I like the look of the team this year. We trimmed a bit of fat and made some nice additions. I’m a little concerned about the health status of Warrener and Aucoin, but we’ll have to see. Based on the roster, this team should take the division. However, Keenan is a big roll of the dice. Either he ruins everything or he will instill the accountability and consistent work ethic we were sorely lacking last year.

I don’t think Kipper will re-sign unfortunately.

Frankly, I think the Flames will come out of the West this year; they may be middle of the pack during the regular season (I’m thinking, maybe a fourth-place finish in the conference) but I think, in terms of depth, the only team there that can challenge them in the playoffs is Anaheim.

And, before anyone asks, I’m not a Flames fan.

In fact, I’m a Leafs fan.

See, there are a few of us out here capabale of stringing a coherent sentence or two together.

The Flames need to be nastier than last year, more aggressive – Sarich, Nolan and Aucoin are steps in the right direction, although one more big forward would be great. For me, the biggest Keenan question is Can he take Phaneuf to the next level defensively? Flames got beat soundly by Detroit in the playoffs, but it’s a whole different story with a healthy Regehr. If Keenan can get Tanguay and Huselius onside as well, Flames will do fine.

I believe that the Flames will do exceptionally well for the first part of the season, the second half will be determined by how they all accept Keenan. When Iron was coaching here in Vancouver I initially thought that he was exactly what the winded ‘nucks needed. After a couple of months it became quite appararent that the favourtism Keenan would show towards some players (Messier) and kick Linden at any opportunity was almost sickening. I really like the Flames lineup this year but without Sutter standing on the bench, they’ll never be the team they can.

The Flames have always been one of my favourite teams, and look really good coming into this year.
For next year, I’m going to make some predictions :)

Langkow – re-signed
Conroy – gone
Nolan – gone
Huselius – question mark
Yelle – re-signed
Godard – gone
Phaneuf – re-signed
Kiprusoff – re-signed

And obviously some players will have to go. Possibly Aucoin. We’ll see.

Great blog Roger!!! I can’t wait for the season to start, and the Flames have given us good reason to be excited. The team virtually improved in every facet of the game that was necessary over the off-season:

a) Addition by subtraction – dumpy the old, slow legs and over-inflated salaries of Tony Amonte, Jeff Friesen and Darren McCarty was a great start. In the cases of at least Friesen if not Amonte as well, a problematic attitude was dispatched from the dressing room as well.

b) Improving behind the bench – it was clear that Playfair, for whatever reason, was not able to coax the best efforts from his players on a consistent basis, especially on the road. Mike Keenan is one of the winningest coaches of all time, and is a motivator and a task-master – exactly what the team lacked last year. There is an outside possibility of him going all “Iron Mike” on us, but with Sutter calling the shots that’s unlikely. Keeping Playfair around as defensive mastermind and genius is gravy – it was his defence that won the team the Jennings Trophy two years ago.

Now the above two facets alone would have made this summer a success from a Flames fan’s point of view. But there’s more.

c) Locking up the core – re-signing captain and leader Jarome Iginla for five more years at a bargain price, and then one-upping that by getting Robyn Regehr (one of the top shut-down defencemen in the NHL and underrated by most) name on a five year deal worth only $4 million per. Given today’s market for defencemen, the Regehr signing was unbelievable. Beats signing Sheldon Souray a.k.a The Pilon for over $5 million.

d) Defence getting more defensive – the defence of the Flames, long considered the team’s strong suit, regressed badly last year. Despite some big names, the corps as a unit was horrible in its own zone at times. Getting Cory Sarich, a great unheralded shut-down guy who the less you notice, the better job he’s doing, was super. I firmly believe he’ll be an upgrade on Andrew Ference, who he’s replacing (most say Stuart, forgetting that Ference was dealt simply to rent Stuart for a playoff run) and more reliable. Adrian Aucoin is somewhat of a wild card – he is an injury risk but if he holds up, could be a huge bargain – as Roger mentioned, he is better offensively than Roman Hamrlik was and more reliable in his own end (and comes without the dumb penalties).

e) Getting grittier – the forwards of the Flames lacked guys with heart who would crash the net constantly and do those little things that win you games in the playoffs. Say hello to Owen Nolan, who is a prototype. He’d be great even if he was a 10-goal guy – but he’s not. He put up 40 points on a horrible Coyotes team on which he played zero power play time last season. He’ll really give this team its lunch-pail identity back.

f) Cap ceiling – there will be cap room to make mid-season moves if needed.

