FlamesNation Mailbag: Who stays up?

The Flames are currently battling injuries and suspensions to major roster pieces, but the silver lining is that there are some prospects who have stepped up in place, and looked like they belong. As the lineup progresses (slowly) to full health, we probe into the question: who gets to stay?

It’s only been four games, but I think Andrew Mangiapane has still done just enough to warrant a few extra looks at the NHL level. The timetables on Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik are unclear, but he might have about a week to really demonstrate his value.

The issue is that he’s not putting up numbers, which certainly factors in. The only job he could feasibly steal when everyone’s healthy is Garnet Hathaway’s, who has been scoring. Obviously, who is and isn’t hot right now isn’t always the best measure of quality, but I’ve found that coaches tend to ride the hot hand in the bottom six. I feel Mangiapane might start finding the back of the net soon, but if he doesn’t, he’s likely headed back down.

Well, more multipoint games will help his case, and I think he’s much closer than imagined, but the same thing that applies to Mangiapane above applies to Oliver Kylington. The Flames were content to play Juuso Valimaki when he was healthy, and they’ll probably go back to doing so when he returns. Kylington has been a bit more refined than Valimaki, but he does have some of those tendencies that drive coaches crazy. Again, with Valimaki’s timeline uncertain, it’s hard to figure out when Kylington has to establish himself by, but if he keeps having strong performances it’s likely Kylington could stick.

As for Valimaki, I think they’ll be comfortable sending him down. It’s certainly a bit awkward given that they’ve already burned the first year of his ELC, but the threshold for him to burn an RFA year (40 games) is arguably a bit more important. It’s impressive that he’s a 20-year-old jumping straight from the CHL to the NHL, but he’s still in need of some development. The spotlight in Stockton could be a good thing for him. Neither Kylington or Valimaki will run out of waiver exemption this season, so you can plug and play when need be.

Definitely. The team already has all of their significant defensive prospects in the NHL thanks to this injury/suspension crisis, which is three (Kylington, Valimaki, Andersson) if you’re counting at home, and have pretty much nothing else. Michael Stone’s timeline to return (if he is ever actually going to get game action) is uncertain, Dalton Prout’s game against Edmonton shows why he shouldn’t be in the lineup often, and if you look on the farm you might just have a Tyler Wotherspoon-esque player kicking around. They absolutely need defensive depth.

Though I can’t see where, or why, they actively go out and shop for a seventh defenceman. They’re content to let Valimaki/Kylington and Rasmus Andersson play in the big league on the third pairing, so there’s really no reason to get someone who can do the same job, but costs an extra asset.

They’ll 100% target defensive depth in the draft, however. There’s no RHD behind Andersson, so that’s definitely worth a draft pick. Their LHD is nearly nonexistent behind Kylington, so there’s another spot to target (in the later rounds).

Well, defence, as already stated. Maybe they use more of their mid-round picks (which they actually have this year?) on D to build up numbers. Depending on how the draft breaks they might go for a D early, but I think quantity over quality in this case.

The next focus is goalie. They’ll probably avoid a first round goalie (as everyone does), but they’ll definitely pick one to restock the cupboards when Mason McDonald and Mike Smith leave the organization. They also didn’t draft one in an even-numbered year, which was a first.

I’d say the final focus is at centre. With Glenn Gawdin, Milos Roman, Adam Ruzicka (more on him later), Martin Pospisil, and Linus Lindstrom pretty much being their entire C depth, they’ll probably add a few more. I think that a forward is going to be their first pick (based on nothing but gut feeling, but still), so maybe they swing for the fences with a top notch centre pick.

For Adam Ollas Mattsson, I think it’s going to be a dance between him and the organization. He’s probably not an NHL regular, even as a 6D, but he’s the closest thing they have for the time being. But is that worth an ELC? The org did this dance with former 20-goal scorer Stepan Falkovsky a few years back. Prospect wanted ELC after a good minors year, org didn’t think he would materialize beyond that level, they split. AOM is a great story and a kid who works hard, but he needs more than that to occupy a contract spot (he’s on an AHL contract right now, so it doesn’t count towards the 50).

Ruzicka is maybe a 4C. His season this year has been lackluster for someone in their third OHL year. While his consistency has improved, his offence is nearly muted beyond his powerplay contributions. There’s still more than half a season to play, but I could see the Flames passing on him given the way he’s performing.

It’s a risky acquisition. I’m not a goalie expert, but his numbers are down and he’s 33. That could be a sign that he’s falling off a cliff, or that he’s on a bad team. Maybe both are true. Regardless, he’s not performing the way he was before, and it’s certainly feasible that he doesn’t ever return to that.

Given where the Flames are at in their contention window, he’s not someone worth pursuing, even at half retained ($3M). You might add good Corey Crawford, you more likely add a declining, old goalie. Can the Flames risk finding out?

He’s certainly intriguing. Hill, the Coyotes’ de facto #1 goalie (depending on Antti Raanta’s health), is the hot hand right now, stopping nearly 94% of pucks headed his way. He was pretty strong in junior hockey, but has struggled in the minor pro leagues until breaking out recently. He’s young and good, which makes him a prospect worth consideration.

I would probably wait and see. There’s been plenty of young goalies who have gotten hot at the right time only to fizzle out when an NHL team put all of their stock into them. If he maintains his form throughout the rest of the season, I would inquire. Until then, I would hold off.

I think it’s just how the team chooses to roll out their PK units. Matthew Tkachuk isn’t a centre, which is Peters’ PK preference, as the forwards who do play (Mikael Backlund, Derek Ryan, Elias Lindholm, Mark Jankowski) are all natural centres. The only other regular forward PKers are Hathaway and Frolik, two righties. Again, that probably leaves Tkachuk on the bench during shorthanded situations.

Besides, think of how much more expensive he becomes when he’s a dominant force at all three aspects of the game.