Young Stars FGD: Meet The Jets (5pm MT)

The last time the Calgary Flames played an organized, official game of ice hockey, it was May 10. They were improbably in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, facing off against the Pacific Division-winning powerhouse from Anaheim. Despite a scrappy effort and some timely goal-scoring, they lost 3-2 in overtime and went home, eliminated from the playoffs. Their whirlwind 2014-15 season ended.

Four months and a day later, the Calgary Flames begin a new journey, as they begin the 2015-16 hockey campaign with the annual Young Stars Classic tournament in scenic Penticton, British Columbia. Their first opponent? Another sentimental favourite that returned to the post-season in 2014-15 – the WInnipeg Jets.

The puck drops just after 5pm MT and you can catch the action streaming live from the Flames official site.

The Flames announced a roster of 31 players – 3 goalies, 11 defensemen and 17 forwards. That means they’ll be rotating bodies in and out of the line-up. For reference (presuming they go 6 defenders and 12 forwards each game), there are spots for 18 defensive games and 36 forwards – so expect every defender to play once and every forward to place twice, and I’d also suspect each goalie in camp gets one start apiece.

Here’s the projected line-up for tonight’s game:

I must admit, I really like the Jets prospect base. Granted, I’m a WHL follower, so I am thoroughly biased, but here’s a quick glance: Nic Petan, Nikolaj Ehlers (who is awesome), Brendan Lemieux, Jansen Harkins, Jan Kostalek, Josh Morrissey (who is awesome), plus goalies Eric Comrie and Connor Hellebuyck.

The Jets have talent everywhere, and are bringing a relatively restrained roster of just 24 bodies, so they’ll get more in-depth chances for evaluation here at the camp.

Not a lot of specific line breakdowns for the Jets, but here’s what we’ve sussed out:

Hockey is back! Granted, it’s pre-pre-season hockey featuring prospects, but tonight’s game features a bunch of high-end draft picks from two Canadian teams that just made their returns to the playoffs. In terms of two fan-bases that absolutely cannot wait for the season to start, I think tonight will be a welcome respite from a long summer away from the game.