- Flames defenseman Michael Stone has been activated off injured reserve, reports Sportsnet 960’s Pat Steinberg (Twitter link). The veteran has missed the last ten games due to an undisclosed injury after putting up two goals and three assists in his first ten contests this season. Calgary had an open roster spot so they didn’t need to make any corresponding move to activate Stone.
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What Your Team Is Thankful For: Calgary Flames
As Thanksgiving and the holiday season approaches, PHR will be taking a look at what teams are thankful for in 2022-23. There also might be a few things your team would like down the road. We’ll examine what’s gone well in the early going and what could improve as the season rolls on for the Calgary Flames.
Who are the Flames thankful for?
Brad Treliving.
The Flames general manager is in his ninth season at the helm in Calgary, and before last season there were some who believed his seat was getting warm after a few difficult years.
Treliving’s choice to bring Darryl Sutter back to Alberta was a bold one, but it’s so far worked out extremely well as the bench boss recently won the Jack Adams Trophy. But the choice to hire Sutter isn’t why Flames fans are feeling thankful for Treliving this holiday season, it’s the moves he was able to make this past summer.
Early last summer, Treliving was put in an impossible situation. Two of his team’s most important players, Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, had decided that they did not see a long-term future in Calgary. So despite the fact that he had a mandate to provide Sutter with a competitive roster, he now had to deal with the impending departures of his two most important wingers.
With Tkachuk, Treliving was able to pry a major trade package from the Florida Panthers, netting superstar winger Jonathan Huberdeau, quality all-around defenseman Mackenzie Weegar, a 2025 first-round pick, and prospect forward Cole Schwindt. Additionally, he was able to lock both Huberdeau and Weegar into long-term, market-rate contract extensions. Through the Tkachuk trade, Treliving had acquired two impact players who would be around long-term.
But he wasn’t done there. With the cap space saved through Gaudreau’s departure, Treliving signed center Nazem Kadri to a major contract.
While some worried that buying high on Kadri (who scored 87 points last season, far beyond his previous career-high of 61) would be a major miscalculation, Kadri has been worth his $7MM salary so far this season, as he has posted 15 points in 17 games.
Looking at the bigger picture beyond just the acquisitions of Kadri, Huberdeau, and Weegar, though, the Flames should be thankful for Treliving because of how he restored optimism to a beleaguered Calgary fanbase.
He was dealt an incredibly poor hand last summer and made the very most of it. While the Flames still have work to do this year to become a true Stanley Cup contender, Treliving is certainly someone for Calgary to be thankful for.
What are the Flames thankful for?
The Western Conference.
While the Flames haven’t gotten off to the best start, they remain just two points out from the Western Conference’s top Wild Card spot, with just one team (the St. Louis Blues) ahead of them on tiebreakers.
If the Flames were in the Eastern Conference, though, their 18 points would put three teams ahead of them in the chase for the second wild-card spot. If there’s one thing the Flames can be thankful for this season, it’s the fact that the West, at the moment, looks like the weaker of the NHL’s two conferences.
A lot of the difference between the Eastern Conference and Western Conference has to do with philosophy. There are quite a few teams in the West who fully expect to remain near the bottom of the standings for the duration of this season. The Arizona Coyotes, Chicago Blackhawks, and Anaheim Ducks are all more focused on their future than their present.
The Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks may have each intended on being a contender this season, but they have each begun their season quite poorly and will need to improve significantly to be competitive.
Even one of the teams currently occupying one of the Western Conference’s playoff spots, the Seattle Kraken, looks to be a Martin Jones injury or decline in form away from a drop in the standings.
If the Flames were in the Eastern Conference, their path to a playoff spot would likely look a lot more treacherous. The NHL is a league of parity and they’ll still need to improve in order to get there, of course, but at the moment their path to the postseason looks more comfortable than the daunting journey some Eastern Conference clubs are currently staring down. That’s definitely something for Calgary to be thankful for.
What would the Flames be even more thankful for?