The Calgary Flames are set to make a Stanley Cup run. Those blue Alberta flags on their new jerseys are a perfect symbol as to who will be Alberta’s Team come playoff time (or Christmas) – again.

arloiginla: Its too bad yo uhad to ruin a bunch of great points by getting your shot in at the Oil. I’m an Oiler fan and am not shy at all to give credit where it is due the Flames look to be the best in the division this year and possibly the conference. Keenan is the only thing that is a worry for me. You said Amonte and Friesen had attitude problems well Captain hook has one of the biggest egos in the game so dont be so quick to write off the cancer in the dressing room just yet as you may have added a different form of it in Keenan!

My favorite part of the new team…..
No more Hammer, Amonte, Mccarty, and Friesen.
Although Hammer was a solid D man for the first 50 games he was awful with giveaways, bad penalties and laziness for the stretch run.
I wish stuart could have stayed he obviously wanted to go to Cally cause im sure we would have offered him 3.5
Anyways I don’t think there are too many on ice questions now the only concern is team toughness and injuries. I really like the Re signing of Primeau and the Nolan deal. Nolan is a no risk high reward signing and he should help motivate the team on the road.

Anyways Millions stop sitting on your hands and write more blogs cause your 3 blogs a year is pathetic. Princepe and the Dude (I think he calls himself that because he has trouble spelling his own name BTW) are kickin your $%# in blogs.

The Flames look like a pretty balanced team from top to bottom, but there is potential for complete distruction.

Kipper wasn’t quick to jump at a resign this off-season, and will he get off to another (sub-par) average start like the last couple years? Will 3 out of the top 6 six defense men play a role in the tansition?

Can Daymond Langkow and Kristian Huselius mimick their last year performance and both have career point seasons again? Or will they both return to the 45 point getters they have been in the past. Huselius as streaky as he has been also has the potential to fold under the hammer and sickle of Iron Mike – again.

There is some pretty good depth and should be fun to watch this season unfold. Good luck flames fans and try not to panic over the first 10 – 15 games. Kipper will let you know just how important to your team he is – again.

arloiginla: Buddy, couldn’t have said it better myself. The Flames are going to be definitely better this year (especially on the road, couldn’t get much worse) Hopefully they will stay relatively injury free this year and get off to a quick start so they won’t have to work Kipper too hard for the playoffs.

Roger was also correct in that Iggy was on pace for 110+ point season last year. Though Sutter will be in tough to sign all four of there major free agents next year. I think Huselius will be shipped before the deadline this year for either picks or prospects, to keep cash for Kipper,Dion and Langkow, The cap will most likely go up so signing those three shouldn’t be to difficult. Next to Anahiem, Calgary has the best D-fence in the League ( only if Scotty comes back that is ;)

It’ll be a hard fought Division ( except for Edmonton ) They’ll be lucky to beat their last year point total! I think Calgary should take the division, barely, Colorado improved a lot and if Luongo stays healthy even with a depleted offence, Vancouver should be up there as well.

Man I can’t wait for the puck to drop!!

Donkeypunch.

The great thing about the Northwest division is that there are not just one but TWO teams that rely solely on the performance of their number 1 goalie to carry them to the cup. Make no doubt, all the off season signings made for Calgary and Vancouver mean absolutely nothing if their goalies get injured. Both teams have nothing to rely on but inexperience or total mediocrity beyond their starters.

So as usual Calgary Kippers and Vancouver Luongos fans, pray hard every night that your only pillar to success stay healthy!

lol….Goliers…typical Oilers fan comment…

They get Garon and he saves thier team…lol

Wow, a lot of optimism here. I don’t no if it’s all warrented but power to ya, Flames fans. Here’s my prediction: Keenan puts the ‘I’ back in team and crushes any locker room peace that might have otherwise begun to form with all the new guys. Kipper comes out a bit slow and Capt’n Hook kills any hope of him re-signing. Aucoin gets hurt. Canucks win the division again. I can’t wait for the season to start either!

I think that calgary on a whole looks awfully good this year, but looking around the league, alot of teams have improved alot as well.

This year will be very interesting, especially in the east, and Calgary is lucky that they play in a division where they are clearly the best team, but have constant competion that pushes them to all that they are capable of.

I think its hysterical that detroit doesn’t last in the playoffs, because they are old, and also play against chigago, st. louis, columbus, and now that nashville is stripped, detroit should be able to take all the games in their division.

Calgary will finish second because of that fact.

Cheers!

I think its great that all the Flamers expectations are so high right now. It will make it all the more fun to tear them apart when they inevitably flop again with more uninspired play. The only years Iginla puts in an effort are contract years, so now that he is comfortable with a long term contract you can kiss his intensity good bye. And Sarich is best when you don’t hear his name? Those sound like words of wisdom from a real genius like Mackenzie or Maguire. What a bunch of bunk. That whole “shut-down” defenseman buzz word that the Flames forum uses to the extent of overkill makes me laugh. If not for Kipper you probably wouldn’t even know how to type those words.

