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Tonight the Calgary Flames will take on the Pheonix Coyotes at home.
Coach Bob Hartley’s plan for the rest of the season is to develop Mikael Backlund who he wants at the centre position and testing out the youngsters. He’s pretty happy with their showings but his immediate priority is working on Backlund’s potential who is the most veteraned “prospect”, if you will.
As for the rest of the lineup tonight, Jiri Hudler and Steve Begin should return to the ice but don’t expect Kiprusoff to start. Hartley has said Joey MacDonald will get the start after a bruised Kiprusoff missed Thursdays practice.
As we’ve discussed a few times now, the Flames don’t need to win tonight’s game but hopefully they will play tough and continue to improve.
In continuation of my draft selection overview, today we move onto part four which features Tappara’s center Alexsander Barkov from the Finnish Elite League. As of April 8th, Craig Button has him listed as #4 on the draft depth chart.
Barkov recently sustained a shoulder injury in a playoff game that had him sidelined for the remainder of the season, but his stock is still up. The 6’2 205lbs offender had 21 goals and 48 points in the regular season. In the five playoff games prior to his injury, he had a total of 4 points.
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What can Barkov offer the Flames? He is a big offensively skilled player who works hard on all areas of the ice, something the Flames are lacking offensively. Though Barkov’s talents do not stop there; he is a sniper who can stickhandle and set up teammates with the best of them. With his Finnish club, he’s already playing against older and bigger players, so his game could potentially crossover to the NHL better than previous prospects have shown. Additionally, Barkov is a 2 way center who understands his responsibilities to defend in addition to scoring, which should be another big point for Calgary. A strong two way centerman is one of the Flames biggest needs, so Barkov could be a big difference maker in Calgary immediately.
Why would the Flames want to pass him up? This season Hartley struggled to effectively integrate KHLer Roman Cervenka into the Flames roaster. Whether or not Hartley is the kind of coach who can work with all types of players is still left to be seen, but will be important carrying forward for the club. That being said, in his first year Cervenka was still able to put up decent numbers and his countryman Hudler seems to do just fine in Calgary. The only real criticism I have against the notion to go after a guy like Barkov would be the potential barrier to Barkov’s development as a Flame, given his language and experience in European leagues.
Barkov definitely has a high level of talent and is arguably closer to NHL ready than most draft picks; something Feaster might take into account given their teams wishes to remain competitive through this “rebuikd”. Barkov should be able to help the Flames in both their short and long term goals and would be a strong asset if they do decide to scoop him up.
That’s all for today folks, thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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