Calgary Flames
Additions: Jamie McLennan, Alex Tanguay, Jeff Friesen, Andrei Zyuzin, Brad Ference
Subtractions: Shean Donovan, Jordan Leopold, Craig MacDonald, Chris Simon
Analysis
For the past few years, Calgary has been well known as a nearly impregnable team, with stalwart Miikka Kiprusoff in net and a very strong defence in front of him. Little has changed on the back half of the team, as Kipper will of course return as Calgary’s starter, and the defence, though thinned by the loss of Leopold, still bosts Hamrlik, Warrner and Regher. Calgary will continue to be a very difficult team to score against.
Where Calgary was lacking the past few years has been at the opposite end of the ice. Scoring goals may have been a specialty of Jarome Iginla, but the power forward didn’t have much help in that department. Cue the arrival of Alex Tanguay, one of the most promising young stars the Western Conference has to offer. While it is not yet certain if GM Sutter will use Tanguay as a centerman or seek to acquire someone to play between him and Iginla, Calgary should also be a more difficult team to defend against next year.
A candidate for the Calder Trophy last year, Dion Phaneuf will be given more responsability this year and should continue to pile up points, especially on the power play. He’s fun to watch and an absolutely spectacular defenceman, especially for a young man only entering his second season. As if Calgary needed another star defenceman.
A few other minor moves should help in small ways, as well, Jamie McLennan is a pretty solid backup goaltender, especially for a guy like Kipper, who likes to play plenty of games. McLennan can and will play a very few games but can always be counted on to be on his game - not easy to do with frequent lengthy waits between games. He won’t have a major impact, but he isn’t recquired to. Similarly, Jeff Friesen adds speed to the front lines, even if he won’t break games open by himself. As many teams learned last year, speed wins games in the new NHL.
Calgary was a top contender last year and should continue to be so for the forseable future. They didn’t make major upheavals, but rather tinkered with a successful, if imperfect lineup. Playing in arguably the toughest division in the league, Calgary will have a big challenge to relaim the Northwest titile, but making the playoffs should not be too tough. I wouldn’t want to meet the Flames in the playoffs next season.
September 21st, 2006 at 3:24 pm
Also note that the Flames added Eric Godard to their line-up, a younger version of Chris Simon, to fill in the enforcer role. Look for him to drop the gloves when Iginla’s being pestered. While Iggy is very capable of holding his own, he’s much more valuable on the ice than he is in the bin.
The position of first line center is up for grabs, as it seems that Flames coaching staff are juggling the idea of where to put Tanguay… whether on the wing, or in the middle as originally planned.
Iginla has shed between 10 and 15 lbs of body weight in the offseason, in the interest of producing a faster star, rather than a stronger one. Iggy realizes the importance of speed in the league now, and has adjusted his workout schedule to suit it.
September 21st, 2006 at 8:26 pm
Thanks for the updates; I don’t see many west coast games up here.
Iginla and Tanguay are pretty well locks to produce this year, but the Flames still need their second and third line guys to step up - big time - to really distinguish themselves as a top contender in the West. Guys like Amonte, McCarty, Kobasew, Huselius and Frisen need to chip in and force the other teams to focus on more than just Jerome.
Side note: in 2 years, Calgary will have Iginla, Langkow, Yelle, Huselius, Reghr, Zyuzin, Kiprussof all hitting unrestricted free agency, and Kobasew and Phaneuf becoming restricted. Anyone want to bet that Darryl Sutter gave up the coaching duties in part because he saw the potential glut of free agents coming up? He should be very busy in the next year or two locking up some of those guys (or finding suitable replacements).