Today we’re going to look into how the Flames defencemen performed in the series that resulted in a second round elimination to the Oilers in five games. Obviously dropping four straight won’t be getting a lot of positive feedback, but we’ll look at each player’s contribution, add up what we know about injury status and there isn’t anything confirmed; we can certainly speculate.
We’ll also be looking at their performance over the playoffs as a whole as well as comparing that to their regular season and comparing their physical contributions to those of the 2012 and 2014 Cup winning LA Kings.
Some issues have been leaked already and more will become known after garbage bag day when stalls get cleaned out and team personnel provide insight on what went wrong and what they were dealing with. After this we’ll be examine the forward and goaltending groups, but the defence is a good place to start as the have had some major deficiencies.
Obviously, you will want to talk about them before we get to the forwards, so here is a quick breakdown of the injuries we’ve confirmed.
Matthew Tkachuk: “Banged up” hand
Andrew Mangiapane: Wrist
Milan Lucic: AC sprain
Chris Tanev: Torn labrum, separated shoulder, sprained neck
Oliver Kylington: Shoulder
Nikita Zadorov: Two or three fractured ribs depending on who you ask
Now on to the Blue Line and how they performed over two series.
The Defence
Noah Hanifin & Rasmus Andersson
Finishing first and second in even strength goals against- the Flames’ first pairing had a rough series.
On Ice Even Strength Goals For
Andersson: 6
Hanifin: 3
On Ice Even Strength Goals Against
Andersson: 11
Hanifin: 9
Differential as a Pairing: -11
The second pairing of Kylington-Tanev, despite Tanev being the most injured Flame still playing and Kylington nursing a shoulder injury himself, fared much better with a differential of +6.
Chalk it up to taking the tougher assignments, but the two seemed off.
Hanifin’s zero goals and two assists, and only one assist in seven games against Dallas, may indicate he was playing through something. Just a bit of conjecture. That low of production is an outlier for the 25 year old.
The pairing took some serious punishment in an April 26 game against the Nashville Predators. A particularly rough game that also saw the injury of Jusse Saros.
On Ice Even Strength Goals For Since April 26 Against the Predators
Andersson: 11
Hanifin: 7
On Ice Even Strength Goals Against Since April 26
Andersson: 19
Hanifin: 18
Differential as a Pairing: -19
Let’s look at the 25 days prior to that game.
On Ice Even Strength Goals For From April 1-25
Andersson: 18
Hanifin: 20
On Ice Even Strength Goals Against
Andersson: 12
Hanifin: 12
Differential as a Pairing: +14
Connect the dots on that one if you like. It should be noted that Andersson finished out the season +3 after playing the Predators, so perhaps whatever he was playing with may have happened when his even strength differential really started to dip— game two against Dallas where he was a -2.
Oliver Kylington
The rangy Swede had an— interesting series. His +3 goal differential at even strength was a positive. 7-4 in that category. He placed second on the Flames in 5v5 goal differential over two series.
Over Twelve Playoff Games
On Ice Even Strength Goals For: 11
On Ice Even Strength Goals Against: 6
Even Strength Goal Differential: +5
What was more concerning was how Oliver handled the playoff style of hockey. He finished dead last on the team in hits per 60 minutes against the Oilers. Zero. A soft decline from the four he threw in seven games against Dallas.
Total Hits Thrown by the Kylington-Tanev Pairing vs. Edmonton: 1
It was announced today that Kylington had been playing with a shoulder injury himself. That’s two healthy shoulders on one defence pairing. Hence one hit between the two of them in five games.
So, those are some negatives. Despite that, Kylington had his moments. He used his skating well and gained the zone in a few occasions.
He was taken off the powerplay almost entirely this series whereas he was given about one shift a game against Dallas.
Average Powerplay Time on Ice Per Game – Kylington
Vs. Dallas: 0:34
Vs. Edmonton: 0:16
The only real look he got with the man advantage against Edmonton was in game two where he logged 0:55. Not much, but when you’re average is 16 seconds a game, that’s the only real look he got in the series.
Given the Flames have an upcoming cap crunch, Connor Mackey could get an extended look with Tanev next year. Kylington has some serious potential, but also some very limiting aspects of his game. When Darryl Sutter has found success in the postseason, he’s yet to have more than one defenceman below 1.10 hits per game. Mackey brings a more physical style while bringing a big shot and a reliable first pass— not to mention his ELC cap hit.
Chris Tanev
The right side defenceman had a very publicized shoulder injury that he was playing through. Now the full details have become available.
Here’s Rick Dhaliwal breaking the news.
Despite three serious injuries to his shoulder area, Chris played the most even strength minutes on the Flames by a country mile against the Oilers. 19:40 per game. Even more impressive was that he finished the series without being scored on at 5v5. Good lord. Three goals for and zero against at even strength.
So, surgery next week. Hopefully he makes a full recovery. He deserves to captain the Flames next season.
Nikita Zadorov
Another blue line casualty. Here’s Salim Valji on what Zadorov was playing through.
Three broken ribs. That’s an excruciating experience. Rib injuries not only vastly limit your mobility, they make it extremely difficult to get a decent sleep. Any twist or turn in the night wakes you up.
