The more things change the more they just stay the same, at least if you spend your time watching hockey in Calgary.
Change the coach. Make a big trade. Make some free agent signings. No matter, seasons still start with losses, often to either Edmonton or Vancouver. It’s clockwork.
Tonight the recipe for disaster was one part tentative start, one part putrid powerplay … ok two parts putrid powerplay, and one part running up the shot and chance clocks without an ability to finish as the Flames go down for the ninth straight season opener, this time 5-2 to the Vancouver Canucks.
1 in 15?
How can a hockey team win only one season opener in 15 seasons? Think about it. Fifteen seasons represent essentially three different eras in a National Hockey League city given the rate of roster turnover. Not many teams will be good or bad for 16 years, you should get a more normal outcome, something closer to a coin toss.
But no … The Flames went seven games, won one, and then lost eight more.
Looking back in order of recent to old …
0-3 in Edmonton
4-7 in Edmonton
1-5 vs Vancouver
2-4 vs Vancouver
4-5 (SO) in Washington (Point!)
1-4 vs San Jose
3-5 vs Pittsburgh
0-4 in Edmonton
5-3 vs Vancouver
0-6 in Vancouver
2-3 vs Philadelphia
1-3 in Edmonton
3-6 in Minnesota
1-4 in Vancouver
0-3 vs Vancouver
What’s worse is the fact that they’ve played rivals many a time putting up records of 0-4-0 against Edmonton, and 1-5-0 against the Canucks. Have to think even the downtrodden Canucks were looking forward to tonight’s matchup.
Youth Served
The Dillan Dube and Jusso Valimaki roster insertions are a great story, and a very good sign for the Flames.
And they make for an interesting twist on the off season changes made by General Manager Brad Treliving. By rebuilding the depth of his forward group at the expense of his defense (Hamilton out / Hanifin in), he shifted the risk from the forward group two years ago to the blueline this fall.
Adding a talented 20 year old to both groups becomes an interesting X-factor.
Up front it’s more riches, as Dube slides in on the left side of the third line and basically gives the Flames 12 forwards with a pretty good dose of skill. The team came into camp with 10 top nine forwards and a question mark in Austin Czarnik. Preseason is only preseason so we honestly don’t know what we have in either of Czarnik or Dube until the season gets well under way, but on paper it looks like the Flames have turned that into 12 top nine forwards and a very deep group.
On the blueline you have two comparison points; Jusso Valimaki vs Brett Kulak today and Jusso Valimaki vs Brett Kulak in the second half of the season. If the latter starts to stretch out the Flames may have solved the weakening of their defense depth with a surpise addition through a teen ager.
The one thing I won’t buy into however is the cultural change suggested by many to make this possible. Yes a team can be too conservative, they can quote the Red Wings and “hot housing” prospects, but the prospects themselves have to be good enough to actually earn the jobs as well. Not sure we’ve seen a whole lot of that in recent years and when they have earned their spots (Johnny Gaudreau, Sam Bennett, Sean Monahan, and Matthew Tkachuk) they’ve made the team as expected.
Rolling Lines
One thing I did like in the loss was the bench management from Bill Peters.
When the Flames were coming off the penalty kill you’d often see James Neal slide up with Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan as all three players are rested not killing penalties. After a powerplay he sent out Mark Jankowski with Sam Bennett and Micheal Frolik like clockwork, a good way to use guys once again rested because they didn’t see time with the man advantage.
Additionally he blendered the right wings from time to time to gain momentum, as Austin Czarnik saw some time with Mikael Backlund and Matthew Tkachuk, as well as a shift for rookie Dillon Dube with Monahan and Gaudreau in the third period.
Power Outage
In the preseason Darren Haynes of the Athletic did an article on the powerplay and the new options, changes, and new director in Geoff Ward.
In said piece Ward opined that even if a powerplay comes up empty it’s key to get chances and grab momentum to help the team keep the flow and control through a game.
Tonight the powerplay literally thwarted momentum and flow.
In the second period the Flames were taking things over five on five but back to back Calgary powerplays essentially just took four minutes off the clock that could have been better spent at even strength. The unit actually had some chances in the third but it was almost too little too late at that point.
It’s early. They have the personnel to man a powerplay, but hopefully they find a way to get it untracked soon.
Smith When It Counts
Mike Smith uttered something about “getting panties in a knot” when asked about his preseason play, and if his start to tonight’s game was any indication he may have had a point.
A first period goal post eluded him as did Elias Pettersson snipe, but there’s little doubt that without Mike Smith standing on his head in the game’s first 30 minutes the Flames wouldn’t have a tight game to chase in the third period.
The third featured three Canuck goals, but he had little chance on any of them. If I was to pin one on him he could have just stood tall on Virtanen’s move around Giordano, but it’s hard to pin a breakaway on a goaltender.
Fancy Stats
This is going to sound somewhat familiar. The Flames five on five had a 56-26 edge in five on five attempts (68%, with period splits of 56% 76% and 72%), as well as 68% of the scoring chances and 66% of the high danger chances. The Canucks made a lot of very little on the night.
In all circumstances the Flames had 69% of the shot attempts with a big edge in powerplay time, as well as 64% of the scoring chances and 61% of the high danger chances.
Individually, only Jusso Valimaki and Derek Ryan finished under water at 33% and 40% respectively. At the good end of the scale Backlund and Tkachuk led the way with 85% and 78% respectively. Other Flames with big nights included Michael Frolik, Travis Hamonic, Noah Hanifin, Mark Giordano and Johnny Gaudreau who were all over 70% on the night.
The Flames pushed hard, especially when the game got away on them, but at 3-0 score effects and playing a bad team certainly take away from any atta boys you want to give out for late game college try.
They were tentative, loose, not crisp and basically not ready from all accounts to start the game.
A disjointed training camp with a lot of change probably didn’t help, but they had better get thing squared away before Saturday.
Hamonic Steps Up
Last season Travis Hamonic was tied for 5th spot in the league for fighting majors with seven, and I would guess at least six of them were entered into at the defense of a teammate. His first season in Calgary may not have gone how he or the team had expected, but his view of the team element of a hockey player has never been questioned.
Tonight Dillon Dube was welcomed to the NHL on his first shift by an Erik Gubranson open ice hit with the puck never arriving for the rookie to handle. Hamonic the next time he got a chance, answered the bell, but took the loss to the bigger Canuck defenseman. It looked like Hamonic may have taken a shot to the throat, and missed a few shifts after his major but returned late in the first period.
