THE GOOD
Jarome Iginla seems to have finally found his stride, as he played an exuberant game against the Oilers (in which he constantly tried to do too much himself) and an even better effort against the Rangers (whereupon he scored a goal and an assist in the 1st period). We knew it would happen sooner or later, and if you're like me, you're definitely glad it was sooner in this case.
After a couple shaky games early on, defenseman Chris Butler has managed to string a couple strong outings together. Butler will, unfortunately for him, always be known as the guy the Flames got in the Regehr trade, but I think he's actually managed to acquit himself well playing on the top defensive pair with Jay Bouwmeester.
Speaking of Bouwmeester, he was unfairly saddled with a -2 rating last night, in spite of playing a very solid 2-way game for the most part (though he definitely deserved the minus on the Brandon Prust goal). Aside from the St. Louis game, Bouwmeester has been steady so far.
Miikka Kiprusoff has looked good so far this season, especially since he sat out game 2 in favour of Henrik Karlsson. Oddly, Kipper's .926 sv% is still only 18th overall. Good starts for just about every goalie in the league, it seems.
There never seems to be anything bad to say about Mark Giordano. He and Scott Hannan have been the Flames' most consistent defensive pair (at least, the most consistenly good).
Speaking of Hannan, he's been worth well over the $1million he's earning this season. I'm saying that relative to the rest of the league, of course. Unexpectedly, he's also shown a bit of offensive touch, as he has 1 goal and 2 assists so far. That's the same production as Giordano, by the way.
Roman Horak was decent in his 4 games, and he managed an assist in his 1st game. He actually faced rather stiff competition for a first year bottom 6 forward and, predictably, he got murdered in possession. He still had an even rating though, and no penalty minutes. He was good in the faceoff circle as well, as he was bellow 50% in only one game. I expect he'll be sent to the Abbotsford Heat at some point in the coming days, unless the Flames manage to trade someone (*cough*Stajan*cough*)
Speaking of Matt Stajan, he has, shockingly, been quite... okay so far. His defensive game has been top-notch in spite of a lack of strength, and he's made some good plays offensively as well. Regrettably, some of his best passes have been wasted on the likes of Tom Kostopoulos.
I like Lee Stempniak on the Jokinen line. Unfortunately, he'll probably be demoted when Moss is converted back to RW. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.
Olli Jokinen has consistently been the best Flame so far (other than Kiprusoff). I'm liking his high-speed 2-way game. He's not Henrik Zetterberg, but he's the best guy for the job right now in Calgary. His point streak ended last night though. His linemate Curtis Glencross has been solid as well, though the Flames have yet to win a game in which he scores.
Raitis Ivanans was waived. To no one's surprise, he cleared. On another note, I had no idea that gorillas could skate.
THE BAD
Tim Jackman and Tom Kostopoulos have been complete non-factors so far.
While he hasn't been bad, David Moss is clearly not a 1st line center. Brent Sutter is counting the days until Mikael Backlund comes back from his injury. Hopefully he'll stop counting when that happens, if you understand my meaning.
Sarich has been throwing a lot of those hits he's famous for. In my opinion, if he keeps on like he is, he's going to be suspended one of these days. Without Sarich, there's a distinct lack of physical presence on the Flames' blueline, though Giordano and Hannan do bring a little mustard.
I have yet to see any real coaching from Brent Sutter. The Oilers game showed a glimmer of it in the 3rd period, though those 2 goals were really just dumb luck.
THE PROSPECTS
There's actually a lot of positives for the Flames on the prospect front these days.
Abbotsford
The Heat are off to a 3-1 start, their best ever. Leland Irving has played every minute in goal for them so far, and has been good. I have a feeling his .917 sv% would be better if the Heat gave up more than 21 shots/game.
Good: Greg Nemisz and Brendan Mikkelson are leading the way with 4 points each. Jon Rheault, Dustin Sylvester, Paul Byron, and Ben Walter have been in the mix as well. Though he only has 1 point so far, T.J. Brodie has been solid. Clay Wilson has arguably been the Heat's most consistent defenseman with 2 points. Sylvester leads the team with a +2 rating. Ben Walter and Jon Rheault lead the team with 13 SOG. Greg Nemisz and Guillame Desbiens are next with 12 each. Brendan Mikkelson and Jordan Henry lead the way for dmen with 8 each. Brodie is next with 7. Paul Byron has 2 goals on just 4 shots. G Joni Ortio hasn't played a minute of hockey yet--he hasn't had to, as Leland Irving has been a rock. Still, you'd think they'd want to get the Finn some action...
