Hello and welcome hockey fans, opening day for the 2014/2015 NHL regular season is only one sleep away and today we are taking a brief look at the Calgary Flames.
The good: The Flames have acquired some solid young talent, with a very strong showing in the pre season (the Flames went 4-2-0 and outscored opponents 12-4) players like Sean Monahan (2013 6th overall), Sam Bennett (2014 4th overall) and Johnny Gudreau (2011 104th overall) have made an early impact and impression on coaching staff and upper management, enough in fact that the Calgary's opening night roster is filled to the brim with young forwards hoping to prove their worth in the regular season, so many that veterans Curtis Glencross and Matt Stajan will be sitting in the press box for opening night against the Vancouver Canucks.
When asked for comment about how long players like Bennett may linger at the NHL level for, head coach Bob Hartley only offered a simple reply "as long as it benefits (his) development and (he) is having a positive impact)
The bad: No one expects Calgary (even after a brilliant pre season) to win the Stanley cup, or even challenge for the playoffs. It's clear that this is a rebuilding team and the decision is being embraced by the local fan base. The ride should be bumpy and most likely filled with many peaks and valleys but there are also many things that will be monitored and watched carefully by the staff here in Calgary.
They don't want a long 82 game season to hamper the development of their young core players, guys like Monahan, Bennet, Gudreau, Granlund, Reinhart, Beartschi and Bouma. Even though some of these guys have already seen NHL action for various lengths it is still very important to make sure that the lessons of this potentially long and painful season are positive to each players growth and each step froward is taken in a positive light regardless of the standings or score board. it is quite possible that the Calgary roster changes completely by next week if the signs are not good or its looking like the young guns are being overwhelmed by the situation.
The ugly: There are rumours of some bad blood stirring between C Mikeal Backlund who had 39 points last season and as most thought, took a step forward in his NHL career. Backlund has been a healthy scratch the past four games, registering a -4 rating, 1 shot, 0 points, 6 face-off wins in both games (both losses Calgary suffered during pre season play) that Backlund looked disinterested in participating.
There has also been rumblings of a dispute between Matt Stajan and head coach Bob Hartley, though this doesn't appear to be the reason Stajan has been scratched for opening night (he was honestly out performed as a result of a strong showing by C Markus Granlund and C Max Reinhart)
Projected starting lines:
These were the lines at Flames practice this morning
Johhny Gudreau - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler
Mason Raymond - Sam Bennett - Devin Setoguchi
Sven Baertschi - Markus Granlund - David Jones
Lance Bouma - Max Reinhart - Joe Colborne
Mark Giordano - T.J Brodie
Ladislav Smid - Dennis Wideman
Kris Russell - Tyler Wotherspoon
Jonas Hiller
Karri Ramo
Its hard to say how this will shake out against the reformed Vancouver Canucks, there is a mix of skill, speed and youth here, particularly in the forward group but will they be able to handle the rigours of an NHL season?
Only puck drop will tell.