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Tonight the Calgary Flames will play host to the Detroit Red Wings who carry a 3-5-2 record on the road and are 5-3-2 in their last ten games played.
While the Flames are struggling, the Red Wings haven’t been doing much better and are arguably in a similar situation as the Flames given that they have recently been struggling to find success. Top preformer’s Henrik Zetterberg has but 1 goal in the past 19 games and Pavel Datsyuk hasn’t scored in 11 games. That’s why Detroit, like Calgary, has been using different player combinations all year. Like the Flames, they have also been affected by several injuries, missing several top forwards though they are hopeful that Filppula will be back tonight. Lastly, with respect to comparisons between the two, they are fresh off losses in head to head games against Columbus.
The match up gives Detroit the edge with as they hold 12 wins and 9 losses over our 9 wins and 11 losses. The teams match up evenly in terms of shots for and against and although the Flames have outscored them on average, they fall behind in goals allowed. Though something to be said with respect to GA, Kiprusoff struggled early on with a weak defensive team and was injured shortly after. The Flames strength against a team like Detroit will be on the power play as the Wings have had even more trouble on the road with their PK.
Despite their mediocre season, the Red Wings have pulled out some big wins this year, beating Vancouver 8-3 and taking Chicago to overtime. In our last meeting, we burned Detroit 4-1 without Kiprusoff and Iginla had his first goal of the season. The team is seemingly deflated since last playing the Wings as they sit dead last in their conference, so the outcome of this game could be much different.
The Flames will be looking for redemption tonight at home after an embarrassing 0-3 road trip. In order to get a win tonight they should focus on the basics and keep things simple. Prior to their road trip, the Flames were headed in the right direction and have since fell off course losing the faith of most fans.
Whether it is their goal to throw in the towel on the year or not, a team should always fight hard together every night. Though for many the season may be all but lost, there is still a lot the team needs to work on in order to improve for upcoming seasons.
Looks like Kiprusoff will get the start, and Glencross was out on the ice skating and shooting pucks though not likely ready to play tonight.
**
To digress from today’s pregame discussion, I’d like to focus on the remarks throughout the comments section of late regarding the team and its direction carrying forward. It seems the notion of “cheering to lose” has been more than welcomed from most Calgary fans this year, and with their current position in the standings, it appears more have decided to jump aboard the “lose to win” ship.
Given that it is my job to care for every facet of the Calgary Flames team just like the day I stood up in front of my family and said “I do”, I will write through the thick and thin and try to keep things optimistic even in bad times like these. The Flames are but a few losses from having a yard sale as the team struggles to compete on a consistent basis. As I wrote to begin the year, chances were the team was going to compete their hearts out until it was no longer realistic to continue to battle for the post season. I should hope that by this time of the year, the Flames management has decided that this group has gone as far as they can with its current supporting cast, and changes must ensue.
With that being said, it’s fitting that we discuss who is likely on the trade block for the Flames, and who could be players they seek in return. Given that, for the most part, any trade which has happened in recent years was unexpected by most, we can only speculate as to which players no longer fit the mold of the Flames carrying forward and which of those players could be helpful to other teams.
Below I will start by listing the players from the Calgary Flames who I feel will either gain interest from other teams around the league, or who are being shopped. The order they will be listed in will have to do with how likely I feel each player will be moved either before the deadline, or at the time of this year’s draft.
RW –
Jarome Iginla – 35 years old - Cap hit: Final year $7M, 2013-14 UFA - NMC
D –
Jay Bouwmeester – 29 years old – Cap hit: 1 more year $6.68M - NTC
RW –
Lee Stempniak – 30 years old – Cap hit: 1 more year $2.5M,
G –
Miikka Kiprusoff – 36 years old – Cap hit: 1 more year $5.83M
LW –
Blake Comeau – 27 years old – Cap hit: 2013-14 UFA
LW –
Alex Tanguay – 33 years old – Cap hit: 3 more years $3.5M - Modified NTC
LW –
Curtis Glencross – 30 years old – Cap hit: 2 more years $2.55M - NMC
LW –
Mike Cammalleri – 30 years old – Cap hit: 1 more year $6M – Limited NTC
Now to mirror the above list, I will provide a few players from around the league (in no order) who I feel the Flames may show interest in.
Minnesota Wild – Setoguchi
St Louis Blues – Stewart, Cole, Perron
Anaheim Ducks - Perry, Winnik, Lindholm
Chicago Blackhawks – Hjalmarsson
Pittsburg Penguins – Kennedy, Sutter
Boston Bruins – Spooner
Washington Capitals – Ovechkin, Backstrom, Johansson
Detroit Red Wings – Filppula
Tampa Bay Lighting – Purcell
NY Rangers – Stepan, J.T. Miller, Kreider
Colorado Avalanche – Stastny
There are a selected few players mentioned above which would require some creativity from each GM in order to make a deal work but they are worth discussing nonetheless. I will offer more of my assessments as the games progress and certain players become more or less available depending on the success of their respective teams, however for the time being these are the players I feel may be moved.
Thanks for reading!
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