Last night’s 4-1 loss to the Predators a season low in terms of effort for a large contingent of the Calgary Flames. You can lame an extended home stand. You can blame an awkward line configuration. You can even blame the illness that allegedly tore through the dressing room in mid to late October.

In any case, the Flames put forth far from the product they want to be rolling out every game day. A few observations.


Passengers
The powerplay simply looked awful. At one point Rasmus Andersson carried the puck up into the neutral zone, Kadri dropped back to cover Andersson’s place, and the other three Flames were standing perfectly still. Brutal.

Countless plays like that happened. Players waiting for the play to be made while simply existing as an X or an O on a whiteboard.


Overcomplicating the Breakout
There was very little urgency in transition. That includes breaking out the puck. It doesn’t take four or five passes to shed a forechecker. In that time, Nashville got their neutral zone organized and the puck would eventually be lost to the trap. Rinse and a repeat. Frustrating to watch.


While we can assume a road trip will get the team’s legs working again, the lines still simply don’t seem a fit. With that said, here is a suggestion for a new configuration of the forward group.


Kadri-Lindholm-Toffoli
Huberdeau-Backlund-Coleman
Mangiapane-Rooney-Dube
Lucic-Lewis-Ritchie



Huberdeau with Backlund and Coleman
We’re nine game into the season and Jonathan Huberdeau is tied in points with Brett Ritchie and Micheal Stone.

Offensive Production
Ritchie: 3G 2A 5Pts
Stone: 2G 3A 5Pts
Huberdeau: 1G 4A 5Pts

Excuses don’t pay the bills. Huberdeau needs to get on a line that presses the attack. Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund can provide exactly that. The 29 year old left wing does his best work when he’s not the focal point of the line he’s on. Huberdeau would be free to find seams in the defence on a line with two play drivers.

Chances For/Against %
Mikael Backlund: 61.19% (2nd among forwards)
Blake Coleman: 60.19% (3rd among forwards)
Jonathan Huberdeau: 50% (12th among forwards)


You read that right. The highest paid player on the Flames is dead last in terms of shot attempts for/and against. His former center, Elias Lindholm, is 11th among forwards at 50.89.


Obviously there’s a problem there. One contributing factor is that Huberdeau and Tyler Toffoli play a very similar style of opportunistic hockey. Wait for the right moment and pounce at the broken play.

For that reason.

Put Huberdeau and Toffoli in places they can succeed in.

It’s not ideal to roll Kadri out as a left wing, but with a line of:

Kadri-Lindholm-Toffoli

You could basically have the three playing in an F1, F2, F3 situation in terms of approaching the play. Lindholm and Kadri could also pinch hit on faceoffs depending on who they’re up against and where on the ice the puck is being dropped.

The third line may look odd, but hear me out.

So far this season, we’ve seen Andrew Mangiapane overcomplicating his game. Much of his success last season came from simply driving hard to the outside. In theory, he doesn’t need the complicated setups that Kadri and Huberdeau provide. He simply needs someone to win the puck out of the defensive zone.

Enter Kevin Rooney and Dylan Dube. Two proven penalty killers who have proven skill at breaking up the offensive cycle.

Add to the fact that Dube can play a similar style of driving the outside and we have a constant threat of the far side being driven.

One last line suggestion.

Zadorov-Lucic-McLean

For those unfamiliar, Mitch McLean is the firebug that fought Darnell Nurse twice in one game during the preseason. He has two goals and an assist in five games on the Wranglers. He’s 28. He hits, he agitates, he has a knack for scoring goals. The Flames let Ryan Lomberg walk, they shouldn’t ignore a good pest when they have one.

Call it the Price of Admission Line — because you know damn well that it would be worth every penny to watch live.

Just a few ideas. What would your ideal forward lineup look like? Would you add a player or two from the Wranglers?


Trevor Neufeld


@Trevor_Neufeld


Stats via naturalstattrick.com and nhl.com.

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