Dusk of the Long Night: Calgary Flames Season Preview

It's a poorly kept secret that our Calgary Flames are in for a rough season. They are, in fact, the odds-on favourites to finish dead last in the league (and, for some reason, to draft first overall, even though they would have only a 25% chance of doing so even if they were guaranteed to be the worst team, which they aren't). I'll admit it doesn't look good--though on the other hand, I'm looking forward to this season more than I was last season, largely because the perpetual smog of futility and mediocrity surrounding the team is FINALLY gone. Joy. There's the scent of change on the air, and the Flames are beginning the process of coming about and steering their ship back into contention, rather than heading for the shoals as they had been for the past several seasons. You could argue that they've already run aground, but at least the ship is in tact and likely still buoyant.

In short (unheard of in these parts, I know), the Flames will be bad for probably the next three years or so.  Likely painfully bad. But at least they're starting to head in the right direction, and they'll probably be a pretty fun team to watch.

Remarkable Markus: 2013 Young Stars Tournament

Now that the Vancouver Canucks' Penticton Young Stars "Tournament" is over (I don't know, to this day, why it's called a tournament, but whatever) a lot will be made about who looked good, who didn't, and what it all means.

What it all means, really, is virtually nothing.  Players have come away from this tournament with great performances--think Carter Bancks, Patrick Holland, and Vancouver's Kellan Tochkin--in spite of not amounting to much (or, more accurately, not likely amounting to much).  Conversely, players such as T.J. Brodie (and, this year, Sven Baertschi) have disappointed, only to prove it means less than nothing.  Nevertheless, it's fun to speculate, and this "tourney" does provide us with a window to see our future heroes in real game situations.  The level of play has improved with each successive year (except last year, where the tournament was cancelled for greed-related reasons), and the entertainment value is fantastic.

So, without further wasting of time, here are my thoughts on what I saw from the Flames' youngsters in Penticton (and, to a lesser extent, in Development Camp, since it occurs to me that I didn't post about that).

Oh, and a happy retirement to Miikka Kiprusoff. It's been a wild ride, Kipper!

NHL Organizational Rankings: I'M FREAKING BORED!!!

A few notes before we begin:

• I was surprised at how close most of the systems seemed.  There were very few easy choices other than Tampa Bay first and St. Louis last.
• Many teams' positions have been changed many times.  I'll try to refrain from tampering with this post after publishing, but It'll be very tempting.  That's how close it is.
• Ranking Calgary was, predictably, very difficult.  I had to keep in mind that I was biased, and tried to be as objective as I could.  Even so, I was surprised that I had them as high as I did, but they basically fell in that slot by default (and I'm not the only one who had them that high).  The reason? I essentially consider Chicago/Montreal/Calgary to be almost a three-way tie. The tiebreaker between Calgary and Montreal was Sven Baertschi. After matching players of similar value against each other, Baertschi was left over, and so Calgary moved ahead. If Alex Galchenyuk was still considered a prospect, Montreal would get the edge. Chicago/Calgary was far more difficult.  I decided to give Chicago an edge in goal, considering Raanta's age and track record rather than Gillies' sheer upside. Defense was easier, with the Blackhawks carrying many players with similar (or slightly lower) upsides to the Flames', but who were far more pro-ready. Adam Clendening was what made it easy, as he is easily the best defense prospect in either system.  What made the ranking decision difficult was the forwards, as the Flames have a very good group of players at center and left wing. I consider the Flames' group to be better (the Blackhawks have one player with top line potential in Teravainen, whereas the Flames have four in Baertschi, Monahan, Gaudreau, and Jankowski, though two of those are with high risk). The Blackhawks' depth at center (the more valuable position) made it close, though, and I moved them closer when I considered that basically everyone everywhere is higher on Mark McNeill than I am. In the end, it was Adam Clendening that broke the tie.
• [NEW] Initially I had Ottawa much lower, but I looked at their collection and then at Montreal's writeup and realized they were too low.  Putting them ahead of Montreal basically meant they were ahead of Chicago, as well.
• Edmonton and Phoenix are basically interchangeable. The Coyotes have better forwards and goaltending, but I liked Klefbom and Nurse enough to move the Oilers ahead considering their stupendous depth on defense (and the fact that, like McNeill, pretty much everyone is higher on Martin Marincin than I am).
• I originally had Buffalo second, but I moved them behind Anaheim mostly because of John Gibson. Big fan, not going to lie.
• I am aware that pretty much everyone is higher on the Islanders than I am.  But I don't like Griffin Reinhart, so suck it.
• Before the draft, Vancouver would have been in the mix for dead last with Philadelphia and maybe St. Louis. Horvat and Shinkaruk really saved them.

