Pals, we’re at the tail-end of September. By this time next week, the Calgary Flames will play three pre-season games and then set their starting roster for the 2025-26 NHL season.

A ton of things will unfold, and final decisions made on roster spots, over the next seven days. To help tee up a big week, let’s check in with the mailbag!

Man, German Titov was a really fun Flame. He played five seasons, from 1993 to 1998, and during that span only Theo Fleury scored more goals or had more points. If you look at points-per-game instead, Titov was behind just Joe Nieuwendyk, Gary Roberts, Al MacInnis, Fleury, Phil Housley, Robert Reichel and Dave Gagner. Titov wasn’t a great Flame, but he was a really good one.

I’m fascinated in regards to how the Flames figure out their blueline group, and here’s why. The Flames had Jake Bean and Daniil Miromanov in the NHL last season, playing against the NHL opposition. For better or for worse, they know the players and how they’ll respond in different situations. They know how Ilya Solovyov and Yan Kuznetsov response to AHL ups and downs, but they know much less about them in the NHL. If you’re wondering why it seems like teams tend to skew towards more established NHLers… you can kind of understand how they may weigh the risk/reward calculations.

In terms of how they’ve performed in camp, Bean and Miromanov were part of that Vancouver game in Abbotsford where the Flames just weren’t all that good for much of the proceedings and were held in the game by Ivan Prosvetov. Bean was also part of a fairly disappointing collective group effort at home against Edmonton, so we can understand the perception that he hasn’t been good because he’s been part of poor group performances. (You can make the same argument for Miromanov, though he was part of a decent showing in Edmonton on opening night.)

Between Kuznetsov and Solovyov, I’ll argue that Kuznetsov has looked a little better than Solovyov, but the big question is whether the Flames would feel more comfortable with one of them as the sixth or seventh defender than Bean. And again: they’ve worked closely with Bean for a season and know his strengths and weaknesses as an NHLer well. The same argument can be made for Miromanov.

We’ll see how everything unfolds. I’m not sure yet if they carry seven or eight blueliners, which is another wrinkle.

Devin Cooley would require waivers to be assigned to the Wranglers.

The most difficult thing to figure out will be who’s the fourth line centre (and in a related decision: do they carry 13 forwards or 14). Martin Pospisil is an option, but may be a better winger. Or they can try out one (or more) of Sam Morton, Justin Kirkland or Rory Kerins. Kerins, in particular, has had a really strong camp so far.

And we’ve already alluded to the races for the depth defender and backup goalie roles. We’ll see how everything plays out.