The exhibition season in the NHL is always a tough time of year to assess hockey teams for the upcoming season. To take in new players in new lines playing new roles for new teams. There’s too much patchwork in each roster to really get a solid read on things.
This year is somewhat different however.
The Flames took the upper 90% of their roster to China for the ORG Games, a two game preseason set against the Boston Bruins, in hopes of fostering a quick gel towards getting off to a solid start in the upcoming NHL campaign.
The Bruins, went a different route, bringing a lot of their team, but allowing many of their key players including Patrice Bergergon, Tory Krug, Zdeno Chara and David Krejci to nurse injuries or just avoid the hassle.
Regardless of the make up of each roster this is Calgary’s first look at the revamped Flames, even if they had to stay up to the wee hours to see it.
Systems
Gap Control – The biggest five on five change for me is how tight the defense is playing to the play in the opposition zone, and as the team moves up the ice. Clearly Bill Peters has a demand for tight gaps (no huge space between the forwards and the defense core, creating a hole that can be exploited on turnovers), a system that creates little opportunity for the opposition to transition, but can be detrimental on turnovers if you don’t have fleet footed players.
If Players are on it’s a great way to play as the backcheck puts enough pressure on the opposition that defenders can stand up, and additionally pressure in the offensive zone can be sustained as you’re taking away time and space for the other guys to break out of their zone.
If however, the other team is equally quick in making reads you can find yourself giving up two on ones with frequency, something we saw in the first period of the game, and then not as much to finish.
Powerplay
The game was also the first look at Geoff Ward’s powerplay, which scored twice on eight chancesand looked holistically different than the 2017-18 Flame’s man advantage group.
First off, lost of players on their off side with sticks on the inside creating a better angle. Last year the Flames simply refused to put their shooters (they didn’t have many) in good shooting positions as time and time again players were on their normal sides up a man. Today we saw James Neal, Matthew Tkachuk, Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan taking the puck to the home plate area from their off wing with options available. Mark Giordano’s first goal was a perfect example of the off side Gaudreau heading into the danger zone with options opening up because his stick wasn’t being forced to the outside. Very good sign.
The other big change was the set up. The Flames last year moved the puck around the perimeter far too much, showing control, but not creating the chances you need to score. Today’s game featured a lot of half wall to the center to the half wall give and goes to get the box moving, and plays from behind the net which are excellent in creating odd man chances as defenders are forced to turn their backs on their cover.
He ran two 4-1 formations with Johnny Gaudreau playing catch with Mark Giordano and Austin Czarnik doing the same with TJ Brodie.
I still wonder if they should look at Noah Hanifin in Brodie’s role.
Line Scrambling
Bill Peters has come well advertised as a man that likes to mix things up, but to be fair the preseason with a new team, with many new players is a pretty good time to have a look at different combinations.
The Flame’s new depth was on display with last year’s third line of Sam Bennett, Mark Jankowski and Garnet Hathaway (post Jaromir Jagr) moved down a slot with a whole new look third line inserted ahead of them. Derek Ryan between Austin Czarnik and Michael Frolik was the best trio of the first two periods five on five; Czarnik and Ryan showing all kinds of chemistry.
In the third Peters attempted to get the second line going by moving Mikael Backlund down to the third line with his old buddy Frolik and Czarnik, and Derek Ryan moved up to center James Neal and Matthew Tkachuk.
Probably a good example of the in game changes we are likely to see all season.
New Guys
Overall I thought all the new faces fared pretty well in this one, it leaves little doubt that the Flames have added another wave of skilled players when you saw the likes of Ryan and Czarnik create on many a shift.
I thought Neal and Lindholm weren’t quite as noticeable as the above duo, but both had their chances and created; Lindholm getting two secondary assists and almost scored twice in all alone on setups by his linemates. If Lindholm can improve his finish he could have a big year. Neal stood out for me as the second powerplay set up option as he takes the line almost as effectively as Gaudreau, making the second powerplay unit much more dangerous.
Really liked Noah Hanifin’s game. He plays Bill Peters tight gap hockey on every shift, and is quick enough to make things happen both way. The stats package from this game doesn’t get into the analytics, but it sure looked like he and his defense partner Travis Hamonic are off to a good start in generating some chemistry.
Old Guys
Is there a bigger returning player story than the adjustment back to the right side by TJ Brodie? Once again, no details to dig into, but for the most part he seemed pretty Brodie-esque though caution should be played as the Flames dominated much of the game against a 2/3 NHL squad.
I thought Sam Bennett had a solid game. He created three chances for himself with speed and jump, a first period chance where a good chance was deflected, and two in the third which included a give and go with Jankowski, and then a play off the half wall that he created himself. That Sam Bennett can score 20 goals in the league. Have to hope that’s a good sign.
Jon Gillies gave up three first period goals but then was solid when called upon the rest of the way. I thought he was deep in his net on the Donato goal but not sure I’d blame him for the other two. Hard though when the guy in the pads at the other end is stopping everything.
Calgary’s top line looked good. Sean Monahan appeared healthy as advertised and maybe a little stronger on the puck than we saw a year ago. Gaudreau picked up two assists and was dangerous as hell, though both ways as he created a lot offensively, but was also the culprit on two or three turnovers that led to odd man rushes for the Bruins. Not sure you how you coach that as restricting the guy takes away from his game, but the player’s ability to pick and choose as he moves through his career will be the difference between damn good and great as an impact player.
