CALGARY — Aydar Suniev will be a Calgary Flame in the very near future.
His team-leading four pre-season goals essentially cemented that.
But he won’t start with the big club.
Suniev was the most notable name to be left off the 23-man opening night roster the Flames had to submit to the league Monday afternoon.
It’s not because he didn’t do enough to prove his world-class shot eventually belongs alongside the world’s best players.
But he was an obvious choice to be left off the Flames’ opening night roster Monday, when the team chose to keep Brennan Othmann over the Russian winger. After all, Othmann would have had to clear waivers to be demoted. Suniev did not.
“Yes, it came down to those two guys, but this could be for a day, a week – this is the year we have to see all these people and it’s an open competition,” said Conroy, alluding to the fact Suniev will likely be back with the goal-craved Flames in short order.
“I know he’s probably disappointed, and I know people are going to be disappointed, but we’re going to see him – it’s just a matter of when.”
Keeping Othmann allows the team to keep both young prospects in their organization, giving both the best environment to continue developing.
A first-round pick of the Rangers five years ago, the 23-year-old Othmann is two years older than Suniev, and with 44 NHL games over parts of four seasons under his belt, the youngster is more versatile than Suniev at the moment.
“He told me at the end of the year he’s going to come in and prove to us why he was drafted in the first round and why he thinks he’s an NHL player – and he really did it,” said Conroy.
“The thing about Othmann is he can play anywhere in your lineup, and he’s going to compete.”
He’s already done well to infuriate several Kraken players, which could be interesting when they meet again Sunday.
“I play hard, I play fast, I play physical,” said Othmann, who was acquired in a minor deal for Jacob Battaglia last season.
“I’ve always considered myself a rat, in a sense, and I feel like that’s pretty rare in today’s hockey. I just want to do that as best I can.”
If the Flames have an injury in the bottom six, he can easily be plugged in, with instructions to do exactly what he did in the pre-season when the six-foot, 192-pound lefty hit everything that moved and did well to make his presence felt.
As a 50-goal scorer in junior, who won an OHL championship in his final year with Peterborough, he’s an intriguing project who admits the transition to being much more physical and annoying as a pro hasn’t been easy.
In his pre-season debut, he rang a shot off the crossbar before being ejected for an elbowing major just five minutes into the game.
Suniev is a gifted scorer who was drafted in the third round after scoring 45 goals and 90 points in 50 games with Penticton. At six-foot-two, 198 pounds, you can see why so many are excited about his upside.
He took more than half a season in the AHL last season to start figuring out how to play pro hockey, let alone find the net. They’re working with him on his 200-foot game, with hopes he can also play a leading offensive role on the farm.
If so, the kid who scored just 14 goals as a Wranglers rookie will be called up in due time.
No sense in rushing a youngster whose No. 1 priority is building confidence.
“He needs to continue to do exactly what he’s been doing,” said Conroy of Suniev.
“Offensively he’s been excellent, but his defensive game… he needs to continue being more physical and battling more. All the things we asked him to get better at, he did.”
As expected, there were no surprises on the 23-man roster the Flames declared Monday.
Jonathan Huberdeau continues to recover from his hip surgery and will start the season on injured reserve, opening the door for Sam Honzek to be rewarded for the solid pre-season showing he had. The first-rounder will be a key contributor on the penalty kill as well as adding size and speed the team could use more of.
Coach Ryan Huska admitted he knew little about off-season acquisition Maxim Tysplakov and will learn a little more about where he fits with every game.
On the back end, veterans Joel Hanley and Brayden Pachal were kept as the two extra defencemen, giving the team plenty of options. It meant Hunter Brzustewicz was sent down to the minors, but that seemed his obvious fate from the start of camp.
Again, he’ll benefit from huge minutes and responsibility on the farm.
For the first time in franchise history, the Flames are running a marathon, not a sprint.
Patience is key with every personnel move.
The lineup:
Gridin – Frost – Coronato
Zary – Strome – Sharangovich
Honzek – Backlund – Farabee
Tsyplakov – Pospisil – Klapka
Othmann
Bahl – Nemec
Kuznetsov – Whitecloud
Middleton – Parekh
Hanley
Pachal
Wolf
Cooley
5:56
