Is anyone going to argue if I were to suggest David Rittich has been Calgary’s best player through the first two months of the season? With December upon us, the Flames are barely a .500 team, but I shudder to think where they’d be without Rittich’s steady, and sometimes outstanding, goaltending. To this point, Rittich…
Yes, the Calgary Flames are still conducting their investigation into the conduct of current head coach Bill Peters. That investigation is going to wrap up at some point, though, and we presume Peters will cease being Calgary’s coach. Whenever the post-Peters era begins, the Flames have a few things they can do to start putting…
The Flames are mired in an awful slump. They’ve lost six straight, they can’t score, and worst of all, they’re getting nowhere near enough from their most important, and highest paid, players. Calgary’s coaching staff has been resistant to making significant changes to their forward group, and when they have, they’ve rarely stuck for longer…
The relative struggles of Johnny Gaudreau is one of the biggest stories one quarter of the way through Calgary’s 2019-2020 season. The team’s most dangerous offensive player has looked off to start the season, and it’s not just your eyes. Across the board, Gaudreau’s numbers are down, which is concerning knowing how last year’s postseason…
Fourteen games into the season, the Calgary Flames have made Mark Jankowski a healthy scratch three times, including the last two games in a row. Already linked to a squashed trade over the summer, Jankowski’s spot in the organization was tenuous entering 2019 camp. Due to uninspiring performance his situation hasn’t improved since September and,…
I have long been interested in the prospect of moving Elias Lindholm to centre for a decent stretch of games. Well, that stretch might be upon us. Lindholm played down the middle from start to finish in Saturday’s Heritage Classic in Regina and that trend will continue Tuesday in Carolina, at least to start. It’s…
Saturday is the 2019 Heritage Classic between the Calgary Flames and the Winnipeg Jets at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. It marks just the second time the Flames have participated in an NHL outdoor game, with the first being back on Feb. 20, 2011. Calgary won that game 4-0 over the Montreal Canadiens at McMahon Stadium…
Despite being under the cap to start the season, it’s fair to say Calgary management would feel more comfortable with a little more breathing room. Currently, the Flames are less than $200,000 under the $81.5 million ceiling, which translates to minimal projected space come the trade deadline. As such, Calgary is still in search of…
Career years from numerous key players were among the biggest reasons Calgary put together their second-best regular season in team history last year. Some suggest a few of those players are in line for backward steps this season, which is understandable. One way to mitigate the potential of that happening is with significant progression elsewhere…
The Calgary Flames have a lot of goaltenders under contract right now, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Because goaltending is hockey’s most imperfect science, there’s nothing wrong with buying multiple lottery tickets. The downside, however, is a potential logjam at the minor league level, which can hamper development for everyone involved. So while it’s…
Training camp battles are never a bad thing. They raise the competition level on the ice and reinforce depth in the organization. For the Flames in 2019, most of their competition is at forward with multiple players battling for an NHL spot, or in a few cases, a contract. But what exactly are these players…
The fall of 2018 couldn’t have gone much better for Dillon Dube. He was the standout player of rookie camp and then main camp, which culminated in a spot on Calgary’s opening night roster. Things came back down to earth from there, but Dube still finished with 25 NHL games and he comes to 2019…