In semi-unrelated news, Bryan Cameron was sent to the ECHL after not making the Heat roster, and has yet to play a game. Not sure if injured...
Elsewhere...
Randomly realized a little while ago that a whole bunch of Flames prospects wear letters for their teams. D John Ramage is the only 'C', but C Max Reinhart, D Joey Leach, LW Sven Baertschi, LW Michael Ferland, RW Patrick Holland, and LW Turner Elson all wear 'A's for their team. The ones who don't? D Tyler Wotherspoon, C Bill Arnold, LW Johnny Gaudreau, C Markus Granlund, and G Laurent Brossoit. And presumably LW Nick Larson, though I always forget about him and thus haven't checked up on him in a long time (having just remembered about him right this moment). I'm not even sure what team he plays for...
NCAA
Ramage's Wisconsin Badgers are off to a... not good start. He has no points, which isn't really surprising considering the type of player he is.
It's a different story for the BC (Boston College) Eagles, however. They have just one loss in 4 games, and Bill Arnold and John Gaudreau have both gotten off to great starts. Arnold, rather surprisingly, leads the team in points with 7 (2-5-7) in 4 games. His hard-hitting 2-way game is as good as ever. Smooth-skating, oft-dangling "Cheese" is second with 6 points (2-4-6). Interestingly, both are out-scoring NYR super prospect Chris Kreider (3-2-5). I expect that will change over time, I just thought it was interesting (especially since Gaudreau is currently on their 3rd line, and is a ridiculously under-sized player at 5'6" and 140pounds).
Europe (SM-liiga)
Markus Granlund has 1 goal and 4 points in 10 games in his first season playing with/against men. I was told at one point that he was on the team's 2nd line playing RW (out of position) and the team's stats seem to support that conclusion as he's 6th among forwards. Brother Mikael (MIN) leads the team with 18 in 13 games.
CHL (WHL)
I'll start with mr. Boring. Turner Elson has caught fire of late, but he still only has 4 points in 8 games for the Red Deer Rebels. He also boasts a -4 rating. I'm having trouble figuring out why the Flames liked him enough to sign him this summer, but to be fair he looked alright in the Penticton YoungStars tourney.
Michael Ferland is 2nd on the Brandon WheatKings with 9 goals and 15 points in 11 games with a +3 rating. He has accomplished this on the strength of a couple 3 point nights. Looking pretty good for a 5th rounder these days, I could see him as a 3rd line winger for the Flames in the future.
The Kootenay Flames (I mean Ice) are led in scoring by the surprising Max Reinhart (5-9-14 +5 in 10) and (shockingly) D Joey Leach (2-8-10 +3 in 12). If Leach improves his skating quite a bit, he could be a pretty good defenseman in the NHL. The hope seems to be that Max Reinhart will be Daymond Langkow reincarnated. That wouldn't disappoint me at all, and he is that kind of player. It's more likely he'll be a Manny Malhotra though.
In Portland, Sven Baertschi has been sizzling lately after a slow start, and currently sits at 17 points (5-12-17 0) in just 8 games--BETTER THAN 2 PER GAME!!! A couple 4 point games will do that, though. Tyler Wotherspoon seems to have found an offensive touch to go with his rugged style, and has 3 assists in 6 games, with a +2 rating. He's currently playing with Troy Rutowsky on the Winterhawks' top shutdown pair. I expect they'll eventually split up Joe Morrow and Derrick Pouliot, so Wotherspoon could find himself playing with one of them eventually. The team has been struggling a little out of the gate, in spite of the scoring from Ty Rattie and Sven.
In Try-City, Patrick Holland recently scored his first goal of the season which, combined with his 11 assists, gives him 12 points in 12 games. He also has a +4 rating, and is widely regarded as a candidate for Canada's World Junior team. I was dubious about that until training camp started. He's a really smart player, and formed a dangerous 2-way line in Penticton with Max Reinhart and Sven Baertschi.
Edmonton Oil Kings goalie Laurent Brossoit has had a decent start with his team, and currently sits 9th with a 2.33 GAA and 11th with a .918 sv%. Not bad for a goalie taken in the 6th round, though I wasn't a fan of the Flames taking another goaltender last draft. He's still quite raw technically speaking, and tends to get by because he's tall rather than through impeccable positioning like a Leland Irving (or a Carey Price if you want to go for the top of the list).
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