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It’s the time of the year when the new car smell of preseason fades and players begin to grind through another 82-game National Hockey League campaign.
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With some normalcy returning to the rinks, along with fans and a full training camp nearly in the books — a welcome change of pace after the stop-sprint-stop-go presented by the COVID-19 pandemic over the last 19 months — the Flames are ready for the 2021-22 season.
While the team’s unresolved issues aren’t quite the magnitude of camp holdouts, unsigned players, young draft picks trying to crack the roster, and serious injuries like past years, there are questions.
And with a home-and-home series of friendlies against the Winnipeg Jets starting on the road Wednesday at the Canada Life Centre, it’s worth thinking about the following …
1. WHAT’S WRONG WITH COLEMAN AND, NOW, GAUDREAU?
In the last few days, Flames head coach Darryl Sutter has been adamant that he has no concern with forward Blake Coleman and his absence from preseason games. In Sutter-speak, this likely means there is some concern.
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The newcomer, who won the Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in each of the previous two seasons, skated with Monday’s late group and was on the ice for an optional practice in Winnipeg on Tuesday.
But the fact Coleman was such a prized off-season signing and has only logged one exhibition clash with his new team is odd. Should we read into Sutter’s insistence that Coleman has barely had an off-season the last two years? That he’s not worried because of such a long playoff run and knows the toll it takes on the human body?
Sutter also said Johnny Gaudreau was “fine” after the left winger was kept out of the third period Monday against the Edmonton Oilers for precautionary reasons. Gaudreau didn’t skate on Tuesday.
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Needless to say, it’ll be good news if one or both players skate in one or both of the final two exhibition clashes.
2. WHAT WILL THE LINES LOOK LIKE?
This could be a fluid situation throughout the season and certainly has been during training camp and preseason action.
In the last few games, Gaudreau has skated on the left side with Elias Lindholm at centre and Matthew Tkachuk on the right side. That was a combination seen during the last few weeks of the 2020-21 regular season, but the arrival of Coleman and a healthy Sean Monahan give the Flames more options.
Sutter started training camp using the trio of Tkachuk-Lindholm-Coleman, while Andrew Mangiapane skated on the right side with Monahan and Gaudreau.
What does it all mean? That, hopefully, the team’s offence will be spread out more evenly.
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The bottom six is even more unclear with Dillon Dube, Mikael Backlund, Brett Ritchie, Milan Lucic, Trevor Lewis, Brad Richardson and Glenn Gawdin.
3. WHO WILL BE THE FIFTH, SIXTH AND SEVENTH DEFENCEMEN?
The only thing we really know at this point is that the Flames’ top four defencemen will be some combination of Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson and Nikita Zadorov.
With the departure of stalwart and longtime captain Mark Giordano, there are some interchangeable pairings. Sutter knows Hanifin (now healthy from shoulder surgery) and Tanev can be a good duo as displayed last season. On Monday against the Oilers, he tested Zadorov with Tanev and Hanifin with Andersson.
So the question becomes: Who makes up the final pairing? The Flames know what Michael Stone brings to the table and he’s been paired with Juuso Valimaki lately. So, then you have newcomer Erik Gudbranson and Oliver Kylington and it will all come down to how well the Flames believe they’ve performed so far.
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4. WILL THEY HAVE A CAPTAIN TO START 2021-22?
For the first time since the fall of 2013, the Flames will need to decide who’ll be the next ‘C.’
It’s been an interesting debate, as it doesn’t seem as obvious as you’d think. A captain in the new-age NHL is the face of the franchise and visible in the community; a marketing dream. But they also need to be able to handle pressure — they answer the questions when things aren’t going well; they shoulder the blame when the team is losing. A loud voice in the room doesn’t always cut it. They need to talk the talk and walk the walk, too.
The thought is Sutter would like the captaincy to happen organically and he’s onto something: there isn’t exactly an obvious choice. Backlund is the longest serving Flame, Tkachuk is the team’s heartbeat, newcomer Tanev is a heart-and-soul grinder, Monahan is the strong silent type … there can be a case made for many.
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The departure of Giordano was inevitable, and a team culture shift has been needed for a few years now. But how do they want that to look? Sutter is right, these things don’t just happen overnight and it needs to be a good fit on so many levels and that may mean that starting the season without a captain is the way to go.
5. HOW WILL IT ALL SHAKE OUT?
It’s the million-dollar question every team asks at the start of every season. That’s why you play the games of course, but for the Flames, the implications of this year seem larger than ever.
With a high-level goaltender like Jacob Markstrom, a talented core group that was scrutinized for not achieving enough last year, despite the pandemic complications (and the years before that, for that matter), and Sutter at the helm, it seems like this is it.
If they can’t get the job done with the likes of Monahan, Gaudreau, Tkachuk, Lindholm, Coleman, Mangiapane, Backlund, Hanifin, Tanev, Andersson and so forth, it may result in a top-to-bottom retool. Stop us if you’ve heard that before …
Five questions facing Flames heading into regular season - Calgary Sun
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