For those willing to delve back into the 2022-2023 Calgary Flames regular season — you’re not going to have a lot of fun.
For the sake of brevity, here’s 82 games at a glance. A 5-1-0 start set an expectation among the organization and fanbase that this season would erase the woes of the last postseason. The four consecutive losses led to a game five elimination at the hands of their arch-rival,
the Edmonton Oilers.
Another core Flames experience was to come: that medicine was served again. On October 29, 2022, a certain Hart Trophy winner had points in all three goals in what was a 3-2 comeback win. A two-goal collapse by the Flames eventually led to six more consecutive losses.
We’re free to speculate about what transpired between the evening of October 29 to November 10, but to even the most casual observer — you could sense that
something was broken. Key players took turns shutting down performance-wise over the rest of the season.
For every
Tyler Toffoli or
Adam Ruzicka hot streak there were six or seven players clearly lacking creativity, execution and a sense of enjoyment of what should be a game and not a job.
The season carried on in much of a similar fashion. Every time it seemed like the Calgary group was turning a corner — another backbreaking loss met them within a day or so.
By the stretch drive, every team in the League was well aware of how stuck the Flames players were in their own heads. Rebuilding organizations saw the Flames as a group they could finally get back in the win column against.
Calgary finished the year with a 3-4-2 record against the bottom three teams in the league;
Chicago,
Anaheim and
Columbus.
Does it hurt that this was all kicked off by a collapse against Edmonton? Maybe it makes sense why you haven’t read many postmortem reports of the 2022-2023 Calgary Flames campaign. It sucked.
And
guess what?
The two teams are set to play once again on October 29. This time at the Commonwealth Stadium for the 2023 Tim Hortons Heritage Classic in front of 56,400 fans. Mark your calendars. The Hockey Gods surely are doing just that.
Queue the feedback.
You put “Positive” in the title and then proceeded to talk about the Calgary Flames 2022-2023 regular season. Why do you keep doing this? Why are we talking about the experiences that we would rather keep reserved for the therapist’s office? Why don’t you just post your Puckdoku results, put out a bit of wax about MacKenzie Weegar’s interview skills, and call it a day?
First of all, its human nature to be attracted to negativity, so I figured that a negative introduction would get your attention.
More importantly, all of this is simply to remind ourselves that next season will likely not feature the same sequence of maladies. In fact, there are so many reasons for optimism that we can almost guarantee that we can make a series of it. Here are seven to start.
1.) Huska has established credibility with the players
Whether it’s the rookie head coach’s mention of endorsement from various players on
The Rod Pedersen Show last week or the fact that the 48 year old has found success with so many current Flames players on Adirondack/Stockton of the AHL — it certainly seems that Ryan Huska will be entering the season with the confidence of the team he’s leading.
The Cranbrook, BC native was sure to point out that
Mikael Backlund was one of the players providing a personal endorsement of his approach. He and Ryan worked together in 2008-2009 on the Kelowna Rockets on top of the last five years in Calgary.
2.) Huska (likely) won’t overplay his starter
If I had an editor, that editor would likely tell me to title this piece
Five Things That Darryl Sutter and Brad Treliving Did Wrong That Ryan Huska and Craig Conroy Will Do Right.
Or something like that.
It’s human nature to be attracted to negativity. When people aren’t happy with a certain result oftentimes their best attempt at being constructive is by being destructive.
“We‘ll make this town better with pitchforks and torches” or
“My house is too cold, so I’m going to tear it down”.
It’s why you see some of the more popular Flames Twitter presences constantly whining or demanding that players get traded or people get fired.
It’s ok to discuss potential trades and hypothetical subjects, but when you’re getting to a point where you constantly perpetuate negativity for attention — maybe you’re not one of the good guys.
Cruel irony aside, we should all be familiar with Darryl Sutter’s tendency to ride his starting goalie into the ground.
Jonathan Quick, Darryl’s go-to netminder during his time coaching LA, started 17 of a possible 19 games in 2013-14 before a severe wrist injury sidelined him until early January. The Milford, Connecticut native ended up starting 49 of a possible 56 games that he was healthy for that year. Including the playoffs, Quick started 75 of a possible 69 games that season.
Not much difference in 2011-2012. Quick started 89 of a possible 102 games.
Mikka Kiprusoff was no different. The Finnish goaltender averaged 73.42 games per season between 2005 and 2012.
Ok, point made. How does Ryan Huska compare?
Not bad. The schedule is usually around 72 games in the AHL. In Huska’s four seasons as head coach, he didn’t have any goalie play more than 39 games. He didn’t push any goalie beyond starting 54.16% of possible starts. His sole visit to the playoffs included a 3/2 split between David Rittich and Jon Gillies.
