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“We had no intensity. If it's not for Karri Ramo, we could have gone on the plane after the first period."
This is what the coach of the Calgary Flames thought about their effort last night after losing 4-2 to the Nashville Predators. While the Flames lost another game, showed a few too many shifts of lackadaisical effort, I felt the overall game wasn’t as bad as Hartley seems to think – then again, his goal is to win, and they lost.
I'll expand upon why I felt the game wasn’t as bad as some may have thought, but first I’d like to discuss the above a little further. If there is anything that I can assert, is that a rebuilding team simply cannot make excuses for their losses, or ever accept defeat. That said, the Flames have been playing well (all things considered), and the coaching staff and GM are still not happy about it. They expect nothing less than 100% effort from their team and players, and losing doesn't sit well with them in any respect.
While I too can find criticisms from last night’s game – there were plenty – I am also able to see and point out the positives. I suppose how you view the games/season this year relies heavily on what your goal is for the team. Mine, as I’ve long maintained, is for the team to be a hard working group, tough to play against, and as such develop character and chemistry.
Though I really don’t wish for the team to compete for a 9th place finish this year, I like the fact that the players left on the roster are those, for a good part, who will be a part of the Flames future plans and are being molded as they see fit.
By instilling the abovementioned mindset into these young minds, Calgary is creating a strong competitiveness and hopefully, strong goal oriented players. Those who fail to comply will be slowly moved out of the lineup and replaced with more players like Kris Russell, for instance, who is taking full advantage of his new situation within Calgary.
As mentioned, last night’s result wasn’t great. The Flames lost, they allowed four goals (three of which were in the 3rd period), and appeared to be chasing the puck a little too often. What I would rather focus on, however, is the strong play of netminder Karri Ramo who once again had a very solid performance. I would also like to point out that Mikael Backlund’s play continues to improve and he has now scored three goals in his past three games.
For starters, Ramo is slowly taking back the starting position which was arguably taken from him by Reto Berra not long ago. Karri struggled with his lateral movements and positioning toward the start of the season and it appears that he has made some serious strides in improvements in both respects. While both goalies have a lot of development ahead of them yet, I continue to be impressed with the play of these two who most pundits wrote off as “backups… not long ago.
Mikael Backlund is one player for the Flames who has taken a ton of criticism over the past year or two for his lack of production. Backlund was not only struggling to get shots on net, but his skating was lacking, confidence appeared shot, and many fans were beginning to give up on him as is often seen in the world of professional sports.
Thankfully for Backlund, the Flames are in a rebuilding state where they can afford to remain patient with their players. Given the way he started the season (and ended the last), most teams would have either demoted or pushed the player down the depth charts, ultimately making it much more difficult to climb back up. At 24 years old and with 216 games under his belt, it appears that Backlund may finally be coming into his own and finding his game at the NHL level.
Currently on pace for his best season with respect to points(33pts), Backlund appears to have much more confidence in his game and that was evident last night as he cut in from the corner, drove the net hard, and buried his 8th goal of the year. While Mikael still has several areas needing improvement himself, he is certainly starting to show signs of proper development and could take off in the latter half of this NHL season.
One player however, who as a result of not playing to expectations was sent down to the AHL Heat, has not been showing signs of improvements just yet. Like Backlund, Sven Baertschi is constantly under the microscope and with expectations to be the next star winger for the Flames, has fallen short so far in his young career.
Struggling to play a defensive, 200 ft game, Baertschi was sent down the AHL to work on this part of his game. Since joining the Heat, Sven has played 10 games and registered a whopping 3 points. The rookie is struggling to find his groove at the moment, and if fans have learnt anything they should award him with as much patience as guys like Backlund deserve, too.
“There’s a big, massive wall in front of me right now,… said Sven. “ At some point, I’m going to jump over it. Then, on the other side, is going to be a lot of sunshine.…“But I’m fine,… said Baertschi. “I’m just being challenged a lot more than I’m used to. Overall, mentally, it’s a big challenge for me right now. Getting sent down, then not going to the Olympics, it’s tough. I’ve never been challenged in my life like that. I’ll get through it. It’s only going to make me stronger.…
What we should all take back from this, again, are the positives. Baertschi has a high level of raw talent and is in a position at the moment where he needs to (earn) his spot on the Flames. This team is not going to award ice time to anyone who hasn’t earned it, plain and simple.
Brian Burke and the Calgary Flames are not interested in keeping players who feel they deserve to be playing full time minutes because of their name, their draft position or what have you. Take for example Nazem Kadri and Burke just two years ago. Burke insisted Nazem learn his role at the AHL level, who had similar faults as does Sven.
Point is, I like what I’m seeing from not only certain key players in the organization, but I also like how those in charge are dealing with the situations. Tough love doesn’t always work for everyone, but for some it makes them much stronger, and this organization’s goal is to be a strong team to play against.
Thanks for reading!