The Calgary Flames will kick off their season tonight against the very team that held them three points out of the playoffs in the Winnipeg Jets. While there are months to go and 81 other games to play — two points today over a perennial Wildcard rival could make the difference between playing hockey or playing golf come May.
Let’s look at the lineups as well as a few storylines to follow in today’s home opener.
Calgary Courtesy of Pat Steinberg. @Fan960Steinberg Huberdeau-Lindholm-Dube Sharangovich-Kadri-Coronato Mangiapane-Backlund-Coleman Greer-Ruzicka-Duehr Hanifin-Andersson Zadorov-Weegar Oesterle-Tanev
Markstrom Vladar
Winnipeg Practice lines courtesy of Mitchell Clinton. @MitchellClinton Connor-Scheifele-Vilardi Niederreiter-Perfetti-Ehlers Iafallo-Lowry-Appleton Barron-Kupari-Namestnikov
Morrissey-DeMelo Samberg-Pionk Dillon-Schmidt
Hellebuyck Brassoit
A Big 4th With the addition of the 6’3…, 210lbs AJ Greer, Calgary now has a formidable fourth line option. On the right is the speedy 6’2…, 207lbs Walker Duehr and down the middle is 6’4…, 216lbs Adam Ruzicka.
Big, fast, and with an element of toughness. Not bad. All three are under the age of 27.
The End of an Experiment It’s encouraging. In a recent piece, we examined a few reasons to be worried heading into the season. A lack of toughness was highlighted after Matthew Coronato took not one, but two big hits against Vancouver’s A Squad to finish out the preseason.
That was addressed with AJ Greer. Another issue? Nikita Zadorov and Jordan Oesterle were split up. Both riverboat gamblers in all three zones, the pairing wasn’t a fit. Tonight Zadorov reunites with MacKenzie Weegar and Oesterle gets to take risks while Chris Tanev keeps the defensive aspects in check.
One issue mentioned in the piece went unaddressed.
Lingering Doubt Designated as the #1 goalie in 2022-2023, Jacob Markstrom had a season worth leaving in the past.
A .892 save percentage and a 2.92 goals against average we’re both the worst numbers he has put up in a full NHL season. The now 33 year old goaltender allowed a goal against in the first shot against in eight regular season games.
Teammates, coaching, management, fans and media all couldn’t help but be worried on October 6, when Markstrom once again allowed a goal on the first shot of the game. A Tyler Myers point shot that got slightly tipped in front of the net.
Markstrom had a rough preseason. Other than shutting out Vancouver’s C Squad for two periods en route to a 10-0 win, the 6’6… keeper struggled against depth offensive talent. Once against Winnipeg and then Vancouver. Based on their play in camp, Daniel Vladar should be the team’s #1. An eight million dollar salary this season, the third highest among NHL goaltenders, says otherwise.
Can Markstrom turn things around and rediscover his ability to steal games? Tune in tonight and we’ll see.
Game time is 8:00 pm MST. Puck drop will likely be closer to 8:25 given it’s the home opener. Lineups will be introduced and there will likely be a presentation or two. Catch the broadcast on Sportsnet in Canada and ESPN+ in the US.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via espn.com and eliteprospects.com.