1) Daniel Pribyl recently spoke with the Calgary Herald about signing with the Calgary Flames and his future with the organization.
The most notable comment, in my opinion, was Pribyl saying he's more comfortable down the middle than on the wing.
“I feel more comfortable at centre,… he said. “But two or three months at the end of this season I played at right wing and I don’t think it’s that different.
Pribyl can prefer to play center all he wants but with Sean Monahan, Mikael Backlund and, at some point, Sam Bennett playing down the middle there is simply no need there.
That said, Pribyl's comments suggest playing the wing isn't a big issue and his play down the stretch seems to be evidence of that. While playing wing in playoffs he managed to tally 11 points in nine games. That's right in line with his regular season production, where he played a fair bit of center, so switching to the wing didn't appear to be a big problem for him.
I don't think Pribyl is a lock to make the team but his chances are certainly a lot better if he can play the wing effectively.
2) Jyrki Jokipakka's status for the World Cup of Hockey is reportedly in question after undergoing hip surgery. Jokipakka's absence wouldn't be a crushing blow to Finland's chances, however, they have just three other NHL blue liners on their roster (Sami Vatanen, Rasmus Ristolainen and Olli Maatta) so losing him certainly wouldn't be ideal.
3) The good thing about Mark Giordano, T.J. Brodie and Dougie Hamiton being left off World Cup rosters is that, well, they were left off World Cup rosters.
That, of course, means the Flames' top three blue liners won't be emptying the tank against top competition and risking injury right before the NHL season begins.
It would have been nice to see even one of those guys rewarded for their efforts but, again, it's beneficial for the Flames to have them resting/training for the season as opposed to logging 20 minutes a night in a best-on-best international tournament.
Recent posts: Carlyle interviewed twice for coaching vacancy