The Flames play their eighth and final preseason game of 2023 tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. Following a 7-2 beatdown in Edmonton, the group will surely be interested in starting the season on a high note. A win against the majority of the Canucks “A Squad” would help in that endeavour.

A quick look at the lineups before we get to a few notes. Calgary doesn’t have to disclose their lineup until warmups, but their practice lines from Thursday are surely close. We’ll update this closer to game time.

Calgary Flames Lines
Courtesy of Pat Steinberg. @Fan960Steinberg
Huberdeau-Lindholm-Mangiapane
Ruzicka-Kadri-Dube
Sharangovich-Backlund-Coronato
Hunt-Schwindt-Duehr
Klapka-Coleman

Weegar-Andersson
Hanifin-Tanev
Zadorov-Oesterle

Markstrom
Vladar

Vancouver Canucks Lineup
Courtesy of Brendan Batchelor. @BatchHockey
Kuzmenko-Pettersson-Garland
PDG-Miller-Boeser
Joshua-Suter-Beauvillier
Åman-Blueger-Studnicka

Hughes-Hronek
Cole-Myers
Soucy-Juulsen

Demko
DeSmith

Walk-In
Very few bright spots in Wednesday’s blowout loss to the Oilers. One of the rare exceptions is the play of Walker Duehr. The 25 year old tied the game 2-2 late in the first period snap shot low in the slot.

One of the more quiet battles in camp has been for fourth line right wing position. Adam Klapka, Walker Duehr, and Dryden Hunt are all in the mix.

The latter’s fearless style of play has kept him on the roster with game one just five days away. Hunt, 27, will need to clear waivers if he is to be assigned to the Wranglers. The team wants to know what they have before they risk losing him for nothing.

SCHWING
Apologies for the Wayne’s World reference, but it has to be a bit of a surprise that 22 year old Cole Schwindt appears to have seized the fourth line center spot on the roster vacated by Trevor Lewis.

There are certainly things to like about his game. Size is a start — 6’4”, 198lbs. He’s deceptively fast — it’s hard to find him too far from the play. Watch him next time he gets the puck. It’s off his stick in a hurry. He’s very solid on faceoffs — Wednesday was the exception. He had his lunch ate only winning 3-of-8. Take that game off the books and he went 23-20 over this preseason.

With Connor Zary headed back to the Wranglers on Thursday, it looks like Schwindt has won the role for now.

Speaking of cuts.

Like a Knife
The penultimate round of cuts is usually the most head-scratching. The guys who have the talent but just aren’t quite ready for prime time. This year was no exception.

Lucas Ciona, Dustin Wolf, Connor Zary, Yan Kuznetsov, Jeremie Poirier and Sam Honzek were all cut on Wednesday. Honzek is headed to the Vancouver Giants and the rest are headed to the Wranglers.

The big one here is Dustin Wolf. The last four seasons have earned Wolf two Del Wilson Awards and two Baz Bastien Memorial Awards. Trophies for best goaltender in the WHL and AHL respectively.

The Goalie Conversation
Had Wolf, ahem, blown the house down — he may still be in the picture. Despite a dramatic 3-2 shootout win on September 27, his stats in two games didn’t hold up well.

Dustin Wolf
Sv%: .860
GAA: 3.37
HDSV%: .857

Daniel Vladar
Sv%: .889
GAA: 3.52
HDSV%: .788

Jacob Markstrom
Sv%: .917
GAA: 2.40
HDSV%: .571

These stats aren’t entirely fair. Vladar took the dog’s breakfast on Wednesday in Edmonton and still kept his save percentage around .900. By merit, the 26 year old should begin the season as the starter. Unfortunately, Jacob Markstrom and the sunk cost fallacy of his six million AAV contract says otherwise.

Tough words for Jacob, but his preseason was a pump job. Two periods of low difficulty in the 10-0 win over Vancouver’s “C Squad” and a simply bad game against the Winnipeg Jets. Four goals against in 24 shots including a couple of low-quality goals that he would want back. .857 against Winnipeg’s “B Squad”.

Worse is that you could see clear body language that he was getting stuck in his own head as the game went on.

During a preseason game.

It can’t be understated that the Flames starter didn’t really do much to earn the role. Three goals against on seven high danger shots. Perhaps tonight he will inspire more faith.

This all leads to Wolf starting with the Wranglers. To his credit, he made a case for himself. He saved 12-of-14 high danger shots over two games. A .857 save percentage in that category is a vast lead over his competitors.

Game time is 8:00 pm MST. Sportsnet will be broadcasting or you can tune in to Fan 960 on your radio.


Trevor Neufeld


@Trevor_Neufeld


Stats via ESPN and eliteprospects.