I agree with your question marks Roger & I think there will be more. Lombardi hasn’t proven himself in the NHL yet, in fact he is a no show most of the time & injury prone. I think Langkow will be hard pressed to repeat those numbers especially if Iginla isn’t on his wing. Nolan is a huge question mark! He hasn’t shown he can play in the new NHL yet & he’s only getting older with serious injury problems. The grind line is seriously overrated with injuries & age being factors there as well. Conroy is past it & is nothing more than an expensive 4th liner. Godard isn’t worth commenting on. The vaunted Flames defence from last year isn’t what people thought & Hamrlik was a better player than either Sarich or Aucoin, who is also older & injury prone & expensive. What’s with all the dough for Sarich? Warrener is a none factor. This is going to be Kipper’s worst season, his heart isn’t in it anymore! At least playing in Cowtown, that’s pretty evident. Just my thoughts. Calgary is most overrated team in the pre season!

Goilers: It’s sad really, to see such jealousy and your not worried about your 38 year old HACK of a Goaltender………oh wait there he is….. the second coming, Mathieu GARON…….(cricket noise) That’s what I thought.

The best part of a new season is to see Shames fans so happy then to watch their dreams crushed as the year goes on. Must be the red jerseys that paint all the glasses rose colored in cowtown. Funny how whenever an Oilers fan brings up the Dynasty years the Flamers all jump on them about how long ago it was and it doesn’t matter now but Keenan hasn’t won anything in 13 years and destroyed 3 teams since then yet everyone talks about hime like he is the second coming. Not to mention the amount of players he has alienated and how quick he is to pull a goalie (and if he will pull Luongo at a moments notice what makes you think Kipper is any different)

Some stats for you…
Aucoin 56gp 22p -22 and a bunch of games against columbus and St louis.
Hammer 75gp 38p +22 in the toughest division in hockey…but Aucoin is better in his own end….sure.(and with 50pim in 56 games seems as though he takes as many dumb penalties)

And make fun of Souray all you want but without Hammer there to bail him out..Phanuef is going to be just like him…tons of PP points, bad +/-. (for those of you who don’t know, Phanuef was a great -10 in the 7 games hammer missed last year)

And sure you locked up most of the core..except for the most important part..Kipper. Until he is signed the shames are in their final year of any type of success. We already know Iginla can score 50 goals on a last place team and it gets the flames nowhere without Kipper in the net. (reference 2001-2002).

Interesting blog roger
Upon reading it, i was shocked when you said Craig Conroy would be relegated to the fourth line.
However, on a team that is deep in centres, it is going to be difficult to put a normally “second line” centre into that actual spot. But, i think a little healthy competition works. Case and point, Matthew Lombardi and Daymond Langkow alternated between first and second line centremen duties and both had career years.
I am looking forward to seeing what the flames got this year. They’re my team and will always be
GO FLAMES GO!

Roger, I think this is the best blog of yours that I’ve read. Sadly, it’s still not very good.

You’ve mentioned all of the obvious questions except the most important one: The road record. Maybe this was on purpose, I mean it’s not exactly a secret. But still, it’s too important not to mention. What does it indicate? Chemistry or character issues which the media speculated on last season?

Another suggestion for an important line of questions revolves around the aging roster: Why, since the Sutter regime started, have no prospects but Moss and Phaneuf made it to the point of honing their skills in the NHL? Of course, I omit Giordano because he is no longer a Flame. Why have we lost two of our better prospects to the Russian league? Why hasn’t Sutter been able to aquire any young talent through means other than a sub-par development system? Where is Chris Chucko? etc…

Just suggestions because I’d really like to see someone compete with MacCormick. Who is a good blog writer, but fails at almost every turn to analyse things objectivly.

obviosly there are some people blogging thay dont follow hockey too close. sutter said that at the end of last year that talks with kipper werent going to begin till late summer. he didnt want to do contract talks when kipper was in finland. i see kipper resigning. average of about 6 million a year. 5 year deal. why would he want to leave? the flames are stacked for years to come. calgary is one of the best hockey cities in the world. best fans{sea of red} hands down.

i can see lombo having a great year. coming out party last year, and playing for canada so well, built his confidence.i see 30 goalls from him.
nolan will help big time. you get some grit, toughness, a guy willing to go in that corner and get the puck. he can still drop the gloves when needed and with the right linemates can put up 60 points+.

now that the flames proved that they have offence, if we can get our defence back playing to where it was, watch out! we need a much better start this year. we have dug such a hole at the start its hard to finish high. thats where keenan comes in.he will have the boys ready to go right from the start as he will make calgary a much better road team. i see calgary winning the northwest hands down. the canucks did absolutely nothing to improve. luongo can only carry them so far…

other than that, its going to be a great year to be a flames fan…. daryl sutter as resurrected this franchise and i cant wait for the red mile to come alive again this year. heres to seeing all my fellow flames fans at the cup parade in may…

^ 30 goals out of lombardi and 60+ points out of nolan?! kiprusoff at an average of 6???!!! obviously some people blogging don’t follow hockey to close….

