CALGARY — Smiling after a recent win that put the Flames in a temporary playoff berth, Nazem Kadri was asked about their lofty perch.
“Unbelievable,” said the team’s top centre, looking up at the gathered media.
“Who all had that here? Anyone project that?”
Pausing briefly, he couldn’t resist a playful shot.
“Experts…”
No one outside the Flames locker room expected this, a sustained push to remain amongst the league’s top 16 squads.
All the naysayers who said the team’s goaltending was unproven, the blue line was largely untested, and the forwards would have trouble scoring have only served to fuel this bunch.
Committed to a hybrid rebuild (a hybuild, we’ll call it), the team’s blend of veterans and unproven youngsters has predictably faltered in terms of generating offence.
But they’ve more than made up for it with a work ethic and commitment to defence that has fit nicely with their biggest strength, netminding.
The Flames’ recipe for success comes in the form of low-scoring games, which have been made possible by the stellar duo of Dustin Wolf and Dan Vladar.
Previously untested as starters, they’ve shone.
Rasmus Andersson has embraced his status as the team’s go-to defender so well it earned him a spot on Sweden’s 4 Nations Face-Off squad.
MacKenzie Weegar has also helped anchor an otherwise youthful blue line that has been bolstered by the steady defensive play of Kevin Bahl on the top pairing.
Jonathan Huberdeau’s resurgence alongside Nazem Kadri and Martin Pospisil finally gives the team a legitimate first line that has come through plenty of late, especially on the power play.
Matt Coronato’s 10th of the season Saturday demonstrated the sort of finish that will make him a 30-goal scorer in the next year or two, giving the Flames a second line with Blake Coleman and Mikael Backlund that is dependable and dangerous.
Building blocks.
Still, more offence is needed, which makes it all the more important for passengers like Yegor Sharangovich and Andrei Kuzmenko to find their scoring touch.
The knee injury to Connor Zary won’t help, as his steady play as a third-line centre was a big part of the team’s early success.
Despite all the naysayers and obvious challenges facing them, this team has believed in itself from the start.
They proved it by opening with a 5-0-1 record and have sustained a shockingly high standard since.
However, as they all know, it’s how they finish that matters most.
KEY STATS
Record: 20-14-7 (5th in Pacific Division, 15th in NHL)
Goals per game: 2.61 (27th in NHL)
Goals against per game: 2.98 (14th in NHL)
Power play: 20.7% (18th in NHL)
Penalty kill: 70.8% (30th in NHL)
BEST SURPRISE: Dustin Wolf.
The debate is over; he’s not too small to continue dominating at the highest level.
His 14-6-2 start to his first full NHL season suggests the former AHL MVP is well on his way to becoming an NHL star.
Already is.
Talk of him as a Calder frontrunner is warranted, as his 2.53 goals-against average and .916 save percentage can attest.
Goaltending was the team’s biggest question mark entering the season, and it’s now their biggest strength.
Vladar has played a big role in that, too, shielding the 23-year-old Californian from some of the tougher starts.
That doesn’t take away from Wolf’s 11-2-1 home record, which has been a huge factor in the team’s ability to stay in a playoff race that has them just one point back of Vancouver for the West’s final wild-card berth.
The two goalies have split time thus far, but the coach and GM have both suggested it’s time to start letting the hotter of the two go on a lengthy roll.
Expect that to be Wolf, which would say all you need to know about how much faith the club already has in its goalie of the future.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Andrei Kuzmenko
Two years after scoring 39 goals as a rookie, the 28-year-old Russian has just one goal — a power-play marker scored in the fourth game of the season.
He’s been a healthy scratch in nine of the team’s last 16 games, as the gifted playmaker continues to pass up shooting opportunities his coaches have begged him to take.
In 32 games, he has just 31 shots.
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The plan going into the season was undoubtedly to flip the pending UFA at the trade deadline with an eye on adding to the windfall of assets the Flames already received in the Elias Lindholm trade.
Clearly that won’t be happening, as his value as an NHLer is so low that few would bet he’ll be anywhere next year outside of the KHL.
Honourable mention: Yegor Sharangovich, whose six goals, 11 points and minus-11 mark accurately reflect how ineffective the former 31-goal scorer has been since signing a five-year, $28.75 million extension in the summer.
BIG QUESTION FOR THE SECOND HALF: Can they sustain this?
Asked on the weekend if they’ve proven anything yet, Ryan Huska was frank.
“My short answer would be no — there’s half a season left,” he said.
“If you want to answer that question the right way, we want to be on the right side of it after game 82. Then we can say we proved people wrong, and it’s on to the next step.”
A knee injury to Connor Zary in Game 40 will once again test the organization’s depth, prompting AHL scoring leader Rory Kerins to be summoned for what will be his NHL debut this week.
If injuries mount, this team will be in tough, as so many of the lads who top the team’s call-up list are young prospects.
General manager Craig Conroy has said he’s still searching for a young centreman on the open market, but won’t make any short-term moves.
In other words, they’re on their own.
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