Calgary Flames
Team Leader
How should the Flames divide up their final three pre-season games?
Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/how-should-the-flames-divide-up-their-final-three-pre-season-games
Friends, the Calgary Flames have eight days to get down to their Game 1 roster of 23 players.
Right now, they have 38 players in camp and three remaining pre-season games at their disposal to make their final decisions on roster spots… and to prepare their NHL roster for the opening stretch of the season, which features three games in less than four days in three different cities.
Here’s a quick rundown of which players have played how many games, and what the thought process may be for the Flames in dividing up their three remaining games: Monday in Seattle, Wednesday at home against Vancouver, and Friday at home against Winnipeg. (Games played so far by each player in brackets.)
Goaltenders
Four left in camp: Dustin Wolf [1], Ivan Prosvetov [2], Devin Cooley [2] and Owen Say [1]
Wolf is the undisputed top guy and will most likely get the last game. Say is undoubtedly headed to the AHL and probably doesn’t get another game. The question for the Seattle and Vancouver games is this: have the Flames seen enough to decide on their backup goaltender, or do they give Prosvetov and Cooley one more game apiece to finalize that decision?
If you’re asking us to predict, we would suspect Wolf gets each of the last two games and Prosvetov gets the Seattle game for his last pre-season tune-up.
Defencemen
13 left in camp: MacKenzie Weegar [1], Rasmus Andersson [1], Kevin Bahl [3], Joel Hanley [3], Zayne Parekh [3], Brayden Pachal [3], Jake Bean [2], Daniil Miromanov [2], Yan Kuznetsov [3], Ilya Solovyov [2], Hunter Brzustewicz [2], Nick Cicek [1] and Artem Grushnikov [1]
We’re presuming that the final game will have the opening night starting six defenders – Weegar, Andersson, Bahl, Hanley, Parekh and either Bean or Pachal – so the question is how many games the rest of these guys get. We would imagine some of the depth defenders get the Seattle game to make a last case for themselves for the first call-ups (or as the eighth defender, if they go in that direction), but it definitely feels like the starting group is almost set.
Forwards
21 left in camp: Jonathan Huberdeau [1], Nazem Kadri [1], Matt Coronato [3], Connor Zary [4], Morgan Frost [3], Martin Pospisil [3], Joel Farabee [2], Mikael Backlund [1], Blake Coleman [1], Yegor Sharangovich [1], Ryan Lomberg [2], Adam Klapka [3], Justin Kirkland [3], Sam Morton [3], Rory Kerins [4], Dryden Hunt [3], Clark Bishop [3], Sam Honzek [4], Matvei Gridin [3], Aydar Suniev [2] and William Stromgren [2]
Up front, again, there appear to be some obvious Game 1 players – and a few that probably need a couple games to get the rust off. It’s probably reasonable to expect the veterans who’ve gotten in just one game – Huberdeau, Kadri, Backlund, Coleman, Sharangovich – to get both remaining home games to get up to speed. Beyond them, I suspect we’ll see more of the likes of Kirkland, Morton, Kerins, Honzek and Gridin, as they (a) jostle for the final roster spots and (b) jostle for the first call-up spots.
It certainly feels like we’re getting close to roster decisions being made, but determinations may still be being made on which player on the cusp is best suited for, say, fourth line centre and penalty-killing duty. We’re getting down to brass tacks and the details could be the thing that matters most in figuring out the final spots.
This article is brought to you by Platinum Mitsubishi
This article is a presentation of Platinum Mitsubishi, family owned and operated by lifelong Calgarians. Home of the industry-leading 10-year, 160,000-kilometre powertrain warranty. Check out their showroom at 2720 Barlow Trail NE or online at www.mitsu.ca.
Source: https://flamesnation.ca/news/how-should-the-flames-divide-up-their-final-three-pre-season-games