3.) The team will have a captain (soon)
Per Huska on
The Rod Petersen Show, management and the coaching group will pick a captain in the near future. It’s debatable whether captaincy plays a role in winning games, but the issue certainly seems to mean a lot to the players.
My personal choice would be
Mikael Backlund. MacKenzie Weegar pointed out that the veteran Swede pushed back against Sutter in times when the hard-nosed coach stepped over the line last season. The 34 year old has been a consistent force on the team for over a decade. If every player on the roster brought the same high-pressure puck containment game that Mikael does — we probably have more deep playoff runs in the 2010s and early 2020s to talk about.
4.) Five players are on contract years
The double-edged sword of holding on to a player that has already stated he might not or outright won’t sign an extension.
On the plus side, these guys want their payday and will be willing to go the extra mile on the ice. On the negative — well,
Imagine what kind of return
Johnny Hockey would have fetched two seasons ago at the March 21, 2021 NHL Trade Deadline. The dynamic winger had 28 goals, 80 points and was in third place in the League with a +44 rating. The positive or negative effects of such a trade would carry on for at least a decade.
There is no Gaudreau to trade this season, but jettisoning Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Nikita Zadorov, Mikael Backlund, and Chris Tanev could bring a king’s ransom worth of assets.
That said, here’s hoping that most of them stay. Positive impact players don’t grow on trees. In the case of
Noah Hanifin, who informed management that he won’t be signing an extension — if he wants to play elsewhere then that is his prerogative. Most normal people don’t stay working for one organization for +10 years.
In the words of
Milan Lucic on
The Eric Francis Show this summer:
“The band never stays together.”
7.) Craig Conroy knows a tough trade market when he sees one
While many are upset that multiple franchise altering trades haven’t gone down — it feels a breath of fresh air to get through an offseason without a knee-jerk reaction trade or signing.
There are some divisive opinions on Brad Treliving’s results as general manager of the Flames between 2014 and 2023. Wins such as the
Dougie Hamilton trade, the
Monahan and Gaudreau extensions, and the
Chris Tanev signing were rivalled by moves such as the
Brian Elliott trade, signing
James Neal and
Troy Brouwer, and (one season post-trade) the
Jonathan Huberdeau’s eight year, 10,500,000 AAV contract extension.
Huberdeau’s contract may end up looking pretty good, but it’s fair to say the better of Treliving’s work came about when he had time to cook. No one saw him flying under the radar when Hamilton became available. He waited out Gaudreau’s representation all the way to the start of the regular season before he signed.
The knee-jerk stuff? Well, goaltender
Freddy Andersen had been acquired the Toronto Maple Leafs a few hours prior to the Brian Elliott trade. The Flames were confirmed to have been bidding on Andersen. James Neal’s contract came about late in free agency as the dance floor started emptying out. You get the point. The greatest lesson Conroy can take out of the last nine seasons is that sometimes it’s ok to step back and avoid a blunder.
This is a long way of saying that it’s nice to see Conroy taking his time.
Top four defenceman
Jeff Petry at 50% retained only fetched depth defenceman
Gustav Lindstrom and a 2025 fourth round pick. Buffalo defender
Ilya Lyubushkin only brought back a 2025 fourth round pick. New Jersey only had to give up a 2025 fifth round pick for
Colin Miller. Even proven blue liner
Matthew Dumba was only able to lock down a one-year $4,000,000 contract as an unrestricted free agent.
The market just isn’t great for a high quality player such as Noah Hanifin. Conroy is much better off waiting for prices to go up across the board.
Per Capologist
Jean Francois C, if Calgary were to retain 50% and find a third party to retain another 25%,
Hanifin’s cap hit would come out to $264,000 at the March 9 NHL Trade Deadline.
Calgary: $4,421,000
Team B acquiring Hanifin: $264,000
Team C: $264,000
Certainly a more attractive cap hit for a contending team. From an asset management perspective it seems the deadline is the time to pull the trigger. Here’s hoping Hanifin changes his mind by then and decides to extend. He’s a hell of a hockey player.
We have more reasons to be optimistic next season, but this one is getting a bit long. Stay tuned for more positivity this week!
Trevor Neufeld
@Trevor_Neufeld
Stats via CapFriendly, eliteprospects.com, and nhl.com. A big thank you to Jean Francois C.
@MtlfanSakic for help with cap information and calculations. Jean is a pro and very approachable.
Calgary Flames Blogger • 
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