The Calgary Flames hit the ice for their third day of training camp on Wednesday. There were a few changes to personnel, as well as discussion of the upcoming first scrimmage of camp.

On Monday and Tuesday, Flames head coach Geoff Ward trotted out the exact same lines. But we were warned that changes were coming, and Wednesday brought us slightly different lines!

Via everyone’s pal Pat Steinberg, lines from the two practice groups. (Changes from earlier in the week bolded):

Derek Ryan and Sam Bennett changed spots, with Ryan now on Backlund’s right side and Bennett reunited with his playoff linemates. On the defensive end, Michael Stone and Alex Petrovic swapped, with Connor Mackey getting a new partner with more NHL seasoning than he had previously.

Dominik Simon and Josh Leivo swapped spots. On the bottom end of the lineup, Dmitry Zavgorodniy moved to the right side of Byron Froese’s line, Eetu Tuulola slid over to play centre, and Buddy Robinson dropped down to Tuulola’s vacated spot.

The good news is the Flames no longer play a zillion pre-season games. The bad news is they no longer play any pre-season games whatsoever, at least for this season, which puts a lot of importance on a pair of scrimmages the club has scheduled – they’ll go today and Monday at 7 p.m. at the ‘Dome (both broadcast on Sportsnet 960 The Fan but closed to the public).

Usually the Flames get some time to warm themselves up for actual games, with pre-season games serving as an opportunity to knock the rust off, find their timing and their game-day routines, and eventually get themselves battle-ready for the regular season. Not this year, so the two scrimmages will have to serve that purpose.

Flames forward Derek Ryan doesn’t think his teammates will have any issue getting ready for the intensity of the regular season via the scrimmages instead of exhibition games.

“I think guys, maybe even more so now that we’re playing each other, we can push each other a little more,” said Ryan. “Especially the veteran guys, I think that’s part of our responsibility is to make sure the pace is high and make sure the guys are taking it as seriously as possible. That being said, obviously we don’t want anyone to get hurt, but we have to take it seriously and play like a real game. So I don’t think it’s much different from a pre-season game to be honest.

Right now, the Flames have 41 players in camp – five goalies and the mandated limit of 36 skaters. But there will likely be some changes to the two groupings after Friday’s day off.

But Ward mentioned that they haven’t quite finalized plans for the incoming players from Edmonton’s World Junior bubble: gold medalist Dustin Wolf and silver medalists Jakob Pelletier and Connor Zary. Well, aside from making sure they’re healthy and ready to hit the ice.

But someone who likely will not see the ice at all during camp is Oliver Kylington, whose arrival into Calgary was delayed by immigration issues and won’t be available until after the Monday scrimmage.

For the curious, nothing has been really said officially about rumoured PTO forward Brett Ritchie. Like Kylington, he would also be required to quarantine before hitting the ice and his arrival would mandate someone else’s departure due to the 36 skater limit during training camps.