Calgary Flames seek stability, progress and playoffs with younger roster

Calgary Flames' Blake Coleman (20) leaves the ice following a training camp practice session in Calgary, Alta., Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Rebuild, retool, revamp, pick your term. The Calgary Flames are a team in transition heading into the 2024-25 NHL season.

The Flames open Wednesday on the road against the Vancouver Canucks with a younger, cheaper roster that's just a few million above the cap floor.

Calgary (38-39-5) finished 17 points out of a playoff spot last spring and endured a second straight extended summer. A 2-6-1 start combined with roster flux from traded big names unwilling to sign contract extensions impeded efforts to get on track.

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Winger Blake Coleman believes the Flames can use this season's low expectations as fuel.

Young players hungry to make a name for themselves in the league can inspire veterans to remarkable results, the 33-year-old said.

"There's very little expectation being placed on this team right now," Coleman said.

"It's an exciting way to play when there's no pressure, no expectations. Inside the room, we have a much different view of ourselves than outside."

Said captain Mikael Backlund: "We're here to make the playoffs, and we want to show people, prove people wrong."

But the Flames will start the season minus their leading goal scorer of last season. Yegor Sharangovich was placed on injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury sustained in Calgary's final pre-season game.

A trickle-down effect means more responsibility will fall immediately onto the shoulders of players such as 23-year-old Connor Zary and 21-year-old Matt Coronato, and even 19-year-old Samuel Honzek with a team-leading two goals and five assists in six pre-season games.

But it's the Calgary back end that's most transformed with Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf vying for starts after Jacob Markstrom's trade, plus newcomers Kevin Bahl, Jake Bean and Tyson Barrie settling in on defence.

"We have a lot of young guys who want to show they can be good players in this league," Backlund said. "As veterans, we want to drive this team, and we want to get back to playoffs after missing two years."

The teams' fortunes rest heavily on the leadership and performances of core veterans Backlund, Coleman, Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and defencemen Mackenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson.

"An enormous amount would probably be the light way to put it," said Ryan Huska, who starts his second season as Calgary's head coach. "We need them to be the guys that go out and lead by example all the time."

Kadri's team-leading 75 points (29 goals, 46 assists) in 2023-24 was the second-highest total of his career. Coleman's 30 goals and 24 assists were a career-high as were Weegar's 20 goals and 32 assists.

The Flames need more of that in 2024-25.

WHITHER HUBERDEAU?

Speaking of needing more, Flames fans are still waiting for Huberdeau to produce at a level befitting his US$10.5 million annual salary.

The left-winger totalled 107 points over his first two seasons in Calgary after a single-season 115 with the Florida Panthers. Huberdeau's average points-per-game increasing from .5 to .8 in the second half of last season signals a more positive trend.

"He changed how he did things this summer because he hasn't been happy with the way things went for a couple years," Huska said. "He's come back with a really good mindset, and he's in shape right now and that's something that we need."

GOALIE DRAMA

Training camp didn't definitively settle Calgary's No. 1, so expect competition to continue and the Flames to go with whoever has the hot hand at the moment.

Vladar, 28, will try to parlay his superior NHL experience into more starts. As he has at every level of his career, the 23-year-old Wolf will try to prove an undersized goalie can cut it in the NHL.

SCHEDULE WATCH

The Flames are in Salt Lake City's Delta Centre on Oct. 30 to face the new Utah club relocated from Arizona. Former No. 1 Calgary goalie Jacob Markstrom is set to return to the Saddledome on Nov. 1 with the New Jersey Devils. The Columbus Blue Jackets in town Dec. 3 will resonate with Flames fans. Johnny Gaudreau was two seasons removed from his eight years in Calgary when he and brother Matthew were struck by a vehicle while cycling and died Aug. 29. Johnny's absence from the Blue Jackets lineup will be felt at the Saddledome, where he was a star for so many years.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 8, 2024.