The Calgary Flames were off on Sunday after completing a four game Central Division road trip with a 3-1 win in Winnipeg.
The Flames don’t play another game until Thursday, when they host the Buffalo Sabres. Thursday’s game begins a stretch of 10 games over 17 days leading into the 4 Nations Face-off break.
As we enjoy this brief calm before the storm, let’s delve into the mailbag!
We’ll have some discussion on the site later today breaking both sides of the Andersson debate down in detail…
But to me, here’s my thought process: MacKenzie Weegar and Rasmus Andersson are both very good NHL blueliners. Weegar can play either side. You can play them together. You can play them on different pairings with different partners. It feels like Kevin Bahl has found a home in the top two pairings and is a long-term asset. The Flames have some young blueliners that they’re pretty high on in Hunter Brzustewicz, Henry Mews and Zayne Parekh. But development isn’t a linear path, and even a player as well-regarded as Andersson – a second-rounder in 2015 – didn’t become a full-time NHLer until his third year of pro hockey.
Yeah, you would need to pay both Weegar and Andersson, and that’s not nothing. But if you keep Weegar and Andersson, it allows you to bring your kids along slowly and build them up.
There are two categories of teams I would avoid: desperate teams, and Edmonton.
Desperate teams would be teams that need to “win” a trade, and so their dealing with them might become complicated and more trouble than they’re worth. And Edmonton is Edmonton, a team the Flames have only made three trades with ever, and none of those trades are fondly remembered.
At this point, I don’t expect many AHL signings, as I suspect the Wranglers will fill in the gaps with some of their signed players currently playing in the ECHL with Rapid City. I’ll give some credit to Brad Pascall and his scouting group, as the Wranglers have gotten some really effective contributions from folks like goalie Connor Murphy and forward Brett Davis so far.
Later in the season, we’ll likely see some drafted prospects show up on the Wranglers roster as their junior seasons end and their teams get eliminated from the playoffs. For now, it’ll probably be call-ups from the ECHL.
Based on our current understanding of the NCAA’s rules – and bear in mind, they may change – if you’ve signed an NHL contract, you’re no longer eligible to play college hockey. As such, since Zayne Parekh has signed a deal with the Flames, his options for next season as a 19-year-old are playing in the NHL or playing in the Ontario Hockey League.
Arguably under-performing are the organization’s two Russian goalies, Kirill Zarubin and Yegor Yegorov. Neither has been out-and-out bad, but neither has really grabbed hold of a full-time starting gig – Zarubin has been splitting time with AKM Tula, while Yegorov bounced around a bit before landing with the Soviet Wings’ junior side. They’re both young and needs reps to improve, and they haven’t gotten a ton this season.
In terms of exceeding expectations, I’m going to single out three players that have taken big steps forward offensively: UMass sophomore Aydar Suniev, Kingston forward Jacob Battaglia, and Brampton standout Luke Misa. But the Flames have had a lot of youngsters making progress this season, so this is far from an exhaustive list.
Got a question for a future mailbag? Contact Ryan on Twitter/BlueSky at @RyanNPike or e-mail him at Ryan [at] TheNationNetwork.com! (Make sure you put Mailbag in the subject line!)
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