 

Calgary Flames Top 20 Prospects

This time 'round, I decided to prioritize projectability a little more than usual.  Also, because of the recent influx of talent, I was able to create a list of honourable mentions, since there were enough noteworthy players who didn't make the list who deserved mention.

Shades of Grey: Calgary Flames 2013 Draft Report Card

So the 2013 NHL Entry Draft is over and done with (man, that was long..).  The Flames have filled out their "most important draft in franchise history." There are 8 brand shiny new members of the Calgary Flames organization (and 211 new members of the NHL family)

Before I get down to business, a few thoughts:

2013 NHL Entry Draft: First Round Mock II (and madness ensued)

Well, the 2nd round of the playoffs is over, and a few more draft positions (most notably the Flames' #22) are set in stone.  I only did 2 mocks last year, but it's fun and stuff, so I decided to do another one RIGHT NOW.  Only this time, there's a twist.  I decided (pretty much right after I posted the last one) that I wanted to do something different.  Something... interesting.  You can go anywhere (to many sites much more useful than mine) and find mock drafts littered with sensible picks.  Informative, but boring (well, not really).

No.  This time, I wanted to gift my readers (yes, all six of you!) with something you won't find anywhere else.  A mock draft that's littered with insanity from start to finish.  (You know, as if every team was run by Scott Howson).

In every draft, someone does something ridiculous (2007: Los Angeles takes Thomas Hickey 4th overall for no apparent reason), sometimes many someones (2012: Garth Snow offers Howson ALL of the Islanders' picks in order to move up TWO spots; Howson, when offered ALL the Islanders' draft picks for his 2nd overall (which would move him down to 4th) TURNS DOWN THE OFFER; the Islanders take Griffin Reinhart 4th; Carolina trades their 8th pick and a lot of other great stuff for Jordan Staal; Pittsburg drafts Derrick Pouliot 8th; Grigorenko drops to 12th; Teravainen drops to 18th; Calgary, after trading down, drafts Mark Jankowski) and makes the rest of the draft supremely interesting.  It always happens.  No one sees it coming.  So, I thought I'd try my hand at predicting some of these reaches (not trades, because that would mess up the draft order).  All at the same time.  In one mock draft.

So, without further wasting of time, here is my 2013 NHL Entry Draft: First Round Mock II.

And Madness Ensued. (Disclaimer: someone (a GM perhaps) might be offended by this.  I say suck it up, this is a blog).

2013 NHL Entry Draft: First Round Mock

2013 Draft: Calgary Flames Draft Targets

after a few... interesting trades, the Flames (potentially) have 3 picks in the top 30 this year.  Moreover, they look to be getting the 1st top 5 pick in franchise history.  No pressure, Jay Feaster.

With that in mind, it's time to take a look at who they might (should) target in the 1st round of the upcoming draft.

Whacky Predictor of Futureness: 2013 Stanley Cup

The fact I'm doing this again might seem odd, given how unequivocally wrong I was last year, but it was fun, so shut up.

This year, I'm picking the hard-working, dynamic, pretty much completely awesome St. Louis Blues to win the West, while I have the Senators as the surprise Eastern finalist.  Ooooo.  What?  So I like my darkhorses.  So sue me.

As usual, I'm operating under the incorrect assumption that the trade deadline effectively doesn't exist.  For example, I won't have Jay Bouwmeester lining up for the Blues simply because I think the Blues and Flames would be good trade partners.  You know, just to pick a name and team right off the top of my head, for no reason.

2013 WJC: HOCKEY'S BACK!!!

I actually intended to do several WJC posts, but, well... I forgot, and didn't feel like cobbling together ill-timed previews in the middle of the round-robin stage.  I also intended to post something angry about the lockout, but I left my anger in my other pants.

Anyway, here's a look back at the Flames prospects' performances at the World Juniors.  Flames fans should be pretty happy with it.