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Although the NHL season opened last night for a few teams, the Calgary Flames must remain patient to get their first game of the year under wraps as they look forward to playing the Washington Capitals tomorrow night.
I suppose it’s a good thing for the Flames to have an extra day or two of preparation given their young players still likely trying to figure out coach Bob Hartley’s systems. One young player in particular who could use the extra time is newly acquired centerman Joe Colborne who has only had two practices to date in preparation for the season opener.
Given that the team appears to be giving recently drafted Sean Monahan every chance he needs to make this team, it will be interesting to see what the coaching staff decides to do with the line combinations as they currently have four potential top three centermen available to them. As I explained previously, I would image that guys like Colborne and Backlund will interchange between the wing and center, as the club should already have a good enough idea of what they have with Backlund playing down the middle. The focus for the first several games will, by and large, be on Colborne and Monahan as the two battle it out for that 2nd or 3rd line role with the big club.
Both players so far have shown their willingness and desire to stay in the NHL for the entire year, however with the comments from GM Jay Feaster directed towards Sven Baertschi yesterday, I would imagine that the club will try and not repeat a mistake they felt they exercised with Sven. However, all things considered I will hold that, despite my previous comments, Sean has looked great so far and appears to have the strength and hockey smarts to play at the NHL level.
I’m sure that many of you watched the games last night across the league, and I think what we can all take away from them is one thing; intensity. The Flames will need to be prepared for an intense game tomorrow against the Capitals who have already arguably shaken their first game jitters with a strong game against the Blackhawks. I will leave my thoughts about each team in my pregame write-up tomorrow, however.
As mentioned, there was a lot of intensity throughout the games played last night. With the 100PIM handed out during the Toronto-Montreal game, the fast paced action of the Capitals-Hawks game, and the rookie mistakes and successes displayed during the Oilers-Jets game, the Flames should come prepared for just about anything.
It will be wise for the group to settle their nerves going into tomorrow’s game, as this will be the first NHL game for some, and the first game sporting a Flames jersey for others. What I would like to point out with respect to the difference between this year and the last(aside from the official rebuild), is goaltending. I get the impression that the Flames continue to be heavily underrated as a whole due to their “uncertainties” between the pipes.
I know we’ve hashed out this debate several times over the past month or two, but I’d like to add a few points which I still feel are being overlooked when it comes to this team and its goaltending. Many fans seem to feel that without the likes of Miikka Kiprusoff between the pipes for them, that they are ultimately doomed. Well here’s a news flash – Kiprusoff was ranked 44th overall last year in SV% and 43rd in GAA…not entirely sure that they could do much worse, really.
Point is – if either Karri Ramo or Joey MacDonald can improve upon these particular stats, it’s not exactly reaching far to say that the Flames could improve upon their record as they will still ice their top scorers from last year in addition to a few improvements to round out the team. I don’t know, I could be look at this with a glass half-full attitude, but when I break down teams from one year to the next I try to compare what their weaknesses were (defense/goaltending), and what their strengths were(hard work/special teams), and assess if either have improved or not.
With that being said, I find that there is a strong possibility that the Flames have improved upon their goaltending from last year, though that notion is still much in the air. Defensively I feel that they have improved by adding some muscle in a guy like Shane O’Brien, and a full year of a strong skater in TJ Brodie. Additionally, they have added guys like TJ Galiardi and David Jones who will not only help out with defensive parts of their game, but should also chip in a few goals.
As mentioned, in terms of offense the Flames will ice the same group of players who were among their top scorers, save for Alex Tanguay. To replace Tanguay’s offensive output, the Flames will have a full year of rookie Sven Baertschi, at least nine games of Sean Monahan, and the addition of Joe Colborne. While individually I wouldn’t expect these players to surpass Tanguay’s offensive numbers, collectively they should have no problem in getting it done.
Just a few things to ponder over as we prepare for the season opener tomorrow night.
Thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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