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The Calgary Flames have acquired 24 year old Lane MacDermid from the Dallas Stars in exchange for a 6th round draft selection in 2014, which was just recently acquired from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for forward Tim Jackman yesterday.
Drafted 112th overall by the Boston Bruins in 2009, MacDermid has spent the majority of his career playing in the AHL with the Providence Bruins where he has registered 249gp, 46 points, and 516 PIM. The 6’3 205lbs forward was brought in by the Flames organization as an attempt to fill a void recently created by calling up Blair Jones to join their NHL roster.
MacDermid will report to the Abbotsford Heat and will likely remain within the AHL for the majority of the season as the Heat attempt to compete for the 2014 Calder Cup. That said, MacDermid provides depth for the organization in terms of the “bruiser” type if they ever need an extra pair of knuckles in the absence of enforcer Brian MacGrattan.
As shown below fighting Toronto’s Mark Fraser (twice in the same game), Lane is a tough competitor and should provide the Flames with that extra muscle when called upon.
As previously mentioned, I will be putting together a Flames Q&A shortly and welcome all questions or concerns you may have with respect to the Calgary organization. I will select a handful of questions submitted and will answer them in the next blog.
You can either submit your questions within the thread of the blog, or via Twitter.
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The Calgary Flames will play host to the Florida Panthers tonight as each team hopes to try and avoid a two game losing streak.
Coming off a 4-1 loss last night against the Edmonton Oilers, the Panthers should have a slight disadvantage playing back to back road games where as the Flames have had a day off in preparation. Speaking of days off, after tonight’s game the Flames will not take to the ice again until the 27th against the Hawks.
Outside of their loss last night, the Panthers have been doing quite well winning three of four games played. Florida is one of the league’s worst ranked teams in terms of goals scored with just over 2 goals scored on average per game. With that in mind, the Flames will need to be prepared for a hard working group who have found success in outskating their opponents while essentially waiting for their chances to come rather than pushing for them, if you will.
''The key was the energy, we didn't have any,'' Panthers’ interim coach Peter Horachek said. ''That's the key to the game, if your energy is better and you go out with a workman attitude, everything improves, the whole game improves from our standpoint."
The Flames, who have had no problems finding the back of the net, will need to continue to focus on their defensive play and maintain any leads which they may acquire – something they have been struggling with this year. That said, in their most recent games Calgary has had really only one line going for them which about anyone, including head coach Bob Hartley will tell you is rather difficult to find success with.
Tonight will be the first game which the Panthers have played in Calgary since October 2010 and as mentioned, they are likely to be a little worn down from last night’s game. If Calgary comes out of the gates flying and doesn’t expect their opponent to show signs of fatigue with their back to back road games tonight, they should be able to secure an extra two points for the season, ultimately avoiding another two game losing streak and also their seventh consecutive loss at home.
Below are your expected lines for tonight’s game. Reto Berra appears to be the likely candidate for the starting position once again, leaving Karri Ramo on the bench for the 5th straight game.
Mike Cammalleri - Matt Stajan - Lee Stempniak
Sven Baertschi - Sean Monahan - Jiri Hudler
Lance Bouma - Joe Colborne - David Jones
Blair Jones - Mikael Backlund - Brian McGrattan
Kris Russell - TJ Brodie
Chris Butler - Dennis Wideman
Ladislav Smid - Shane O'Brien
Reto Berra
Thanks for reading!
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