Chemistry between Jonathan Huberdeau and the Flames’ other star forwards.
Jonathan Huberdeau hasn’t been bad so far this season, but his eight points of production in 14 games is a 47-point scoring pace, a far, far cry from the 115 points he scored last year. So far, Huberdeau has struggled to find a fit on a Flames line, and the first-line left-winger spot next to Elias Lindholm is currently being occupied by a red-hot Adam Ruzicka, rather than Huberdeau.
For Huberdeau to be able to reach the heights he hit as a Panther, he’ll need to find a way to gel with one of the Flames’ top two centers, Lindholm or Kadri.
He’s locked up until the summer of 2031, of course, so he has some time to find the right fit, but if the Flames want to really get going this season they’ll need to find the right landing spot for their superstar winger.
There’s no reason to be overly worried at this point, Huberdeau’s talent didn’t simply evaporate on the journey from Florida to Alberta. But if Huberdeau could find a way to click with Kadri or Lindholm and cement his place on one of the top two lines, that would give the Flames even more to be thankful for this holiday season.
What should be on the Flames’ holiday wish list?
Improved goaltending.
The Flames have given up 58 goals this season, which is around the NHL average at this point in the season. That’s not a major issue on its own, but for a Flames club that prides itself in defensive responsibility and being tough to score against, it’s a figure that needs to be improved.
Despite the absence of Oliver Kylington, a lack of defensive talent isn’t to blame for the goals they’ve let in. The Flames still have a top-four on defense that includes Weegar, Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, and Nikita Zadorov.
There are few teams that can boast a more talented set of top-four defensemen.
No, the main issue for the Flames has been their lackluster goaltending. Starting netminder Jacob Markstrom was a Vezina Trophy contender last season, as he posted a .922 save percentage in 63 games. This year, he has an .887 in 14 games.
Daniel Vladar, the team’s backup, is in a similar situation. After posting a .906 save percentage last year, Vladar has just a .881 this year, a significant decline.
While the fact that both goalies have seen their save percentages decline suggests there is more at play than simply lackluster performance in net, the reality is the Flames’ goalie tandem has to be better.
Sutter has the Flames play a specific style of hockey, and the success of his system relies on their goaltending often being the final nail in the opposing team’s coffin. There were nights last season when Markstrom looked unbeatable. This year, those nights have been few and far between.
The success of the Flames’ goalies is integral to their team identity, so getting improved performance from each netminder should be the top item on the Flames’ wish list this winter.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Jonathan Huberdeau Close To Returning
- Jonathan Huberdeau, who has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury, skated with the Calgary Flames this morning, reports Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg. The nature of the injury had been a bit unclear, however Steinberg adds that Huberdeau said he had blocked a shot during Monday’s loss to the New York Islanders, causing his foot to swell up. The winger added that the foot is fine now and he plans to start wearing shot blockers on his feet going forward. Even though Huberdeau’s early performance this season has been underwhelming, Calgary will need him to produce if they want to get back on track themselves, and that won’t be able to happen until the superstar rejoins the lineup. Right now, the Flames are preparing to host the Los Angeles Kings tomorrow night, but there’s still no official confirmation on Huberdeau’s return, though Huberdeau himself appears confident he’ll be playing, per his media availability. After tomorrow, Calgary departs for a six-game road trip which begins Thursday.
Blake Coleman Fined For Slew-Footing
The NHL and the NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced today that Calgary Flames forward Blake Coleman was fined $5,000.00, the maximum allowable under the CBA, for slew-footing Winnipeg Jets forward Pierre-Luc Dubois in last night’s game. That money will go to the Players Emergency Assistance Fund.
The incident occurred at 18:30 of the first period, as Coleman and Dubois skated together through the slot area. The two appeared to be tangled up, both falling and crashing into an unoccupied net. Upon a closer look, Coleman appeared to slew-foot Dubois. Both players were assessed a minor penalty on the play, Coleman for tripping and Dubois for holding.