Despite that, Zadorov played a solid, unremarkable series against Edmonton. He was on the ice for seven goals for, including a shorthanded marker, and seven goals against. He played the eighth most minutes per game on the Flames at an average of 18:04.
Despite playing seven of twelve games with three fractured ribs, Zadorov almost doubled the next highest defenceman (Erik Gudbranson – 17) in the hits department with 32 over 12 playoff games.
Hits Per Game Average – Defencemen – Playoffs
Zadorov – 2.66
Stone – 1.55
Gudbranson – 1.41
Hanifin – 1.16
Andersson – 1.08
Tanev – 0.50
Kylington – 0.33
Average per Game per Defenceman: 1.16
Let’s compare those numbers to their hit production over 82 regular season games.
Hits Per Game Average – Defencemen – Regular Season (minimum ten games played)
Zadorov – 2.44
Stone – 2.36
Gudbranson – 1.85
Hanifin – 0.77
Andersson – 0.76
Tanev – 0.63
Kylington – 0.54
Average per Game per Defenceman: 1.33 hits per game
Interesting to see Zadorov manage to outdo his regular season average despite playing seven of twelve with limited mobility. It’s also notable that the first pairing actually increased their hits per game mark by a substantial amount. The two both notched 63 hits on the season with Hanifin playing one less game.
That all said, if your hits per game are going down in the playoffs compared to the regular season, you might have a problem.
Erik Gudbranson
This is a player that you wonder whether something was affecting his play. He finished with the 9th most minutes per game at 17:47, but was on the ice for three less even strength goals for than his defence partner Nikita Zadorov.
Gudbranson was missing several elements of his game that he brought during the season. His punishing physical style and ability to get quick snap shots off from the point were absent in five games.
His six hits in five games was a clear indicator that Erik wasn’t at 100% this series. When a defenseman known for his physical game finished below the likes of Mikael Backlund and Calle Jarnkrok in hits/60 minutes of play; you can take that as an indicator. Gudbranson finished 14th in that category with 4.04 hits/60.
17 hits over 12 games wasn’t much better. 1.41 hits per game isn’t going to cut it when physicality is supposed to be a major part of your contribution to the team’s success. It will be interesting to see if any news of an injury surfaces.
Michael Stone
Was their a brighter moment for the Flames this playoffs than the re-emergence of 31 year old veteran Michael Stone?
Michael Stone in Playoffs
GP: 9
G: 2
A: 3
P: 5
Even Strength On Ice Goals For: 8
Even Strength On Ice Goals Against: 2
Even Strength Goal Differential: +6 – 1st on the team
Average Time on Ice: 13:02 – 16th on the team and last among defencemen.
Stone, who was simply brought in as an extra body to ease the load on the blue line, ended up outshining several others. His cannon of a shot in particular was an asset. His 7.16 hits per 60 minutes ranked him seventh on the Flames and second among defencemen.
How Do They Stack Up Against the Old Kings Teams?
When you have one pairing throw a total of one hit, your hard nosed pairing playing through three broken ribs and god knows what Gudbranson was dealing with, and your top pairing that was never known for it’s physicality— you get a low pressure blue line in your own end.
Nikita Zadorov broke three ribs in game five against Dallas and still finished first among defencemen in hits— 32 over 12 games or 8.82 per 60.
Total Hits by Defencemen Over 12 Playoff Games
98
Average Hits per Game from the Blue Line in Playoffs
8.16
Average Hits per Defenceman per Game
1.167
Average Hits per Game from Blue Line Over 82 Regular Season Games
8.69
For fun, let’s look at Darryl Sutter’s Cup winning Kings team in 2012
2012 LA Kings Defencemen Hits Per game in 20 Playoff Games
Matt Greene – 3.35
Slava Voynov – 2.00
Drew Doughty – 2.20
Alec Martinez – 1.10
Willie Mitchell – 1.45
Rob Scuderi – 0.65
Average Hits per Defenceman per Game: 1.79
Only one player below one hit per game and three at two or higher.
How about the 2014 Kings?
2012 LA Kings Defencemen Hits Per game over 26 Playoff Games
Matt Greene – 3.10
Slava Voynov – 3.00
Robyn Regehr – 2.75
Jake Muzzin – 2.84
Drew Doughty – 1.65
Alec Martinez – 1.50
Willie Mitchell – 1.88
Jeff Schultz – 2.00
Average Hits per Defenceman per Game: 2.34
The 2012 and 2014 Kings blue lines were so much tougher than the 2022 Calgary Flames’ blue line; they’re hardly even comparable.
You look at the insane numbers that the Oilers stars put up against the Flames and start to make sense of it. There was very little risk to handling the puck in the dangerous areas against the Flames. Say the opposition plays 80 fourty five second shifts in a game. That’s a little over one hit every ten shifts. If head coach Darryl Sutter wants his team playing an imposing style, he’s going to have to find a different combination. Three of four top four defencemen being on the softer side won’t cut it.
Next up is the forwards. Look for that on Monday.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via naturalstattrick.com, moneypuck.com, and nhl.com.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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