Five things to watch when the Calgary Flames open the season against the Vancouver Canucks:
1. A new-look top line When the Calgary Flames signed James Neal to a lucrative contract in free agency, many assumed he'd get the first chance alongside Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan.
It is, however, Elias Lindholm who will play on the right side of that line tonight – and deservedly so.
He looked fantastic in preseason and really seemed to gel with Gaudreau and, to a lesser extent, Monahan (Lindholm spent less time with the latter).
Small sample size, I know, but in a little more than 20 minutes together at 5v5, they posted a 67.65 Corsi For% and connected on a couple of goals.
I think they have a good chance of continuing their strong play tonight against a Canucks team that figures to be one of the worst in the league.
2. A good test for the power play If there is one thing the Canucks are good at (besides banning their players from playing Fortnite), it is killing penalties. Last season they ranked 1st in Corsi Against/60 and 2nd in Expected Goals Against/60 while down a man.
All nine of the PKers to play 100+ minutes are returning and some new pieces like Jay Beagle will also be expected to contribute.
This will be a good test for a Flames power play that features four new players across the two units.
3. Exciting NHL debuts Juuso Valimaki and Dillon Dube put together terrific preseasons and they'll be in the lineup opening night as a result.
Both figure to play meaningful minutes, too, as Valimaki was used more than anyone on the PK during preseason while Dube gets the first crack playing opposite side $28.75 million man James Neal.
On the other end of the spectrum, Elias Pettersson will be appearing in his first NHL game. He is a supremely skilled player who will be relied upon heavily to contribute at both even-strength and on the power play. The Flames may have their hands full trying to slow down my 2018-19 Calder pick.
4. Mark Giordano I thought the 35-year-old blueliner looked spectacular in his tune-up games. He was shooting the puck a ton, he did not hesitate to jump into the play, and his defense was rock solid, as usual.
He is going to play a ton of minutes at evens *and* quarterback a power play that figures to be much better this season (it can't be any worse). I expect his point total to jump, which is not something you often say about a player his age.
5. Mike Smith Though Smith is far from the best player on the roster, he is one of the most important. Goaltending is the biggest question mark and he's the only potential answer on the Flames roster. If they're going to get back into the playoffs, he has to be good.
He wasn't at the end of last season and nothing changed over the last few weeks. It'd be nice to see him get off to a strong start and ease everyone's mind.
Here are the projected lineups:
Calgary (via @Fan960Steinberg)
Johnny Gaudreau - Sean Monahan - Elias Lindholm Matthew Tkachuk - Mikael Backlund - Michael Frolik Dillon Dube - Derek Ryan - James Neal Sam Bennett - Mark Jankowski - Austin Czarnik
Mark Giordano - T.J. Brodie Noah Hanifin - Travis Hamonic Juuso Valimaki - Michael Stone
Mike Smith
Vancouver (via DailyFaceoff.com)
Sven Baertschi - Bo Horvat - Brock Boeser Nikolay Goldobin - Elias Pettersson - Loui Eriksson Tyler Motte - Brandon Sutter - Jake Virtanen Tim Schaller - Jay Beagle - Markus Granlund
Alex Edler - Chris Tanev Michael Del Zotto - Troy Stecher Derrick Pouliot - Erik Gudbranson
Jacob Markstrom
Puck drop is just after 10:00 eastern and can be seen on Sportsnet.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com and Corsica.Hockey. Recent posts: Notes on Dube, Mangiapane, prioritizing skill, and the Kulak trade