Luckily for both team and player, Coleman was able to avoid suspension and simply earned the fine. However, this fine will go into his record and could be considered in future disciplinary cases, if any. Worth noting, Coleman has been suspended once before. That incident came back in October of last season, when the veteran was banned one preseason game and one regular season game for boarding Jets forward Jansen Harkins.
Flames Have Been Looking For A Scoring Forward
- Many have wondered how the struggling Calgary Flames, who have lost seven in a row, plan to break out of their funk. Lead by what seemed to be a slump-proof head coach in Darryl Sutter, the Flames have been unable to win a game since their 5-1-0 start, no matter the change or tweak. Also from Friedman this evening, it appears the Flames have been actively looking for a scoring forward. However, Friedman adds, the team has been on that search since August, meaning it’s not the team’s poor performance that has necessitated that search, but instead an offseason objective yet to be fulfilled. Not having found the player they wanted this offseason, the team eventually signed forwards Sonny Milano and Cody Eakin to PTO’s, but released the pair after underwhelming training camp performances. Flames Nation’s Ryan Pike speculates that perhaps the team had hoped the scoring forward could be found in one of those PTO’s or one of the team’s young players, and with neither of those coming to fruition, the team finds itself once again searching for that asset.
Jonathan Huberdeau Out Day-To-Day
As announced by the team Tuesday evening, Calgary Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau is sidelined day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
It’s unclear when Huberdeau suffered the injury. He played 16:14 last night against the New York Islanders, skating for the entire game. The 29-year-old left wing has just one assist in his last five games, and he has just six points in 11 games in his first season with the Flames. Last season, Huberdeau led the league in assists with 85 and finished fifth in Hart Trophy voting.
It’s also unclear what line shuffling head coach Darryl Sutter will do ahead of tonight’s game against New Jersey, but Adam Ruzicka will likely draw into the lineup in place of Huberdeau. The 23-year-old Slovak is the only extra forward on the roster and has one NHL appearance this season, coming last week against Seattle.
Any redemption game from Huberdeau will have to wait. The Flames, however, need a redemption game in a big way tonight, as they try to avoid dropping to .500 on the season against the Devils. The team is on a five-game losing streak after a 5-1-0 start to the campaign.
Latest On Chris Tanev
- Calgary Flames defenseman Chris Tanev has now missed three straight games with an injury, something that has concerned those who remember Tanev’s repeated struggles to remain fully healthy as a member of the Canucks. Tanev has been remarkably healthy as a member of the Flames, though, and it appears that Tanev’s injury may not be a major setback. Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson reports that Tanev’s injury is not related to the shoulder he had surgically repaired this summer, which is good news for the Flames, who rely on Tanev as a key defensive contributor.
- New York Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck left tonight’s game against the Flames in the first period after taking a hit from Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov. Of note is the fact that Clutterbuck missed the Islanders’ Friday practice for maintenance. Clutterbuck has a goal in eleven games for the Islanders so far this season and his absence could pave the way for Ross Johnston to get some games in on the team’s fourth line.
Calgary Flames Place Michael Stone On IR
Per the Calgary Flames twitter, the team placed defenseman Michael Stone on IR today. In a corresponding move, the team has recalled defensemen Nick DeSimone and Dennis Gilbert from the Calgary Wranglers of the AHL. The team did not disclose the nature of Stone’s injury and no word is available on the length of time he could miss. Prior to the transactions, the team had only been carrying 22 of 23 possible skaters, allowing them to call up both defensemen. The team now carries 13 forwards and eight defensemen.
It’s unclear how exactly the defenseman sustained his injury, however he did play just one 25-second shift in last night’s overtime loss to the New Jersey Devils before leaving the game. The 32-year-old has been a reliable piece of the recent Calgary build, filling the role as a seventh-defenseman in recent years. In fact, he played in just 11 regular season games last season while never going on IR or otherwise leaving the roster. The veteran had been off to a surprisingly hot start in 2022-23, receiving regular minutes. Through 10 games, he had a pair of goals and three assists.
