Calgary Flames 2013-14 Season Primer

• Team Outlook from McKeen’s Hockey Guide:

  After years of trying and failing to squeeze one more playoff run out of Jarome Iginla and Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary was finally forced to alter course last season.

  They kicked off a rebuilding effort by trading away Iginla and Jay Bouwmeester last season as they limped toward their fourth consecutive finish without a playoff berth. At the same time, the Flames haven’t gone from a veteran to youthful team overnight. While they are likely to enter 2013-14 with some young and promising players, such as Sven Baertschi, this is a team that still has holdovers from when they were in a win-now mode.

  Either way, this figures to be a painful season for Calgary. While their defense is a source of strength, they lack top-end talent up front. It’s entirely possible that no member of the Flames will cross the 50-point milestone in 2013-14.

  Their goaltending is another area of concern. Assuming Kiprusoff retires as expected, then Karri Ramo and Joey MacDonald will probably start the season sharing the netminding duties in Calgary. Given Ramo’s lack of NHL or even recent North American hockey experience and MacDonald’s journeyman status, the situation doesn’t inspire confidence in the short-term.

  So after years of disappointment, the situation in Calgary remains bleak, but with one eye now towards the future, perhaps that will change sooner rather than later.

• Team Fantasy Outlook from Dobber Hockey’s 2013-14 Fantasy Guide – Over a 150 pages of fantasy goodness:

  Dobber’s lowdown on: David Jones – I’ll preface this blurb by stating outright that I was never a believer nor a fan of Jones. He was too injury prone to ever make any draft list of mine, even after his 27-goal, 45-point season. My eyes popped out of my head when I saw the ridiculous contract that Colorado gave him last year (four years, $16 million). But my strong suit is paying attention to hockey politics and identifying opportunities. In this case, the Flames gave up a lot to get him (one), they are paying him a huge salary (that’s two) and they have little depth up front (bam – trifecta). That’s why he’ll bounce back…to his mediocre self. He’ll have all the ice time and PP time in the world, and his choice of linemates. If he can stay healthy enough to play 70 games then he will score 20 goals again.

  One thing I like about Backlund is that he has ironed out his consistency. He never went four games without a point last year. One thing I don’t like about Backlund is that he is also consistent with getting hurt – missing nine, 41 and 16 games in his last three seasons. Then again, if you can predict that he’ll miss 15 games (which is an easy call) then you can work with that.

  Bärtschi had nine of his 10 points in his last seven games. There was nothing on the line and the kids were getting all the ice time, but still – that’s impressive. He’ll run hot and cold.

  Glencross had 18 points in the 25 games that he played when Backlund was in the lineup. The two played well together, but with Galiardi around I think Glencross slips to a checking line. That’s the tough part of being a good two-way player, sometimes the offensive specialists take the key spots. What this means is that Glencross’s projection could be plus or minus 10 points, depending on how healthy the wingers in the top six remain.

  Of Stajan’s 23 points, 15 of them were earned without any of Iginla, Tanguay or Hudler on the ice. Now that he’s finally being treated like a third-liner instead of a top-sixer, he’s pretty effective there.

  Calgary’s first home game is October 6. If you recall in the summer the arena was flooded and badly damaged. There was some doubt whether it will be ready in time, but team brass promises that it will. However, if they need another week or two, look for some schedule shifting and a disruption of the home/away setup – they may be on the road a lot early on. Probably not, but worth mentioning.

Follow link for more info and stats

Additions: D Chad Billins, F T.J. Galiardi, F David Jones, F Josh Jooris, F Corban Knigh, D Shane O’Brien, D Kris Russell

Subtractions: F Akim Aliu, D Anton Babchuk, F Steve Begin, F Bryan Cameron, D Brett Carson, F Roman Cervenka, G Leland Irving, G Miikka Kiprusoff, F Krys Kolanos, D Brady Lamb, F Gaelan Patterson, D Cory Sarich, F Alex Tanguay, G Danny Taylor, F Mike Testwuide, F Ben Walter

Promotion candidates: C Corban Knight, RW Ben Hanowski, C Maxwell Reinhart

Player salaries: $50,512,500 (23)
Cap Number: $52,457,918 (23)
Cap Space: $13,223,333
Forwards: $31,412,917 (14)
Defensemen: $17,370,000 (7)
Goalies: $3,765,000 (2)
Source: CapGeek

2013  Draft Results

Forwards
Curtis Glencross – Mikael Backlund – Mike Cammalleri
Sven Baertschi – Sean Monahan – Jiri Hudler
TJ Galiardi – Matt Stajan – Lee Stempniak
Tim Jackman – Roman Horak – David Jones
Blair Jones – Brian McGrattan

Defensemen
Mark Giordano – Dennis Wideman
TJ Brodie – Kris Russell
Chris Butler – Shane O’Brien
Derek Smith

Goalies
Karri Ramo
Joey MacDonald

2013 Calgary Flames Draft Results

Calgary Flames Top Prospects

2012-13 Calgary Flames Player Stats

Some info, stats and video taken from NHL.com’s 30-in-30 series.