Pool Outlook for Calgary

If the Calgary Flames organization has anything over their provincial counterparts up the road in Edmonton, it would be that they managed to acknowledge that a change has been needed for some time and they finally took the necessary steps, that everyone else saw as a no-brainer step for quite a while.  The Flames organization finally said, internally more than publicly, that a rebuild is in order and in order to do that, some pieces had to shuffle.  Of course, some of those pieces left out of necessity, forcing the hand of the rebuild, but when the Flames hired Brian Burke as their President in September last year, the winds of change began to blow.

With a new season upon them, there was an interesting approach to how the team was being coached, trying to stick to the basics and playing within the means of a team that doesn't quite have the stats on paper or the developed skill through experience.  The Flames played an exciting brand of hockey at the beginning and the end of the season, but when teams started to get their legs underneath them, the Flames' shortcomings were apparent and losses piled up, when games started to matter.   Nevertheless, the Flames did make more of their fair share of games exciting to watch for their fans, despite their results.  If that counts for anything, it should be somewhat of a success, instead of falling down into the misery of a team with the rebuild label.

The Flames did the best they could with the talent they had and quite often in the season, they found themselves having to supplant their talent with more youth, because injuries were a troubling concern with this young team in 2014.  Jiri Hudler, the team's leading pool scorer, missed some time in the year, but still finished with 54 points in 75 games for the club.  That was good enough for 89th overall in pool scoring.  Arguably, most would say that Hudler is a support scorer, like he was in his days in Detroit, and for that, we shouldn't expect him to be the team's leading scorer for too long, as there is plenty of talent coming up the pipe to dethrone of him of this title after one year.

Mike Cammalleri (45 points in 63 games), Mikael Backlund (39 points in 76 games), Sean Monahan (34 points in 75 games) and Matt Stajan (33 points in 63 games) were all examples of players who had their seasons interupted by injury through the year, which certainly was there to upset their consistency.  Monahan was definitely the brightest spot of the bunch, because of out of the 34 points that he posted, 22 of them were goals, as he showed a real nose for the net, especially when the team was running hot.

On the blueline, it came as no surprise when the team named Marc Giordano as captain of the team and he did a stand-up job, leading by example and on the scoresheet.  Giordano was 2nd in team scoring, finishing with 47 points in 64 games (another injury-plagued year for the team).  T.J. Brodie had somewhat of a breakout year, picking up 31 points in 81 games, followed closely by Kris Russell, who had 29 points in 68 games.  Russell was a solid addition in the off-season, last time around.

Probably the biggest indicator that the team was in a proper rebuild mode was how they approached their goaltending situation throughout the year.  The team went through the better part of four goaltenders, Joey MacDonald and Reto Berra through the first part of the year, then Karri Ramo came in for MacDonald, took the reins for a while and then Joni Ortio stepped into some games when Ramo was hurt through the year.  Ramo will be the number one going into 2015, but it does appear that the team is happy with him and Ortio likely being the tandem, with possible short leashes either way.

2015 Pool Outlook

The Flames, at their core, are not a playoff-bound team in the 2015 season, mostly because they haven't molded into that legitimate team yet.  By core, especially up front, I would only include guys that are absolute locks for next season, not taking into account a player's hype.  Hudler, Backlund, Monahan, Stajan, Glencross, Giordano, Brodie, Russell, Wideman, Ramo and McGrattan... all proved to be good role players for the team, but besides Monahan, none have the real potential to boost their rankings for hockey pool selection.

If there is going to be a push for some of these core players, there should be a grain of salt taken with them as well.  There isn't much for players in the first three rounds of the draft, so I would say the outlook there is pretty bleak.

Of course, there is always going to be the hyped up players, like John Gaudreau, Bill Arnold, Markus Granlund, Emile Poirer and even still, Sven Baertschi, but in the developing sense of this hockey club, I don't think it would come to me as a surprise if the coaching staff decided to hold some back, instead of the sink or swim mentality in other markets.  Baertschi was a prime example of how the hype hampered a player's development, a lesson they may not want to learn again in others.

Free Agency and the Salary Cap

Unrestricted free agency may be kind to the Flames, despite the lack of return they may have been able to get for Mike Cammalleri.  Cammalleri could very well go on July 1st, leaving the Flames with nothing to show for his departure, like they could have at the deadline, but opening up $6 million in cap space is nothing to sneeze at either.  Chris Butler, Joey MacDonald, Kevin Westgarth, Blair Jones and Derek Smith are also heading towards free agency as well.

There is some more work that needs to be done with their restricted free agents, but with less haste.  Joe Colborne, Lance Bouma, Joni Ortio, Ben Hanowski and Olivier Roy headline the RFA's for me, as they have the real potential to make the team better down the stretch.

As for the salary cap, I am only taking into consideration the core group that I spoke of earlier, since I don't like to give away jobs before camp has even started yet.  These numbers do allow for a little more flexibility, I think, which allows us to play a little bit more on our scraps of paper.  I have 14 players at Calgary's core right now, seven forwards, six defenseman and a starting goalie, all coming in at $39.9 million, leaving over $31 million in cap space.  Spending to the cap ceiling this year would be bad for the Flames' bottom line, so I don't expect them to do it this year, especially when they can fill a lot of those holes with youth, who are signed on for much less.

The Calgary Flames will be picking with the 4th overall selection in Philadelphia in June, which many scouts are saying is still in the realm of getting a franchise player this year.  The Flames will want to compliment their breakthrough player, Sean Monahan and/or help their speedy players like Baertschi and Gaudreau, who could grow with a top end centre.  There is plenty of hype around Leon Draisaitl and the Flames do like their hype.  This kid is supposed to bring all the main components of a top line centre, so if there was any thought to keep this exciting game going forward, this could be the kid that they are looking for.

The Flames lacked a true identity in the 2014 season, because a team that is rebuilding shouldn't have an identity.  Being plucky on a nightly basis isn't exactly an identity, nor should any team want to be pigeon-holed as plucky.  The 2015 team will likely be a somewhat remodeled version of the 2014 team, but without knowing all of who will be helping to build this team going forward, there still won't be any real need for an identity and being plucky might have to do.  It doesn't look like they will be hard to play against, but they will have enough skill to torch the scoreboard some nights.

If Monahan suffers from the sophomore jinx, which isn't the worst fate of an NHL player, just a bump in the road, the Flames may suffer a little bit more than the 2014 season.  Gaudreau will likely be quick out of the gates, but will quickly be the target of opposing coaches in the league, as they quickly review tape before a team's game against the Flames and could be shut down for stretches.  That's all a part of growth.  If the Flames can sort out some quality two-way defenders, keep a few more pucks away from Ramo, they could be in some games longer, but all in all, I am expecting much of the same from Calgary in 2015, but at least they'll have some growth as a squad to show for it.