There are several reasons to be excited about tonight’s preseason Battle of Alberta.
A similar disparity in developed talent to September 24th’s 10-0 beatdown of the Canucks, the Flames will be rolling out the majority of their NHL core. That includes the likes of
Jonathan Huberdeau,
Nazem Kadri,
Rasmus Andersson,
Chris Tanev and
Noah Hanifin to name a few.
The Oilers, on the other hand, aren’t icing their high end players. Consistent with the brand, we don’t have an Oilers lineup available yet.
Maybe it’s accessible for a few bucks on
Oilers+, but for now we just have their roster. You can find it at the bottom of the piece. It is a fairly AHL-grade group complimented by
Jack Campbell,
Cody Ceci and
Derek Ryan.
We get some differing lines to observe on the Calgary side. Here is what the Flames rolled out against the Canucks:
September 24, 2023, Vs. Vancouver
Huberdeau-Lindholm-Sharangovich
Ruzicka-Kadri-Dube
Hunt-Jones-Coronato
Pospisil-Zary-Klapka
Hanifin-Andersson
Oesterle-Tanev
Solovyov-Gilbert
Markstrom
And here are the lines we’ll see deployed tonight courtesy of Pat Steinberg.
@Fan960Steinberg Mind you, there may be some juggling as the game proceeds:
Calgary Lines
Huberdeau-Lindholm-Sharangovich
Dube-Kadri-Coronato
Coleman-Backlund-Duehr
Honzek-Schwindt-Bishop
Hanifin-Andersson
Oesterle-Tanev
Poirier-Solovyov
Vladar
We’re looking at some enticing stories developing as camp rolls on.
Coronato Rising
After being on the ice for six of ten goals last Sunday and recording a hat trick and an assist — 20 year old
Matthew Coronato gets a look on a line with a couple of top six veterans. The speed and puck pressure that
Nazem Kadri and
Dillon Dube bring should mesh well with Coronato’s determined board game.
A New Fixture?
South Dakotan
Walker Duehr gets an opportunity to receive the benefits of
The Backlund Bump. From
Joe Colborne’s 19 goal season,
Lance Bouma’s three year, $6,600,000 contract,
Garnet Hathaway being priced out of town.
Mike Cammalleri, Paul Byron, Matthew Tkachuk, David Jones. All saw noticeable increases in offensive production as well as a coat of polish on their two-way stats due to playing on Backlund’s line.
Just doing research for this, you can find references to
The Backlund Bump going back to the half-season in 2012-2013. The boost his presence provides is indisputably the most consistent factor the Flames have possessed in the last decade.
Which brings us to.
First Game With an Extra C
Wednesday was a wild one for Flames news.
Chris Snow’s health came first and foremost. While he is still alive as of the publication of this piece, it appears he is not long for this world.
Hours later, the organization proceeded with their plans to announce a contract extension for
Mikael Backlund as well as naming him the 15th Captain in franchise history.
It remains unclear why the Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation couldn’t wait a day for things to settle a bit, but it is what it is.
Mikael is beyond deserving of the role. The team had gone two full seasons with the role vacant after
Mark Giordano was claimed by Seattle in the expansion draft. There is certainly a story waiting to be written on why former head coach
Darryl Sutter was not willing to give Backlund the captaincy during his second stint with the Flames.
Tonight
Walker Duehr not only gets a single-serving
Backlund Bump, he also gets to be on the ice for Mikael’s first game as captain of the Calgary Flames. Expect great things.
That wasn’t the only news released on Wednesday
Pelletier Out
The first news of the day was that
Jakob Pelletier would be out for a decent amount of the 2023-2024 regular season after getting the worst of a collision with Kraken forward
Marian Studenic. Pelletier, 22, slowed up amidst a puck race and Studenic caught him in the numbers.
Jakob hit the ice in noticeable pain. It’s believed that the 26th overall selection of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft suffered a labral tear when his left shoulder made contact with the boards, which would be a 4-6 month recovery timeline.
Unfortunate news. Let’s get back to the game tonight.
A Quiet Competition
Jordan Oesterle will start tonight on
Chris Tanev’s pairing.
The 31 year old has suited up for 349 NHL games over the past ten years. You know what you’re getting with the 6’0” 187lbs defender. He has above-average puck skills and below-average defensive play. He will look solid in the preseason, but once the competition ramps up and top six talent starts deploying against him — well, there may be a fall from the grace of preseason.
Lurking on the pairing below Oesterle-Tanev are two that look to be making the NHL sooner or later. That being
Jeremie Poirier and
Ilya Solovyov. Both left shots.
The Belarusian Solovyov may have the inside track between the two. Two years older than Poirier at 23. He is also bigger than the 6’0” Poirier and more physically developed at 6’3”, 207lbs. Ilya put in a very solid performance at the
Penticton Young Stars Classic and has looked solid in preseason action. More the defensive specialist, Solovyov has seven goals and 26 points over 119 games in his first two AHL seasons.
Poirier, unfortunately, missed Penticton and the start of training camp due to injury. Only getting on the ice in a non-contact yellow jersey earlier this week.
Between the two, Poirier has more offensive talent. He finished second in rookie scoring among defencemen last season with nine goals and 41 points in 69 games last season. His final season in the QMJHL was fairly eye-opening. Calgary hasn’t had a defensive prospect with his level of skill since
Adam Fox. His game may be a better fit with the defensive stalwart
Chris Tanev.
Cuts Made
Per Wes Gilbertson,
Etienne Morin has been returned to the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL.
Parker Bell, William Stromgren, Jarrod Gourley, and
Brett Sutter have been assigned to the Wranglers of the AHL.
Micheal Diotte has been released from his amateur tryout.
@WesGilbertson
This and that.
Changing Structure
Head coach
Ryan Huska had a great explaination today as to why the team is switching from man-to-man defensive coverage to a zone/area style of defence.
Great to see Ryan staying on top of the meta game. He hits the nail on the head with his summary of why scoring is up league-wide.
A zone defence also allows for more risks to be taken in transition — which is going to lead to a more fun on-ice product this season.
Klapped
6’8”
Adam Klapka has the physicality and puck protection skills to make a strong run at making the NHL this season.
His enforcing? A work in progress.
The Flames will need players to stand up for each other as the season carries on. Klapka, 23, can do that to an extent. Pair him up with Ryan Reaves, Zac MacEwen or Nic Deslauriers? He could get injured. Don’t expect the Flames to keep the Czech power forward on the roster as an enforcer. All it may take is a quick chat from one of the mentioned pugilists to keep Klapka’s game honest.
Déjà Vu
Dustin Wolf sealed a 3-2 shootout win over the Winnipeg Jets with this save.
Look familiar?
Did the 22 year old tender just seal a game with an homage to
Mikka Kiprusoff? The organization was in an odd position at points last season in that their AHL starter was playing at a higher quality than their NHL starter and backup.
Does Wolf get the call when the first losing streak rolls through?
Puck drops at around 7:10 pm MST. The broadcast will be on calgaryflames.com, or, if you like paying money to watch preseason game you could watch for free, Oilers+.
Oilers Roster List
Forwards
Drake Caggiula
Derek Ryan
Greg McKegg
Lane Pederson
Seth Griffith
Brad Malone
Warren Foegele
Carter Savoie
Xavier Bourgault
Dylan Holloway
James Hamblin
Raphael Lavoie
Defence
Cody Ceci
Brett Kulak
Vincent Desharnais
Alex Peters
Phil Kemp
Markus Niemelainen
Noel Hoefenmayer
Goalies
Jack Campbell
Olivier Rodrigue
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via eliteprospects.com.
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