Julio999
Have you not been following hockey? Paychecks now aren’t has important as the city and the length of the deal. Kipper loves the city, has a chance at cups, what more could you ask for. BTW 6 mill is what luongo is getting. As for nolan that might be a stretch but remember he hadn’t played hockey for 2 years and started last season very poorly on a bad bad team. He had 40 points. As for Lombo 30 is a stretch but he did have 20 somethin last year and for the last 20 games was relegated to 3/4th line duties so it is definatly a possibility.
I’m not say that these things are going to happen im just suggesting if everything goes well those numbers aren’t out of the realm of possibility.

^ I’m well aware that there are many factors that contribute to inking a contract – money simply isn’t everything. don’t kid yourself though, premier players can go, and do whatever they want (see pronger). why wouldn’t kiprusoff want to go to play in a place like pittsburgh? or for that matter, any other place iron mike is coaching.

btw – http://www.nhlnumbers.com/van.html – luongo’s cap hit is 6.75. and you’re right, nolan has recently missed 2 years of hockey and then achieved a 40 point season on a poor team. he is also injury prone (see t.o.) and hasn’t seen a 60 point season since 01/02 (in the good OLD nhl). since your realm of debate is relegated to possibility, it is plausable that lombardi slumps and scores 30 points in total.

julio999
First of all Kipper likes the city and the team has i stated. Secondly Pittsburgh have Fleury who they deem to be the future and lets face it Pittsburgh isn’t a nice city. It’s U.S.’s answer to Hamilton. Hey what do you think Iggy and Regehr could have signed for on the open market? Gomez got 8 so Iggy 9-10? he signed for 7. Hannan got 4.5 per so Regehr 5? he signed for 4. So the market doesn’t always dictate a players value sometimes they choose a comfortable situationand stay with their team.(Unless they live in EDM.)
I also don’t think Kipper really cares about where he plays because he is always in Finland for the offseason.

As for Nolan i don’t understand your arguement about him scoring 60 in the old NHL. I believe scoring has gone up with the new rules so how is that even an arguement you just helped my arguement? And in TO Nolan needed back surgery badly but always pushed it back because he didn’t want to miss hockey with Rehab, guess what thats handled. Yes he may get injured but I think anyone in the NHL can get injured so thats not really a valid point eather.

Has for Lombardi you have no evidence supporting the slump so you can just be quiet. Players get BETTER as they mature not worse. An athletes prime is 27 and he is goin to hit that soon so yeah he can slump but looking at factors that cause slumps- age, injuries, contract issue, no line mates, he has none of those problems and have you ever seen him skate? FYI He’s Fast!

Any team under the sun has to rely on its goalie, you can’t win a Cup without a good one, or failing that at least a hot one. Kipper likes Calgary, but he doesn’t need to. He’s signed through this season as is an excellent defence corps. If Kipper doesn’t re-sign, the starting job goes to Leland Irving. Having played goal for 11 years and made it through Junior B camp, I can say Irving was Canada’s best goalie in the Super Series bar none. But that doesn’t matter, Kipper’s signed for the season.
Phaneuf has a Norris in his future, probably more than one. The shocker is that if this is his season but considering his supporting cast, it’s not out of the question. Same to be said of Robyn Regehr. Sarich is a steady shutdown hand and it’s nothing short of a miracle that he was only a -6 for Tampa last year, considering the team he was on. Aucoin doesn’t have to return to the form he had while playing for Keenan in Vancouver, but 75% of that Aucoin would be more than acceptable. Warrener and Eriksson are easily the best third pairing in the league.
They’ve got Iginla, Tanguay, Langkow, Nolan, Lombardi and Huselius as their top six, that’s four 30 goal scorers and one potential (Lombardi has it in him. Nilson, Yelle and Primeau are a good checking line. The question mark hangs over the third line. Craig Conroy will anchor it likely with David Moss on one wing. If Keenan’s in a gambling mood he could start prospect Dustin Boyd (usually a centre) on that wing and round out the line.

Keenan’s a question mark. But the flames are used to Darryl Sutter, getting on with Keenan isn’t much of a stretch from there. The Flames can outscore the rest of the Northwest and can keep defensive pace with the rest of the Northwest. They’re a cup contender, if not a cup favourite.