After a pretty hefty break – by National Hockey League standards – the Calgary Flames returned to practice on Friday morning to knock the rust off and get ready for a busy stretch in their schedule.

Here’s what we saw and heard on Friday morning at the Saddledome.

The Flames looked pretty much exactly as they looked prior to the break in terms of their lines and pairings.

Jonathan Huberdeau – Nazem Kadri – Martin Pospisil
Blake Coleman – Mikael Backlund – Matt Coronato
Yegor Sharangovich – Connor Zary – Jakob Pelletier
Ryan Lomberg – Kevin Rooney – Walker Duehr
Andrei Kuzmenko skated as an extra

Kevin Bahl – Rasmus Andersson
Joel Hanley – MacKenzie Weegar
Jake Bean – Brayden Pachal
Tyson Barrie – Daniil Miromanov

Netminders Dan Vladar and Dustin Wolf were in the home and road nets respectively, but with a back-to-back coming up we wouldn’t read too far into who was in which net.

The power play units were also status quo:

When you use Saturday as the starting point, the Flames have 43 days until their final game prior to the 4 Nations Face-Off break in February. From Saturday night in San Jose until their February finale against Seattle, the Flames play 22 games in that span.

It’s one of the most hectic stretches in the season.

“We break that down further as we get going,” said Huska. “But sometimes I think it’s important for the players to recognize what they’re going to see here over the next little while. We have 11 on the road, 11 at home. So it’s split pretty nicely for us. We have five back-to-back. So there’s a lot of hockey that’s going to be played by our team. It’s important to recognize that we’re going to need everybody to be at their best during this stretch. And for us, that starts tomorrow night in San Jose.”

Aside from four days between games in January after a four game road trip, the Flames don’t have more than two days between games from now until the 4 Nations Face-off break. And all five of their back-to-backs involve travel between games:

(For those of you keeping track, the Flames have one of the worst road records in the NHL, and five of their next 11 road games are on the second half of a back-to-back.)

Heading into this stretch, Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau indicated that the club has a pretty clear goal.

“It’s good to be back and I think the guys are excited,” said Huberdeau. “And now it’s starting to go on another run, you know, get a little streak going before the 4 Nations. And so that’s our goal. I think we want to focus on that stretch and be in a playoff spot when the other break is coming.”

There was a new face on the practice ice with a distinctive moustache: Wranglers head coach – and new interim Flames assistant coach – Trent Cull. Following practice, Huska detailed why Cull was the right guy to step into the Flames staff while Brad Larsen is away from the club.

“Well, in losing Larse, Larse was a presence for us in the room,” said Huska. “I felt like Larse had some swagger and he has been a head coach prior before and you could see that in him. And I feel with my time around Trent, he has that as well. So I do think that’s important for someone to walk in the dressing room and have a presence about him. And from his time with the Wranglers, from his time in the American League for a short time in Vancouver, he’s shown that. So I’m excited to have him around. I know he’s going to be a real strong addition to our staff.”

In terms of Cull’s responsibilities on the coaching staff, here’s how Huska put it:

“Eventually, we’re going to move him into the penalty kill side of things as well. So he’s going to work with the defencemen. He’ll work with our forwards. He’ll kind of be in all different situations. But as we get going, he’ll take over the penalty kill.”

Like Cull, Huska was once an AHL head coach that moved up to the NHL staff from the farm team. He joined the Flames’ staff as an assistant in 2018-19 after four seasons coaching the club’s AHL farm team. He credited Rasmus Andersson for aiding with the move, as well as a former Flames captain.

“Raz was great all the way through,” said Huska. “But for me, and quite honestly, I hope it happens for Trent too, Mark Giordano was the best for me. Because he was the guy that he kind of grabbed everybody along. So it could have been easy for him just to kind of be standoffish. But he was like, whatever you need from me, I’m here. And he made my switch from American League head coach to NHL assistant coach very easy because he helped me bring everybody along.”

The Flames travelled to San Jose on Friday afternoon. They face the Sharks on Saturday night.