A few Calgary Flames thoughts on the eve of the 2018-19 NHL season:
1) It was so refreshing to see Dillon Dube make the Calgary Flames' opening night roster. Coaches and management-types always talk about accountability and the best players playing. If Dube were to be sent down, that would have been rather hypocritical given the performances he put together during the preseason.
Dube's presence signifies the Flames are choosing skill over traditional bottom-6ers, which is long overdue. For so long they have stuffed the bottom of the roster with gritty players who bring little to no offense such as Troy Brouwer, Lance Bouma, Curtis Lazar, and Tanner Glass. Finally – finally! – they appear to have changed their priorities.
I mean, look at their projected top-12 on opening night:
#Flames today:
— Pat Steinberg (@Fan960Steinberg) October 1, 2018
Gaudreau-Monahan-Lindholm
Tkachuk-Backlund-Frolik
Dube-Ryan-Neal
Bennett-Jankowski-Czarnik
Lazar-Hathaway
Giordano-Brodie
Hanifin-Hamonic
Valimaki-Stone
Andersson-Prout
Sam Bennett is a consistent 25-30 point guy. Mark Jankowski scored at a 20 goal clip as a rookie. Austin Czarnik was one of the better offensive players in the AHL. And they make up the 4th line. Something tells me they'll do quite well in ~10-12 minutes per game against mostly fringe NHLers.
2) Though Andrew Mangiapane didn't crack the final roster – there simply wasn't room, which is a good problem to have – I think people should be optimistic about his future.
He may not have a cannon of a shot or eye-popping speed but he is very crafty and, simply put, good things happen when he is on the ice.
He logged almost 70 minutes at 5v5 during preseason play. In that time, the Flames out-attempted opponents 81-40 (66.94 CF%) and out-chanced them 40-8 (83.33 SCF%). Yes, you're reading that correctly.
His AHL numbers suggest he's capable of being a useful NHLer whenever he gets an opportunity. His preseason performance only strengthens that argument.
When someone inevitably falls to injury, the Flames should be comfortable Mangiapane can step in and do a good job.
3) Though the Brett Kulak trade is very minor in the grand scheme of things, I thought it made a lot of sense.
Kulak was surpassed on the depth chart by Juuso Valimaki and simply wasn't going to play in Calgary. He is a serviceable depth option, though, and deserved the opportunity to go to a team with use for him.
In exchange, the Flames received an elite AHL offensive defenseman in Matt Taormina and a bigger, more defensive minded player in Rinat Valiev. They will help make up for Valimaki and (hopefully) Andersson spending little to no time in Stockton this year.
Numbers via NaturalStatTrick.com. Recent posts: On Brodie's PK ice time, Valimaki, and goaltending