Follow Colin on Twitter!:
@ColinDJD
Yesterday was a busy day for the Calgary Flames organization as not only did they fire their GM, but they sent one of their most NHL ready prospects to the AHL and also took two points in OT against the Carolina Hurricanes.
To begin with the game recap, the Flames took on a somewhat struggling Canes group at home and the game itself would not produce much in terms of offense from either side. With no goals scored in the first period, it would be Brian McGrattan of all players to open the scoring in the 2nd. Receiving a pass from Lance Bouma who created a turnover in the corner, McGrattan threw the puck on net beating Justin Peters for his first goal of the year and 7th of his career.
This is a recording – the Flames could not hold on to a 3rd period lead and would allow a game tying goal. Midway through the third period, the Flames would give up a goal to Jeff Skinner off a wrist shot which would send the game to OT. Thankfully, however, it would be the Flames to put away the game with a wrist shot from Chris Butler only four seconds into the extra frame.
"I knew we got out there with about 30 seconds left," Butler said. "I saw Giordano drive in the middle lane there, jumping up. I didn't want to join, and Paul did a great job having great patience, hanging onto the puck, and I just tried to be available there and really just kind of threw a muffin on net and Backlund put a good screen there, and I don't think [Peters] saw it."
Prior to the game I mentioned that there were no expected line changes and it appears that the Flames brass had a different thought. Sending rookie Sven Baertschi down the AHL, the Flames would be without a little less “star” power among their top lines, despite the fact that Baertschi has been seeing a lot of bottom 6 minutes this year.
The 21 year old winger is currently the Flames most NHL ready prospect, and it appears he’s not all that NHL ready in the eyes of Brian Burke and upper management. Burke has always maintained that developing his rookies at the proper pace, whether that be at the NHL or AHL level, is very important to him. That said, the struggling rookie simply wasn’t cutting it at the NHL level and it appears that those in charge feel that some time in the AHL will help with his confidence and development.
With only 11pts in 26 games played to date, Baertschi was looked upon to have a greater impact on this team this year, moving into his 2nd year with the club despite only having a total of 51 NHL games under his belt. While fans are likely a little frustrated with his play, it should stand to reason that everyone in the hockey world, including Burke, remains patient with him. The kid has talent there is no question about it, he simply needs to find his game at the NHL level and build up enough confidence to prove to the world what it is that he has to offer.
That said, it was Brian Burke acting as the new general manager for the Flames after firing Jay Feaster who sent him down. If you recall, Burke used these words to describe Baertschi just a little while ago.
“This is a guy, right now, who’s focusing on one area,” Burke said at the time. “And even then, sporadically.”
“There’s three zones on the ice … and I don’t see that he’s learned to play and compete in two of them.”
With Burke now completely in charge of the team, I can only imagine that more changes and or bold moves should be expected. While Feaster appeared to be playing it safe and making minor moves/deals, Burke is not one to be overly patient and the current team who has allowed more 3rd period let downs than he would like to see, is not sitting well with him.
Burke likes his big brawny players and as he’s said a few times over, he wants his team to “crash and bang”. For me, it means guys like Baertschi and Backlund are likely names that often come up in discussions of players who may not fit his “blueprint”. Things may start to get pretty interesting around this team with Burke now in complete charge, and while some may be a little worried about this, Burke is a strong hockey guy and will only do his best to keep the team fighting every single passing year.
Interesting to think…we have Brian Burke as acting GM and Bob Hartley as coach. Those are two tough SOB’s to have to play under, if I can say so myself! I think it takes a tandem such as these two to keep teams from failing during a rebuild. Though I’m sure it will upset a few, the Oilers could have used a GM and or coach similar to what the Flames have at the moment to try and instill a “no excuses” environment.
I really don’t know what else to offer in terms of the Oilers at this point, they are in their 10th year(only kidding) of the rebuild and still sit bottom three in the league. Something needs to be done with that group, you really can’t sit around and just expect things to start clicking on their own, but I digress.
Despite sending down Baertschi, Burke mentioned during his press conference that he is all for having smaller, nonphysical players in his top 6 as it is easier to fill the “facepuncher” role than it is to fill the skilled forward position. In fact, Burke called and spoke to the Boston College coach recently regarding Johnny Gaudreau.
The gist of the conversation was likely that Gaudreau needs to be ready in terms of his physicality and development as even though the prospect has a ton of talent but his transition to the NHL could be difficult given his size. Gaudreau is expected to join the team near the end of the season when the College season comes to a close.
There will be much more to discuss over the upcoming weeks, but for the time being the Flames are exercising a Christmas trade freeze and there are no trades to be expected until at least around January.
That’s all for today, thanks for reading!
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»