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As I reported yesterday via Twitter, Darren Dreger recently stated that the Carolina Hurricanes have made an offer to the Calgary Flames as an attempt to acquire centerman Mikael Backlund.
At this point, the names offered within said proposed deal have not been released, however the deal has been declined by the Flames who are allegedly asking for more.
Any updates to this will be posted here.
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After a five day break between games, a well-rested Calgary Flames bunch will be tested against the league’s best Chicago Blackhawks who almost double the Flames in total points.
As we have seen many times this year, the Flames will take on opponents who are fresh off a victory against the Edmonton Oilers. Playing in Edmonton just two nights ago, Chicago took a decisive 5-1 win over the Oilers and are likely skating with a ton of confidence at the moment – not a good thing for a struggling Calgary team.
"We've got back to our systems and rolling all four lines," Shaw said. "Everybody is bringing the energy we need them to, and the chemistry through all four lines is pretty amazing right now. We've been playing some of our best hockey."
Currently 3-5-2 in their last ten games played, Calgary has managed to keep the majority of their games quite close but cannot ultimately secure their wins as they struggle to maintain a lead. What’s more, is that the Flames who haven’t necessarily had problems scoring, are expected to face Corey Crawford and his 1.00 goals against average in addition to his .968 SV% over his last stretch of games.
Edit: Antti Raanta to get the start tonight.
In terms of the Flames goaltending, it appears that the nod has been given to Reto Berra for the starting position once again. While Berra has been playing…well, decently…I can’t help but be muddled with the coaching decisions of late as Karri Ramo has not started a game since a loss at home on November 8th against the Colorado Avalanche. This is starting to seem a little odd to me, given Calgary’s history of relying heavily on one goalie and not developing others.
Also not in the lineup tonight will be TJ Galiardi who remains sidelined as the forward continues to experience “back spasms” after injuring himself during practice.
“He’s at home,” said Flames head coach Bob Hartley. “He’s still seized up. Right now, he feels like an old 1958 Chevy.”
Some good news with respect to injuries is the development of Flames captain Mark Giordano who was seen skating for the first time yesterday afternoon since breaking his ankle. The team has certainly missed the veteran presence of Giordano on their blueline, and a hopeful return in the near future would certainly pay dividends for the group.
Without too many changes expected in the lineup tonight, I find it a little odd that Mikael Backlund remains slotted on the 4th line given the current discussions that he may be the Flames next trade candidate. Playing limited, offensively restrictive minutes on the 4th line is not exactly the best way to showcase someone who you hope will yield a nice return.
Whether Hartley maintains that he will not play anyone who isn’t working their way into the lineup regardless of their name or not, this is another decision by the coaching staff which leaves me scratching my head.
That said, the Flames appear to be slowly confiding in winger Sven Baertschi once again as the rookie has been rewarded with more ice time of late. Playing a total of 15:11 throughout their last game in which he looked quite good, Baertschi has been given time on the power-play and more offensive entries which was lacking in previous games.
Moreover, Joe Colborne has been doing quite well of late as the centerman has notched two goals in his previous two games played. Struggling to put up points when he was originally acquired by the Flames, Colborne has slowly started to find his groove with his new team and is starting to find confidence in his game.
“I’m pretty fortunate to be getting this opportunity right now,” Colborne said. “As you go and you start to play a regular role at this level, the game kind of starts to slow down a little bit for you and your decision-making speeds up a little bit.
“You just start to get a comfort level that I haven’t felt before.”
Though the forward has made strides in improvements, there is still plenty of areas which he will need to continue to focus on if he wants to move up in the Flames lineup. Colborne started the year on the 4th line and has since moved up to the third between wingers Lance Bouma and David Jones.
Here are the lineups expected for tonight’s bout.
Cammalleri - Stajan - Stempniak
Baertschi - Monahan - Hudler
Bouma - Colborne - Jones
Jones - Backlund - McGrattan
Russell - Brodie
Smith - Wideman
Smid - Butler
Reto Berra
Thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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