Folks, we have a Calgary Flames hockey game to watch tomorrow. Sure, it’s late July. And sure, it’ll be in front of zero live fans. And sure, it’s an exhibition game against Edmonton. But it’s hockey, damn it, and it might be a lot of fun.
Into the mailbag we go!
The Flames have 10 defenders in the bubble. The starting six appear to be Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie, Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, Derek Forbort and Erik Gustafsson. The four extras are Michael Stone, Oliver Kylington, Alexander Yelesin and Juuso Valimaki.
Valimaki looked really good in camp. I would imagine they would want to slot him in ahead of maybe Yelesin, depending on the nature of a potential injury. Long story short: the Flames love Valimaki and wish to keep him forever, and they’ll have to heavily weigh the pros and cons of using him. But if there are a couple injuries and they think he could be a difference-maker for them, they’ll probably use him and let the chips fall where they may.
Based on what I saw in camp, and heard from folks that were at camp more often than I was, I’m leaning Talbot. Rittich has higher highs and lower lows than Talbot, at least lately.
A lot of it depends on which pending UFAs re-sign. But Giordano, Hanifin and Andersson provide a pretty nice foundation for a top four. Add in Valimaki, Kylington and Connor Mackey as potential top-sixers and maybe use Yelesin or a returning Stone as depth, and suddenly it’s a young, inexpensive group. The X-factor is using defenders on their off-sides and potentially putting somebody very green into the top two pairings.
Needless to say: the Flames are very impressed with Mackey and he’ll be given every chance to play games next season, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he and either Valimaki or Kylington shared an everyday spot.
I don’t think Brad Treliving is driving either guy to the airport if the Flames lose to Winnipeg. That said, if they lose to Winnipeg and Gaudreau and/or Monahan are invisible in the series, the conversations probably change.
Put differently: Treliving gets phone calls from other GMs about all of his players. It’s the nature of the gig. But if Gaudreau and Monahan are non-factors against Winnipeg, these phone conversations about their availability in a trade probably become longer and more involved than they previously were.
Honestly, I gotta go with Vancouver. Jacob Markstrom is a top notch goaltender and their group of young forwards is superb. If Quinn Hughes can be good enough to elevate an otherwise average blueline, they could really shock a few people this summer.
Yes, but probably not at full capacity without a vaccine. New Japan Pro Wrestling has been running shows with fans at about a third of their touring arenas’ capacity lately. They’ve relied upon pretty strict rules for their fans – mandatory masks, temperature checks, and guidelines for fan arrivals involving specific instructions about which gates and times for entering the buildings. Things like that are probably what the NHL will look at in the absence of herd immunity or a vaccine.
And now, here’s a wacky Japanese mascot:
