,” he said — but his focus is squarely on earning the chance to play games beyond the regular season.

“We’re in the fight for our lives and getting into the playoffs,” he said. “I don’t want to focus on anything outside of that and I have no control over what people want to think. All I can do is try to stop as many pucks as I can.”

The awards attention is an interesting shift in perspective for Wolf, the height-challenged goalie from Gilroy and the player drafted three slots away from being “Mr. Irrelevant.”

“I’ve been underrated my whole career, a large majority of it due to how tall I stand,” he said. “And I think that’s a blessing in disguise, because then you can just go about your business.”