Welcome back to one of our newest features here at FlamesNation: Five Flames Takes. After digging into a main topic, Mike will weigh in on five more popular discussion topics involving the Flames and their prospects. 

Mikael Backlund is finally finding his groove when the Calgary Flames need him the most.

The second-year captain and 17-year Flame has taken his lumps both on and off the ice all season long as he heads toward the conclusion of what will almost certainly go down as his least productive campaign as an NHL regular since his very first. But as the games get more important, Backlund has elevated his play to a huge degree and is finally making more direct contributions to huge wins.

Make no mistake: Backlund has been his usual metronomic self for much of the season, successfully influencing play in the right direction more often than not despite struggling to produce at his regular clip. Backlund and sidekick Blake Coleman are the only two Flames regulars with an on-ice expected goals percentage north of 53.00 at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.

But when Backlund opened the scoring against the Minnesota Wild on Friday, it marked the first time since late December that he had tallied in back-to-back games. He fired five shots on goal in the 4-2 victory and finished with an impressive 21:10 of ice time, one of his highest totals all season long.

Regardless of whether they make the playoffs or not, the Flames should probably put a ‘For Sale’ sign next to a few of their veteran stalwarts this off-season. Coleman, for example, makes a ton of sense as a secondary target for a contending team, especially if the Flames elect to retain salary.

But Backlund? I’m not convinced he’s a guy the Flames need to move. He still elevates pretty much everyone he plays with — he’s kind of like a cheat code that way. If the Flames could get a second-rounder for Backlund, would that be worth losing the guy who has taken Matt Coronato under his wing and could still do the same with the likes of William Stromgren, Aydar Suniev, Jacob Battaglia, and others in the future? I’m not convinced.

By all means, move on from Coleman, Nazem Kadri, Rasmus Andersson, and others if the price is right. A lot has gone right for the Flames this year and they still aren’t in the playoff picture — if things start to go wrong again next season, it could get ugly pretty fast.

Those guys weren’t here in the dark days before Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk, but Backlund has been here through thick and thin. He’s perfect to carry the torch through the uncertain times ahead, and unless he indicates otherwise, he should remain a Flame until the day he retires.

Calling it now: Backlund gets back up to 50 points next season. Why not?

1. I certainly don’t agree with the notion that there is “no upside” to playing Zayne Parekh in the final few games of this season, especially in a sheltered role as a power-play specialist. That said … even against San Jose, it doesn’t feel like there’s a chance he draws into the lineup with so much at stake. My take is that the Flames should prioritize getting a prospect of Parekh’s calibre into these types of meaningful games as much as possible, especially given the team’s alarming performance on the power play against the Ducks on Wednesday. I get why the coaching staff is betting on the horses they know, but let’s face it — this team’s defensive personnel leaves a lot to be desired. It’s easy to defer to the incumbents, but I have a feeling that we’ll look back at this in a few years and wonder how Parekh didn’t get into one of these key games down the stretch.

2. Jonathan Huberdeau now has a lower 5-on-5 expected goals percentage this season than Yegor Sharangovich, who has been the poster child for even-strength struggles in Calgary all year long. Huberdeau has one point in his last eight games, and it was a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it deflection goal on Monday that was initially credited to Morgan Frost (whose own goalless drought now spans more than two months). After a great run in March to show he still has what it takes to be an impactful top-six NHLer, Huberdeau has disappeared into the background once again. He’s two goals shy of 30 and needs one point for 60, but does he have enough gas left in the tank to get there?

3. Speaking of Sharangovich … wow, that goal he scored against the Wild on Friday might’ve been the nicest we’ve seen from a Flame all season long. Since he hit rock bottom and sat out against the Dallas Stars on Mar. 27, he’s arguably been one of this team’s best forwards. He’s got three goals, two assists, a shootout winner, and is a +3 in the eight games since — and his 65.29 expected goals percentage at 5-on-5 is by far the best on the Flames over that span. Sure, he’s been more sheltered and is finally getting bounces, but Sharangovich is looking a whole lot more like the player Craig Conroy targeted from New Jersey and signed to that huge extension last summer. At the very least, he’s heating up at the perfect time.

4. Accountability time: I may have been wrong about Dan Vladar — or, at least, a little hasty. Earlier this season, I wrote that the Flames should move on from the 27-year-old goaltender, whose career numbers are well below the NHL average despite his generally lighter workload. But it’s starting to feel like the Flames haven’t been playing him enough down the stretch. That’s not remotely intended as a slight on Dustin Wolf, who has been a revelation in his rookie season, but Vladar’s results have actually been quite strong since the beginning of February, and he’s won each of his last three starts. It feels like he maybe should’ve gotten into at least one of the Flames’ first six games in April. That said, it still feels more likely than not that the Flames bring in a more established backup ahead of the 2025-26 season, particularly given Devin Cooley’s struggles down the stretch.

5. Finally, we need to talk about Andersson. The 28-year-old Swede had a solid game against Minnesota on Friday but still ended up on the ice for both Wild goals late in the third period, putting him down to -36 on the year. That’s the worst single-season mark in Flames franchise history and it’s not particularly close. The previous low water mark for the franchise was set just last season, but it was a tie between Huberdeau and Sharangovich at -29. Other names with single-season marks below -20 in the past include Backlund, Jay Bouwmeester, Lee Stempniak, Robyn Regehr, Kent Nilsson, Jim Peplinski, and Guy Chouinard. Andersson, like everyone else mentioned in this paragraph, is a very good player, but at -36, he’s on an island among the rest of these Flames. Kevin Bahl, his most regular partner, is a -8. Huberdeau and Sharangovich have gone from -29 last year to -14 and -10, respectively. MacKenzie Weegar is a +17. Of course, we’re talking about one of the most flawed statistics in the sport, but it’s always been its most valuable in the extremes, and with three games to go, Andersson is right there with Connor Bedard (-39), Tyler Bertuzzi (-39), and Mason Lohrei (-43) in the race for the NHL’s green jacket. At least it can only go up from here.

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