Follow me on Twitter @ToddCordell
Calgary Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan touched on a wide range of topics in a recent interview with Wes Gilbertson of the Calgary Herald.
I'm going to touch on some of the notable quotes but I still recommend
reading the piece in its entirety.
“The challenge, for sure, is managing expectations. We weren’t a 5-10-1 team to start last year, and we weren’t a 16-5 team to end. We finished with 94 points. I think, realistically, we can do better than that. But to make a jump from 77 to 94 to 118 isn’t realistic. So we have to manage that expectation. Our goal is we think we could be a 100-point club. That’s kind of what I think a lot about in the summer — trying to manage that expectation but also have something in mind that we think we could be.”
I think 100 points is a good and realistic target. The Flames hit 94 last season and that was despite a horrendous start to the season, as Gulutzan mentioned, and pretty inconsistent goaltending from Brian Elliott and Chad Johnson.
Mike Smith has been one of the better goaltenders at 5v5 over the last two years so if he can continue to be above average, or even average, and the Flames don't stumble out of the gate, they should be in pretty good shape.
I think the Pacific is pretty open this year and that should help the Flames as well.
WG: Let’s stick with Hamonic for a second … How do you expect him to complement his likely defence partner T.J. Brodie?
GG: “I think No. 1 is he can certainly play the same up-style game that Brods can. If you look at Travis, he’s a really good skater. He’s not void of offence, however, I think he’s going to be more of an anchor there that can really let Brods skate and move and play his game. I think there’s going to be a lot of predictability for T.J. and I think that’s going to open him up to play a real in-the-play, tight-gap, in-your-face, big-time skating game. And T.J. also has another year of playing on the left side under his belt, which gives him 82 games of an adjustment, and he’s got another right-handed partner. I think that stability is going to help T.J. tremendously.”
Paying with Hamonic is a *huge* step in the right direction for Brodie -- he spent the majority of his minutes last year anchored by either Deryk Engelland or Dennis Wideman -- but Gulutzan might be overselling Hamonic's defensive game a little bit.
Over the last couple years, Hamonic has actually been a better shot generator than shot suppressor and his penalty killing numbers haven't been great.
Brodie is probably the better defender of the two so, while I think they'll make a good pairing, I'm not sure Brodie will be able to roam as much as one would think. Definitely more than last year, though.
WG: Does Micheal Ferland open training camp as your first-line right-winger and, if so, how does he keep that slot?
GG: “Yeah, the way I look at things the way they are right now, that’s where I would put Ferly. But it also depends on how he comes to camp. The one thing that every coach hopes for and I think especially every GM hopes for is that there’s a surprise at camp — some young guy who has put in the work in the summer and who has come in and has made you take a look at him.
This is definitely the right call.
Ferland meshed very well with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan at the end of the season and they should be given the opportunity to pick up where they left off.
Ferland has skill, obviously, but he brings an edge and works his ass off in the corners to get the puck for his teammates. That type of player generally works well with stars. Ferland was the guy the Flames probably thought they were getting when they signed Troy Brouwer.
On top of Ferland being a nice fit alongside the Flames' high powered offensive duo, using him on the top line allows Gulutzan to balance the lineup. A more skilled creator like Kris Versteeg can play lower and help the team get scoring from the 3rd line.
WG: We didn’t see a lot of Curtis Lazar after he arrived at the trade deadline, but we saw snippets of him at both wing and centre. Where does he fit this fall?
GG: “I think, in the beginning, I would play him in a little bit of either position. He prefers the centre position. He may have to play wing. But give him some reps, especially early on, at both positions … We want to make sure that we put him on a path to succeed and get his confidence back and have the season that he wants to have. We’re going to be very mindful of what we do with Curtis, but it’s not going to be like it was last year where he didn’t play for long stretches. We’re going to get him going. We know that he’s done a heck of a lot of work this summer, so we’re excited to see him.”
I think Lazar is better suited for the wing. Over the last couple years, he hasn't shown the ability to contribute much of anything at either end of the ice so putting him at center and giving him more responsibility seems like a bad idea. Matt Stajan is coming off a real nice season, too, so I wouldn't want to move him away from where he's comfortable.
It's good to hear Lazar is putting in the work to try and get better but I'm not willing to blindly assume he'll be much more effective in October than he was in May.
A lot of athletes improve their strength, conditioning, etc. over the summer, come into camp 'in the best shape of their lives' and it doesn't translate into much more success on the ice.
Right now, I see Lazar as a mediocre 4th liner and my opinion isn't going to change until he proves otherwise in meaningful games.
There's only one open spot in the top-9 so he's really going to have to take big strides if he wants to play more than 10 minutes per game.
Recent posts:
ESPN ranks Flames' prospect system among NHL's worst
NHL Network ranks Johnny Gaudreau as 10th best winger
Jagr could be the forward the Flames are looking for
Ranking the top-5 wingers in the Western Conference
On Versteeg, Brodie, and power play shooting
Kulak should replace Bartkowski on the 3rd pairing
Smith could be a more than adequate solution for the Flames
On Valimaki and his lofty goal of making the Flames out of camp
Breaking down the Travis Hamonic trade
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
Join the Discussion:
»