DeSimone, 27, is a longtime AHL veteran, making his pro debut with the San Jose Barracuda back in 2016-17. Prior to his pro career, DeSimone spent three seasons at Union College. DeSimone, like Stone in the NHL, was off to a hot start this season on the blueline, recording six points in eight games with the Wranglers. Should he play with the Flames, it would mark his NHL debut.
Meanwhile, Gilbert, who just turned 26, hasn’t been around as long as DeSimone, but he has spent some time in the NHL, including 25 games with the Chicago Blackhawks, most recently in 2020-21. He’s not off to quite as hot of a start as DeSimone is, having yet to record a point in eight games in the AHL, but his NHL experience should be appreciated as Calgary tries to plug holes on the blueline as they embark on an east-coast road trip.
As a result of losing two players of their own, the Wranglers have recalled two players from the Rapid City Rush of the ECHL: forward Rory Kerins and defenseman Simon Lavigne.
Calgary Flames Sign Lucas Ciona To Entry-Level Deal
In the midst of his red-hot start to his season, the Calgary Flames have signed prospect Lucas Ciona to a three-year, entry-level deal, the team announced. According to CapFriendly, the deal carries an AAV of $925,000, which includes a base salary of $832,500 and signing bonuses of $92,500 each season. Ciona will make $80,000 in the minors.
A sixth-round selection by the Flames in the 2019 NHL Draft, Ciona had not been among the top prospects in Calgary’s system until very recently. The forward had registered modest point totals in his first four seasons as a member of the Seattle Thunderbirds in the WHL, which included career-bests of 17 goals and 18 assists over 53 games last season. Now at 19 years of age, and in his fifth junior season (fourth full season), Ciona is off to a blistering start, scoring seven goals to go with 10 assists in a mere nine games to date.
It may be too early to mark Ciona as a blue-chip prospect considering this new-found dynamic offense is just nine games old, preceded by several years of solid but modest production, however the performance is intriguing. Ciona is currently tied for 11th in scoring in the WHL, which is lead by presumed first-overall pick in the 2023 draft, Connor Bedard, who has 24 points in 14 games. Signing Ciona now gives the Flames 46 out of a maximum of 50 contracts in their system; plenty of room to work and worth securing a prospect with newly-found value.
Calgary Flames Extend Dan Vladar
The Calgary Flames have clearly loved what they have seen from backup goaltender Dan Vladar. The two sides have agreed to a two-year extension worth a total of $4.4MM. The deal, which carries a $2.2MM average annual value, will start in 2023-24.
Vladar, 25, found his way to the Flames in 2021 by way of trade with the Boston Bruins and has appeared in 24 regular season games since. While his .906 save percentage with Calgary isn’t outstanding, he has the trust of the coaching staff. When recently asked about workload, head coach Darryl Sutter told reporters including Eric Francis of Sportsnet that he plans on giving Vladar at least one start a week – noting that there are 26 weeks in the regular season.
That 26 number would be a career-high for the third-round pick, but the Flames are committed to reducing Jacob Markstrom’s workload and making sure he’s at full health by the playoffs. The 32-year-old Markstrom is coming off a brilliant campaign but faded at the end, with a .901 save percentage in 12 postseason appearances.
A two-year deal for Vladar also allows the Flames to be patient with prospect Dustin Wolf, who took home the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s best goaltender last season but is still just 21. Wolf will likely be waiver-exempt until 2025, the same time Vladar’s deal now ends.
An extension is a solid show of faith in the young Czech netminder, but also could point to the confidence teams have in the rising salary cap. The Flames now have more than $81.7MM committed to 17 players for next season, as huge extensions for Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar kick in. That said, general manager Brad Treliving is getting a nice head start on next summer. Connor Mackey is now the only roster player who is currently scheduled to be an RFA in the 2023 offseason, and Milan Lucic, Trevor Lewis, Brett Ritchie, and Michael Stone are the only pending UFAs.