It is one thing to say that much has changed in Calgary this fall.
The style of play, the expectations being placed on the Flames, the faces that begin the season here — all sorts of turnover. And change is good — nay, necessary — when you have missed the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons.
But if this Calgary team is going to have history record the flop of 2009-10 as a blip on the radar, and not the beginning of a trend, the change can’t be limited just to the team as a whole.
Individually, there may not be a team in the National Hockey League with more key players who are under the gun to get their careers trending back in the right direction:
Jarome Iginla: his 32 goals last season marked an eight-year low in production.
Jay Bouwmeester: He kicked off a five-year, $33.4-million contract with his lowest points total (29) since 2003-04.
Olli Jokinen: Back in Calgary as a free-agent signing, Jokinen’s ineffective stretch run capped off a 50-point season, his lowest number in eight years.
Alex Tanguay: Also signed as a free agent this summer, his production has whittled from 81 points in 2006-07 with Calgary, to 31 last year in Tampa.
Ales Kotalik: Five points in 26 games with Calgary last year and 11 goals on the season. That’s his lowest production since coming over from the Czech Republic.
Niklas Hagman: He had 20 goals in 55 games with Toronto, but contributed just five in 27 down the stretch with Calgary.
The 2009-10 season was, Flames captain Jarome Iginla is ready to admit, "the hardest year I’ve been through. We’ve all taken our fair share of heat. Different talk about different guys getting moved out. Olli’s taken his share. We’ve all been through it.
"Even the guys who came over in the Toronto trade; Hags, (Matt Stajan) and Whitey (Ian White). They had a ton of pressure down the stretch. As a team, we feel we’ve seen as much as we’re going to see. I think it’s going to translate into a good start."
That is the upside to adversity. Whatever hits the ground tends to bounce back up.
And although the Flames break camp with the seventh eldest team in a 30-team league, it’s fair to say that a declining career path usually has a few upward spikes along the way.
If a few of these players turn the trend around — and we predict that Iginla, Hagman (who is only 30) and Bouwmeester (27) will — the others could catch the wave.
"People aren't expecting as much as in the past? Sure we can use that as motivation," Tanguay, 30, told the Calgary Herald this week. "Look at Colorado last season. Look at Phoenix. Certainly the fact they were neglected at the start of the year helped them get off to a good start. Maybe teams mentally relaxed when they played those guys. Maybe they bought into what the media was saying.
"But those teams stepped up to the plate and delivered, no matter what was predicted of them. That's pretty much our mindset."
Players never credit the media when things go right, so we’re always skeptical of theories that suggest media coverage can help their game improve. And while we’re laying down provisos, even though we believe the Flames can rebound in the short term, poor drafting has put a major rebuild in Calgary’s not so distant future — of that there is little doubt.
For a season that begins Thursday night in Edmonton however, the fact is if goalie Miikka Kiprusoff is as good this season as last — and some of these skaters bounce back — crawling up into the Top 8 isn’t out of the question for Calgary.
Particularly if, as Iginla is happy to report, the Flames finally decide to let the horses run a bit.
"We’re trying to open it up a little more, trying to get the defence to join regularly," Iginla said. "We’ve been doing it (during a 7-0 preseason), and it hasn’t led to more odd-man rushes the other way. We actually play with the puck more, and we’ll be able to draw more penalties.
"We were (30th in the NHL) at drawing penalties last year, just because we were playing too safe. We were just … safe. We like our defence and our goalie. We just need to score more goals."
