A year ago, the Calgary Flames opened their 2023-24 season with a lot of existential questions and an unclear direction as a franchise. Flash forward to present day: the Flames have settled those existential challenges as they’ve committed to a reloading period – if you want to call it a rebuild, we won’t object – as they’ve aimed to get younger, faster, more aerodynamic, and getting prepared to contend… in a few years.

They’re starting their 2024-25 campaign at Rogers Arena against the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks are a strong team and look very much as they did last year – arguably the biggest change they underwent over the off-season was the installation of new, black seats in their arena. The Canucks’ focus in on the Stanley Cup playoffs this coming spring. The Flames’ focus, meanwhile is on glory a little further down the road, and ensuring that their youngsters can help them get there.

Tonight’s broadcast begins at 8 p.m. MT on Sportsnet One and Sportsnet 960 The Fan.

Projected lines via Sportsnet’s Pat Steinberg:

Sam Honzek – Nazem Kadri – Andrei Kuzmenko
Jonathan Huberdeau – Martin Pospisil – Anthony Mantha
Connor Zary – Mikael Backlund – Blake Coleman
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Rooney – Adam Klapka

MacKenzie Weegar – Daniil Miromanov
Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Jake Bean – Brayden Pachal

Dan Vladar is projected to start in net, backed up by Dustin Wolf. The projected extra skaters are Matt Coronato, Tyson Barrie and Joel Hanley.

Don’t look now, but there’s young, homegrown talent represented in goal (albeit as backup tonight) and on all four forward lines. There are a lot of interesting things to watch for the visitors this evening:

Last season, you could dismiss a lot of structural questions about the Flames’ lineup with “Don’t worry, most of these guys won’t be here for very long.” But this season is different, and several of the players on this roster could become foundational pieces. It’s going to be a fascinating season.

Projected lines courtesy Thomas Drance:

Danton Heinen – J.T. Miller – Brock Boeser
Jake DeBrusk – Elias Pettersson – Daniel Sprong
Nils Höglander – Pius Suter – Conor Garland
Nils Åman – Teddy Blueger – Kiefer Sherwood

Quinn Hughes – Filip Hronek
Carson Soucy – Tyler Myers
Derek Forbort – Vincent Desharnais

Arturs Silovs is projected to start in net, backed up by Kevin Lankinen. Their projected extra skaters are Aatu Räty, Noah Juulsen and Mark Friedman. Dakota Joshua, who dealt with a testicular cancer scare in the off-season, is currently on the injury reserve list but will reportedly start skating with the main group soon. The Canucks placed Friedman on waivers on Tuesday, so we’ll see what happens on that front as the Canucks get healthier. Via Jeff Paterson, sounds like Pius Suter is a question mark so Räty may play instead.

There’s a lot to like about the Canucks, even if they did fail to beat the Edmonton Oilers in last year’s playoffs – we’re sure a lot of Flames fans are still grumpy with them about that. They have a few really good forwards like Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser, the reigning Norris Trophy winner in Quinn Hughes, and pretty good depth across the board due to smart signings and a good farm team in Abbotsford. It still feels like the Canucks are one piece away from slaying their proverbial giant and becoming a truly elite club, but they’re definitely a hockey team to be reckoned with this season.

The Flames are without Yegor Sharangovich

The Canucks are without Thatcher Demko and Dakota Joshua.

Wednesday night is the first of four games between these old rivals – two in Vancouver, two in Calgary – this season. They face off again on Nov. 12 (in Vancouver), Dec. 31 (in Calgary) and Mar. 12 (in Calgary).