Yesterday, or August 18th for those of you reading in the future, we saw what may have been the
coup de grâce of Brad Treliving’s most frenetic offseason in eight years working for the Calgary Flames organization.
With the signing of Nazem Kadri, the Flames injected another 89-some points onto the roster. More importantly, they now have three premier two-way centers to roll out in any situation.
Let’s take a look.
We’ll include handedness as it’s important to a center group. “Left” or “Right” pertains to the side the player shoots on and take draws from.
On-Ice Presence at Even Strength
Elias Lindholm - Right
Games Played: 82
Time on Ice: 1144:19
CF%: 55.9
Goals For: 85
Goals Against: 38
Nazem Kadri - Left
Games Played: 71
Time on Ice: 963:43
CF%: 56.98
Goals For: 60
Goals Against: 44
Mikael Backlund - Left
Games Played: 82
Time on Ice: 1063:10
CF%: 57.43
Goals For: 48
Goals Against: 33
Incumbent fourth line center, Kevin Rooney, has (far) less flattering statistics, but also certainly some value.
Kevin Rooney - Left
Games Played: 61
Time on Ice: 687:46
CF%: 37.81%
Goals For: 15
Goals Against: 20
That CF% is hard to get past, but 15-20 isn’t really that bad for a fourth line center. A closer look shows he can handle substantial PK time. In fact, he made a noticeable difference for the Rangers.
The Rangers penalty kill had an interesting little dip when Rooney left the lineup with an upper body injury.
New York Rangers Penalty Kill – 21-22 Regular Season
October 14 to March 2
Games Played: 54
Successful PK%: 82.3 – 7th overall
March 3 to April 8 - Rooney on IR
Games Played: 18
Successful PK%: 77.4 – 20th overall
April 9 to April 29 - Rooney returns
Games Played: 10
Successful PK%: 90.0 – 3rd overall
It’s safe to say that the Flames are getting a player Darryl Sutter will have plenty of use for.
He also stays out of the box – for the most part. In fact, Backlund is the only member of the center group with a negative penalty differential.
Elias Lindholm
Penalties Taken: 8 minors, 0 majors
Penalties Drawn: 12
Differential: +4
Nazem Kadri
Penalties Taken: 17 minors, 3 majors, 1 game misconduct
Penalties Drawn: 29
Differential: +12
Mikael Backlund
Penalties Taken: 13 minors, 0 majors
Penalties Drawn: 11
Differential: -2
Kevin Rooney
Penalties Taken: 8 minors, 0 majors
Penalties Drawn: 14
Differential: +6
Last season, the Calgary Flames finished third in Goals Against over 82 regular season games. 206. Six goals more than the first place Hurricanes and two more than the second place Rangers.
They now have a trifecta of three of the best two-way centers in the league, more defensive depth than ever before, an upgrade on the penalty kill, and a chip on their shoulder from a bitter five game loss to their arch-rivals in the second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs. It’s going to be a lot of fun seeing how far this teams goes.
Oh, and they still have about 1.2 in cap space to play with after Ruzicka signs.
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via naturalstattrick.com, moneypuck.com, eliteprospects.com hockeyfights.com and nhl.com.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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