With the 4 Nations Face-off ongoing, the NHL has entered a 12-day hiatus until play resumes on Feb. 22. Similar to the All-Star break, players who aren’t competing in the 4 Nations tournament have ended up on a beach somewhere or are simply taking time to relax and recover.

For the members of the Calgary Flames, everyone not named Rasmus Andersson is likely sipping margaritas poolside. Meanwhile, the Swedish-born defenceman is representing his home nation at the NHL’s ‘international’ tournament, for now as a healthy scratch.

The near two-week break comes at a rather opportune time for the Flames, who have played poorly of late and appeared to be in need of a regroup. Calgary had dropped four of their final five games leading up to the pause, including each of their final three games.

The Flames’ poor stretch began with a 3-1 loss on the first of the month against Detroit, this was also the debut of new additions Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost. They would go on to win in Seattle the following night before losing back-to-back games against tough opponents in the Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche. In their last game before the break, Calgary seemed to have come out the other side when they led the Kraken 2-0 with under seven minutes remaining, but a late collapse saw them lose 3-2 in overtime… Yikes!

Most of the organization I’m sure was ready to hit the beach with the way this team was playing during that stretch run. Not everyone is afforded the option of hitting the beach, however. The Vancouver Canucks, who are the Flames only competition for the final wild card spot in the West have three members competing in the tournament, Elias Pettersson for Sweden, Kevin Lankinen for Finland and Head Coach Rick Tocchet joining the coaching staff for Team Canada.

Conversely, the break provides some much-needed rest for Flames players, and added time for injuries to heal as they sorely miss the likes of Connor Zary and Kevin Bahl. The break also gives Conroy a minute to breathe and assess where this team currently stands, results come fast and it can be hard to decipher which direction the team should be heading when you’re in the thick of battle. This hiatus will give the Flames general manager some time to step back and gaze at the bigger picture.

This scheduling works out well for Calgary considering the gauntlet of competition they will face upon the resume of play. The Flames come out of the break at home against the Sharks but then embark on an 11-day road trip that features stops in Washington, Dallas, Carolina, Tampa Bay and Sunrise. Calgary won’t be favoured in any of those games, meaning they’ll need to find a way to win, good thing Huska and co have another week to mull over the gameplan.

Considering their poor play prior, the strength of schedule after, and the key injuries that have ailed them of late, this pause of play couldn’t have been better slotted in the Flames schedule, even if they’d done the scheduling themselves.