This season has certainly been more intriguing than anticipated.
With the trade deadline closing in, the Flames are in the mix for the final playoff spot, sparring with the strangely listless Vancouver Canucks.
Even with their rivals on the West Coast struggling to find their way, a post-season berth is by no means guaranteed for Calgary.
Despite adding Joel Farabee and Morgan Frost from the Philadelphia Flyers, Calgary struggled badly leading into the 4 Nations break. On top of that, they now face one of the toughest trips of the season.
A poor showing may thrust them back into “seller” mode before the deadline. On the other hand, doing better than .500 might convince Craig Conroy to buy instead.
With their season at a crossroads, let’s go over some of the key questions facing the team right now.
Q: What is the best-case scenario for the Flames at trade deadline?
A: The last thing the team should do is think short term, given where they are as an organization. Dustin Wolf’s incredible season has put them in a position to fight for the final wild-card spot, but the roster still is a work in progress.
Aside from save percentage, Calgary ranks as mediocre or worse by practically every other measure you can think of. As a rebuilding team, this is not unexpected.
The organization doesn’t have any major pending unrestricted free agents to auction at the deadline, but they should consider listening to offers on supplementary players like Kevin Rooney, Dan Vladar or Joel Hanley and should be open to moving them.
Q: If you had to trade one of Zary or Coronato which one would it be and why?
A: I really don’t think the Flames should be trading either guy, absent as part of some kind of Jack Eichel-like trade, but if I was forced to pick one, I’d keep Matt Coronato. He’s younger, his development has been more rapid and he has the release and offensive instincts of a 30+ goal scorer.
Q: With the tough trip schedule coming soon, what do you expect from the Flames? What are some key things we should watch out for?
A: Calgary’s game faltered badly in the last couple of weeks before the break. Their defensive structure really began to slip and, for the first time this season, they were getting consistently outplayed and overwhelmed.
A recent 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks didn’t do much to quell those concerns. The Flames were outplayed in the last two frames of that game, but prevailed thanks to the work of Wolf.
One thing to watch for is the faltering performance of some key veterans like Mikael Backlund, Blake Coleman, and Rasmus Andersson. All three guys have seen their offence dry up and their defensive results sag in the face of a heavy workload this season.
Tasked with playing against the other team’s best players most nights, Calgary will have a really hard time staying competitive if these guys’ play doesn’t recover.
Q: How many of the vet leadership group (Backs, Kadri, Andersson, Coleman, Weegs and Huberdeau — but mostly the first 4) will still be on the team at the start of next season?
A: Probably all of them. Of the five guys mentioned, I could see Kadri being moved if another team wants him badly enough. I get the feeling the player would be OK with moving on to greener pastures, but it would depend completely on getting a quality trade offer.
Rasmus Andersson has one season left on his contract after this one, so there’s no impetus to move him right away. His performance between now and this time next year will likely go a long way to determining if the club wants to sign or trade him.
Q: Who are your most likely promotions to the big club next season (granting that we don’t know what spots will be available at that point)?
A: The place to start is the blue line. Calgary has only three top-six blueliners as things stand (with Kevin Bahl only recently being added to that top of the rotation), so there are jobs available on the back end.
Ilya Solovyov and Yan Kuznetsov probably are front of the line, with Zayne Parekh a darkhorse given his exceptional junior season this year.
Up front, Rory Kerins and William Stromgren are the best bets to vie for a role on the parent club. Both are under 23 years old and amongst scoring leaders on the Wranglers. Stromgren’s a bigger body at 6-foot-3, so might be more likely than Kerins to lock down a bottom-six role.
With Vladar likely moving due to trade or free agency, Devin Cooley could come up to be Wolf’s backup.
People might be wondering about first-round pick Samuel Honzek, but his sub-0.5 point-per-game pace this year suggests he needs more time to develop.