There are just 12 games remaining in the 2019-20 Calgary Flames regular season schedule. Let’s dive into the mailbag as we mull over the preceding 70 games.

Does the coaching staff typically use the six best defenders they have? Typically yes. Or more appropriately, they roll with the five best guys they have – Mark Giordano, Noah Hanifin, Rasmus Andersson, TJ Brodie and Travis Hamonic – and whichever players they have to fill in gaps if any of those five are injured. Currently Hamonic is out and given the need to get the power play going, putting in Derek Forbort and Erik Gustafsson instead of Oliver Kylington makes some sense. Forbort is a veteran who’s better defensively than Kylington, plays a more physical style and can kill penalties. Gustafsson is a veteran who is better offensively than Kylington and can play on the power play. It’s disappointing to see Kylington parked lately, but the logic behind the move is sound.

When Hamonic comes back, I would suspect Forbort drops out and goes to the press box. Rather than have three healthy defenders sitting, we’ll probably see Kylington head to Stockton. Considering that the Heat are currently rolling with four AHL signees on their blueline – Zac Leslie, Corey Schueneman, Rob Hamilton and Les Lancaster – Kylington would be a huge upgrade and get a chance to play a ton.

If the Flames don’t bring in anybody from the outside?

I think Gustafsson would be a good fit, but it might be challenging to sign him and stay under the cap ceiling. Juuso Valimaki has missed basically a year and a half of hockey in the last two seasons and will still be waiver exempt, so he starts 2020-21 in Stockton and tries to force his way onto the NHL roster by mid-season.

Based on the last 20-ish games, the short answer is “Yes, as long as Cam Talbot gets a majority of the starts.” As you likely saw in our seven game segment breakdown, Talbot is better than David Rittich this season in basically every game situation – and slightly worse than him in high danger scenarios – and he’s been very steady and consistent lately. Rittich has been a bit of a rollercoaster, which has made life challenging at times for the Flames.

To put it differently: Talbot has stolen games for the Flames lately, Rittich hasn’t. Neither of them has given games away, and the Flames have league average goaltending this season.

Most likely? I would suspect the Flames will try to re-sign Talbot to another short term deal.