Calgary Flames looking for stability, progress and playoffs with a younger roster Achi-News

Rebuild, refit, revamp, choose your term. The Calgary Flames are a team transitioning into the 2024-25 NHL season.

The Flames open Wednesday on the road against the Vancouver Canucks with a younger, cheaper roster that is 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 hampered efforts to get on track.

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 extraordinary results, the 33-year-old said.

“There are very few expectations on this team at the moment,” said Coleman.

“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. “

Captain Mikael Backlund said: “We’re here to make the playoffs, and we want to show people, prove people wrong.”

But the Flames will start the season without their leading goalscorer from last season. Yegor Sharangovich was placed on injured reserve Monday with a lower-body injury in Calgary’s final preseason game.

A trickle down effect means more responsibility will fall straight on the shoulders of players like 23-year-old Connor Zary and 21-year-old Matt Coronato, and even 19-year-old Samuel Honzek, who leads the team with two goals. and five assists in six pre-season games.

But it’s Calgary’s back end that has seen the most transformation with Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf competing for starts after the Jacob Markstrom trade, and newcomers Kevin Bahl, Jake Bean and Tyson Barrie settling into the defense.

“We have a lot of young guys who want to show that 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 the playoffs after missing two years.”

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

“It’s probably a huge amount to put it mildly,” said Ryan Huska, who is entering his second season as Calgary’s head coach. “We need them to be the guys that go out and lead by example.”

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 career highs along with Weegar’s 20 goals and 32 assists.

The Flames need more of that in 2024-25.

Huberdeau back with ‘very good mindset’

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

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

“He changed how he did things this summer because he hasn’t been happy with the way things have gone for a couple of years,” Huska said. “He’s come back with a really good mindset, and he’s in shape at the moment and that’s something we need.”

Goalie drama

Training camp didn’t quite settle Calgary’s No. 1, so expect the rivalry to continue and the Flames to go with whoever has the hot hand right now.

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 that an undersized goalie can cut it in the NHL.

View schedule

The Flames are at Salt Lake City’s Delta Center on October 30 to face Utah’s newly relocated club from Arizona. Former Calgary No. 1 goaltender Jacob Markstrom will return to the Saddledome on November 1 with the New Jersey Devils. The Columbus Blue Jackets will be in town on December 3 resonating with Flames fans. Johnny Gaudreau was two seasons removed from his eight years in Calgary when he and his brother Matthew were hit by a vehicle while cycling and died on August 29. Johnny’s absence from the Blue Jackets lineup will be felt in the Saddledome, where he was a star for so many years.

& copy 2024 The Canadian Press