One noticeable recurring theme we're witnessing during the 2024-2025 Calgary Flames season is that of a familiar sense of dread. Of course, in the
Month of Familiar Feelings, it might be a good idea to explore that notion and maybe get to the bottom of it.
The source of that recurring worry? Let’s let a picture save us 1000 of my best.
Does it look familiar? Let’s look at where the Flames were at the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline.
And the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline.
Despite the particularly efficient use of our time, there appears to be a waste of words here.
Throughout the 2024 offseason and well into the current campaign, we’ve heard much and more from the Flames brain trust regarding re-builds, re-tools, and tactical pivots—but is that
really going on?
It appears that, despite all of the re-assurances, we’re still looking at the same old Calgary Flames. Barely out of the playoffs with a sizeable lead on the legitimate basement dwellers. The bottom of the middle shelf, if you will.
Will there be another sell-off this season in an effort to move a bit down the standings?
As we covered in Tuesday’s piece, dropping Daniel Vladar, Andrei Kuzmenko, Kevin Rooney, Walker Duehr and Tyson Barrie doesn’t stand to move the needle much.
In fact, even after the Flames sold their last major UFA (Noah Hanifin) last season, the team only moved from 20th place to 24th in the standings during their 8-13-0 limp to the golf course.
You can’t really blame any particular Flames employee. Craig Conroy has to foster a winning culture if Calgary is ever going to recover from a potential rebuild. That means keeping a few veterans that pull their own weight.
He also has to keep the veterans who lack accountability because no one wants the cap hit and term that his predecessor handed them.
That leaves five or six roster spots to be claimed by younger players.
Mind you, power play priority still needs to be given to the vets, and the youth will just have to pick up the slack if any of those older players waffle in the first minute or so of opportunity.
It is what it is, but you can’t help wanting to give that Einstein guy a swirlie for defining insanity in a manner so offensive to Flames fans.
On to today’s game.
Calgary will attempt to build on their 4-3 comeback victory over the Nashville Predators on Tuesday night with a matchup against the perennially contending Tampa Bay Lightning. Let's look at projected lineups before we get to stats, storylines, and underlying trends.
Calgary Flames (14-10-5, 33 pts) vs Tampa Bay Lightning (14-10-2, 30 pts)
Last Ten: Calgary (4-4-2) Tampa Bay (5-4-1)
Time: 7:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time.
TV: Sportsnet One
Calgary Flames Projected Lineup
Courtesy of Pat Steinberg.
@Fan960Steinberg
Huberdeau-Kadri-Pospisil
Sharangovich-Backlund-Coronato
Coleman-Zary-Kuzmenko
Lomberg-Rooney-Duehr
Bahl-Andersson
Weegar-Miromanov
Bean-Pachal
Vladar
Wolf
Tampa Bay Lightning Projected Lineup
Based off of last game. Cirelli and Cernak may return. Update at warmups.
Guentzel-Point-Kucherov
Hagel-Paul-Chaffee
Goncalves-Geekie-Atkinson
Girgensons-Glendening-Eyssimont
Hedman-Raddysh
McDonagh-Moser
Lilleberg-Perbix
Vasilevskiy
Johansson
A Rough Stretch
It’s been a dark ride of late for the defensive pairing of Rasmus Andersson and Kevin Bahl. The two finished -3 and -2 respectively in Calgary’s victory over the Predators on Tuesday evening.
Andersson and Bahl are each a dreadful -7 in their last two games.
Hiccups like that come and go for any player through an 82-game season, but certainly something to keep an eye on. A blue line shakeup may be forthcoming.
On the other side of the coin, MacKenzie Weegar and Daniil Miromanov are each +3 in their last two.
A Loaded Arsenal
The Lightning are blessed with two red-hot offensive threats of late. Calgarian Brayden Point has two goals and three assists for five points in his last two games. Non-Calgarian Nikita Kucherov has a goal and three assists in his last two.
Despite their place of origin, Kucherov is the one to watch tonight. The 31 year old returned to the lineup on Sunday and will be the more rested of the two.
Gimme a Break
Fatigue stands to be a major factor in the result. The Lightning are on game three of a four-game road trip and are playing their third game in five nights.
Injuries are adding up. Eric Cernak and Anthony Cirelli both sat out Tampa’s 2-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday.
Both were injured on Sunday’s 4-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks. Cirelli’s night ended in the first period after a hit delivered by defenceman Noah Juulsen.
Cernak’s injury is tough to speculate on, but most likely happened blocking an Erik Brannstrom shot in the early first.
Are They Good or Not?
Veterans Jonathan Huberdeau and Nazem Kadri come into the game with an odd stat line in the month of December.
Both have played four games. Huberdeau has two goals and three assists for five points. Kadri has a goal and two assists—decent production from both.
Huberdeau is a -3 despite three of his points coming at even strength. Kadri is a -2 with two even strength points.
It may sound like a broken record, but hey,
Month of Familiar Feelings. The two have been truly awful on the defensive side of the puck.
Observe Kadri put on a masterclass on Nashville’s two go-ahead goals.
Huberdeau had a rough one against Dallas. A passenger on this play.
Kadri wasn’t better. A beautiful defensive play here.
This is all to say that there is a bit of a low-boil accountability problem on the Calgary Flames. If the go-to players are the worst defensively, what kind of message does that send to the rest of the roster?
Game time is 7:00 p.m. MST. Catch it on Sportsnet One.
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