With three games in three nights ending last night with a shoot out loss in Vancouver, it marked the time to get serious about shaping an NHL roster.
With the newly minted Abbotsford Heat starting up their preseason schedule on Friday and the Flames now only eight nights from opening night changes were in order.
To date there hasn’t been a cut of any significance in my mind as they’ve turned 63 bodies into 32 over the past 11 days. An argument for Leland Irving sticking around could be made as a challenge to Curtis McElhinney, but it appears the Flames are taking a longer look at camp walk on David Shantz, an interesting turn of events in camp.
On the blueline John Negrin’s departure leaves only Matt Pelech to battle the NHL defencemen for the popcorn spot in Calgary. It’s a sign that his experience has won out over Negrin’s skating, at least to start the season.
Up front a case could be made for David van der Gulik, but a look at the depth up front spelled how little chance players of his ilk actually had at this camp.
So with that said, today we take a look at who’s left, and what battles are taking place in a training camp that has had many stories, all of which over shadowed by Theo Fleury’s attempt to resurrect a career.
Goaltending
Is this one settled on default?
Neither Miikka Kiprusoff nor McElhinney have looked all that strong through camp, though neither has had enough time between the pipes to be definitive. They’ll both need to get their acts together soon to avoid another slow start in Calgary.
Kiprusoff was better in the second period of his 40 minute performance against Florida, and McElhinney was better in Vancouver than he was in Saskatoon.
Shantz’s existence late into camp is likely more about a decision on signing the former OHL stopper than it is a true battle for the backup spot.
Camp Surprise: David Shantz’s moment in the limelight, and the continued erosion of one time impact prospect Matt Keetley.
Moves to Come: Shantz signed and sent to the AHL to compete with Matt Keetley for the backup role to Irving. Roster moves from 32 to 31
Defenseman
Very intriguing camp for the blueline brigade for the Flames.
Fans got their first look at Jay Bouwmeester and he hasn’t disappointed with his skating, transition and ability to jump up into the play. Fun to watch. Should only get better when the games start to matter and he gets used to partner Robyn Regehr.
Speaking of Regehr, a very quiet positive in camp is the return to health of both he and Mark Giordano, waylaying any fears of those injuries effecting this season.
Dion Phaneuf has also shown no ill effects of last year’s injury, but hasn’t been seen much since the Islanders game that caused such media attention. Is he hurt from the hit himself? Would be a blow to the Flames, especially when said game demonstrated a return to his style of old under new coach Brent Sutter.
The middle and bottom battles have held the most intrigue in camp though with Giordano taking some big strides (figuratively and literally) in his preseason skates, while the number changing Adam Pardy (that seven looks so small on his back) continues to struggle at the most inopportune moment.
Below the returnees, the Swedish battle between Anton Stralman and Staffan Kronwall has gone massively in Stralman’s direction making that salary dump deal with the Leafs a big boon for Darryl Sutter. Stralman’s poise on the ice could suggest that he has not only made the team in the 7th role, he may in fact leap Pardy to start the season as a starter.
Camp Surprise: Stralman’s play, and the lack of a longer look at TJ Brodie.
Moves to Come: Matt Pelech and Kronwall appear to be the final cuts on defense regardless of how the sixth and seventh spots pan out. Roster moves from 31 to 29
Forwards
The battle for spots up front was always intended to be interesting with the CHL battle tested Mikael Backlund looking to impress in September and complete his move to North American hockey by making the Flames.
Early on he was doing just that in forming a line with Olli Jokinen and Jarome Iginla and looking quite effective. He’s a man now, or at least a bigger lad, looking bigger, stronger and much less frightened then last year’s camp. As the schedule wore on though he found himself on the fourth line centering the likes of Eric Nystrom and Brandon Prust. Given that I can’t see Backlund filling a fourth line role it doesn’t look good for him to stay on in camp much longer.
The Theo Story captured Calgary, and the little bugger’s shoot out goal and then two point performance did nothing to make the tale go away. However, don’t count on Sutter over looking his struggles defensively or his inability to keep up with the play. He’ll be cut sometime next week and start off his return in Abbotsford, but has shown enough that we may see him again. In the end the whole thing was a win win for Fleury and the Flames. He went a long way through this story in mitigating some of those old wounds from his departure and struggles off the ice in other NHL centers.
The best result to date in camp has been the chemistry brewing between Jokinen and Iginla as the two appear to be ready to lead the team offensively. Jokinen has been a different man through camp than we saw at the tail end of last season. Hopefully he keeps it up when play starts for real.
The real crunch for roster spots will come in this group with strong play from Jason Jaffray, Brett Sutter and Colin Stuart making some final decisions very difficult. If all three are cut the team would be left with 13 forwards, with one of McGrattan or Prust sitting out. But Sutter specifically is making the final cuts very difficult.
Camp Surprise: Backlund’s inability to shine in preseason games against similarly experienced players. Back in the Tkaczuk/Fata/Saprykin days there was early dominance and then a fall off. No such luck for Backlund.
Moves to Come: John Armstrong is hurt again, so delete him. Backlund and Fleury are in tough and won’t make it so remove them from the list. Jaffray, Stuart and Lundmark are also shown the door, and the Flames open the season with Sutter for 14 forwards.
