Thanks for all your votes and thoughts in my poll from the last blog, about how you expect the Vancouver Canucks to fare in the upcoming season.
There was quite a bit of discussion about how the Canucks' fate will be tied to the potential improvement of the teams around them in the Pacific Division, which reminded me that I should keep breaking down the offseason fortunes of Vancouver's rivals and offering my thoughts on how they'll do next year.
Last week, I offered a snapshot of how the 2014-15 Pacific Division-leading Anaheim Ducks look like they'll stack up next season. Click here if you missed it.
Now that the summer development camps have wrapped up and the action has gotten quiet again, I'll continue working my way down last year's standings with the team that finished just behind Vancouver last season—the Calgary Flames.
The Flames finished the year in 16th place overall in the NHL with 97 points—an improvement of 20 points and 11 spots in the standings from their 27th-place finish in 2013-14.
Not much was expected of the rebuilding Flames last season and all year long, the pundits insisted that the team's strong start was a fluke and that they'd come back down to earth. Instead, they beat the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings head-to-head to secure that final Pacific Division playoff spot and kept rolling until they'd beaten the Canucks into submission into the playoffs—their first series win since they went to the Stanley Cup Final in 2003-04.
Calgary's season ended with a five-game loss to the Anaheim Ducks in Round 2.
All told, Calgary's season was a raging success. Bob Hartley won the Jack Adams award for coach of the year for turning his motley group back into a playoff contender; Johnny Gaudreau finished third in Calder Trophy voting as rookie of the year; Jiri Hudler beat his previous career best by 19 points to finish eighth overall in the NHL scoring race and won the Lady Byng Trophy and captain Mark Giordano had an inside line on the Norris until he was sidelined by a torn biceps in late February.
In their first year under new general manager Brad Treliving, with input from president of hockey operations Brian Burke, the Flames managed to successfully blend a mix of veterans with an influx of talented youth in order to turn their franchise around more quickly than anyone expected.
Here are the personnel changes the team has made this summer.
Departures:
• Raphael Diaz (D) - after playing 56 games in Calgary last season, unrestricted free agent Raphael Diaz signed a one-year contract worth $700,000 with the New York Rangers on July 1.
• David Schlemko (D) - the depth defenseman is an unrestricted free agent who hasn't been re-signed. He was picked up off waivers from Dallas on March 1 and played a third-pairing role through the stretch run and the playoffs.
• Corey Potter (D) - the unrestricted free agent hasn't been re-signed. He was signed as a depth defenseman last September but played just six games for the Flames. Potter also spent some time last season with Adirondack in the AHL.
• Devin Setoguchi (RW) - the unrestricted free agent hasn't been re-signed. Signed last summer for an inexpensive $750,000, the one-time 31-goal scorer went pointless in 12 games with the Flames and was also shuffled down to Adirondack.
• Brian McGrattan (RW) - after playing 76 games for the Flames in 2013-14, McGrattan's ice was limited to eight games in Calgary last season. He also spent some time in Adirondack. McGrattan was signed as a free agent by the Anaheim Ducks on July 10.
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• Ladislav Smid (D) - missed the second half of the season after surgery for a serious neck injury. The 29-year-old has two years left on a contract that pays him $3.5 million a season, but there's a chance that his playing career is finished.
Arrivals:
• Michael Frolik (RW) - the 27-year-old Czech parlayed a one-year deal at $3.3 million into a five-year contract with a cap hit of $4.3 million a season when he signed with the Flames—basically, the same as the Brandon Sutter contract.
Frolik is seen to be skilled but inconsistent. He's coming off back-to-back 42 point seasons and hasn't broken the 20-goal mark since his first two seasons in the league with Florida back in 2008-09 and 2009-10.
The Flames look like they're hoping that Frolik will develop into the second coming of Jiri Hudler once he suits up in Calgary.
• Dougie Hamilton (D) - this acquisition was seen as the coup of the summer. The Flames paid a steep price for Hamilton when they acquired his rights from the Boston Bruins—a first-rounder and two second-rounders in this year's draft. The Flames had two other second-round picks stockpiled for use this year; after that, their next pick didn't come till Round No. 5.
Hamilton comes with a nice pedigree: he's a 6'5", 217-pound 22-year-old whose point totals have increased in each of his first three years in the NHL. Last season in Boston, he hit 10 goals and 42 points in just 72 games—finishing 23rd overall among defensemen and just one point behind the more-heralded Oliver Ekman-Larsson of Arizona, who scored 23 goals.
Hamilton doesn't play an especially physical game, though. His 41 penalty minutes last season were the most of his career to date. He ranked fourth among Bruins defensemen with 106 hits for the year.
Do you remember when Boston was basking in its Stanley Cup glory a few years ago and being heralded for the team's defensive depth, with all the youngsters coming up? The players being named at that time were Hamilton, Torey Krug—and Matt Bartkowski, now a Vancouver Canuck.
Bartkowski was in and out of the lineup last year in Boston—essentially, bumped out by a couple of other youngsters, Kevan Miller and Zach Trotman.
Given that Hamilton is now Calgary's highest-paid defenseman with a cap hit of $5.75 million a season while Bartkowski was signed for a relatively humble $1.75 million for one year, my thinking might be unfair, but I'm curious to see how the two end up comparing to each other in their first seasons here out west.
Work to Be Done:
The Flames have done an efficient job this summer of re-signing their up-and-coming RFAs for reasonable money. They rank 12th in the NHL right now with a cap hit of about $69.2 million, per General Fanager—which covers 15 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies (but excludes 19-year-old Sam Bennett).
Calgary's only RFA left to be re-signed is Micheal Ferland.
Outlook for 2014-15:
After their success last season, it's no real surprise that the Flames have only made small adjustments to their lineup.
They've upgraded their skill level both up front and on the blue line with the additions of Frolik and Hamilton, and the players they've lost were mostly spare parts.
Despite their success last season, I'm expecting a dip for Calgary this year.
Giordano will be back—but biceps surgery for a 31-year-old can be serious business; he might not be the same player who jumped from relative obscurity to a top-line defenseman when he returns.
Also, the Flames have created a logjam up front, which could limit the playing time for some of their waiver-eligible young players.
As I mentioned above, Calgary currently has 15 forwards signed for next season—not counting Micheal Ferland or Sam Bennett. Players like Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau remain waiver-eligible, but they both deserve quality time in Calgary's top six. Mikael Backlund, Lance Bouma and Josh Jooris all had good years that should guarantee them roster spots.
If the Flames start the season healthy, Markus Granlund and Drew Shore would be the easiest players on the current roster to send to the minors. But I wonder what might become of Mason Raymond, who was a healthy scratch four times during the regular season and three times in the playoffs? Would the Flames think about moving David Jones, who's in the last year of a contract that pays him $4 million a season? He plays a physical game but ranked ninth in team scoring last season with 14 goals and 30 points.
Calgary's goaltending will also continue to be a question mark, as they come back with the tandem of Jonas Hiller and Karri Ramo for another season. The Flames ranked 17th defensively last season, with a goals-against of 2.60 per game.
Considering all the derision they received going into last season, I was happy to see the Flames prove the doubters wrong with a good season—until they beat the Canucks, of course.
I think Hartley and company are going to have a tougher time maintaining their spot in the Pacific Division standings next season than they had getting there last year.