For the Calgary Flames, there was plenty of cause for concern.
Leaky performances from both of their backup goalie candidates.
Potential injuries to a couple of regular forwards.
And, as they were being whupped Wednesday by the visiting Vancouver Canucks, a lot of bad habits that they must shake before the games start to count in the standings.
“I think that’s the only good takeaway is that it happened in pre-season and hopefully we can wake up from that,” said Flames alternate captain MacKenzie Weegar after an 8-1 thumping in their second-to-last exhibition tuneup. “This next game (Friday), it’s another pre-season game but we have to treat this like it’s our home-opener. Because it wasn’t very good tonight.”
Here are three takeaways from what was indeed an ugly one …
So what’s the backup plan?
This was the final audition in the Flames’ Battle-to-be-the-Backup and … well, a coin flip could come next.
Because Ivan Prosvetov had a shaky outing Wednesday, shelled for five goals on 19 shots.
And then Devin Cooley, who was always slated to work the second half against the Canucks, wasn’t any better. He stopped only four of the seven attempts fired in his direction, although one of those was a dandy denial on Elias Pettersson’s penalty shot.
We know that Dustin Wolf will be between the pipes for Friday’s exhibition capper against the Winnipeg Jets, and likely for about 60 starts in the regular season.
But when the face-of-the-franchise needs a night off, who will be his second-stringer?
The answer will come over the next handful of days. Both Prosvetov and Cooley require waivers to be demoted to the minors, so that will offer a not-so-subtle hint.
Flames goalie Devin Cooley stops Canucks forward Linus Karlsson on Wednesday.
“To me, it was a tough one for both of those guys because of what we did in front of them,” assessed Flames coach Ryan Huska in Wednesday’s post-game presser. “It was a tough one to evaluate. It’s almost a little bit unfair, in that regard. I don’t think the people in front of them did what they needed to do to give them a chance tonight.”
The 26-year-old Prosvetov, signed as a free agent this summer out of the KHL, allowed four goals in a nightmare opening period. That included a breakaway bury by Brock Boeser, a wicked one-timer from Pettersson on the man-advantage, an unlucky deflection off the stick of one of his own teammates and then a shorthanded strike that he would have liked to snag.
Before his departure just past the midway mark, Prosvetov was also beaten by a top-shelf shot off the stick of Max Sasson.
Cooley, 28, allowed Aatu Raty’s awkward-angle groaner as he settled in and was fooled on a pair of odd-man rushes in the third, with Quinn Hughes cashing on a three-on-one and then Sasson’s shortie on another outnumbered opportunity.
Huberdeau, Pospisil depart with apparent injuries
How does a lopsided pre-season loss turn from bad to worse?
Injuries, that’s how.
Martin Pospisil missed the second half of Wednesday’s contest at the Saddledome. The rambunctious winger was last spotted with a bloodied towel pressed to his face after Canucks defenceman Derek Forbort tossed several punches in a scrum.
And then, with just over two minutes remaining, Jonathan Huberdeau was cutting to the net with the puck and collided head-first with Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen as he crashed into the crease.
Asked post-game, Huska didn’t yet have an update on the health of either forward, although he praised Huberdeau for his effort in the late stages of this exhibition dud.
(It is encouraging that Huberdeau skated off on his own after attention from a member of the team training staff.)
“All of our players should be doing what Jonathan did there,” Huska said. “It’s unfortunate that he got banged up on the play, but you have to go to the net. You have to play the game the right way. And that’s playing the game the right way.”
If Huberdeau isn’t good to go for Game 1, it be a major loss for a squad that is already short on scoring pop.
The 32-year-old should skate on the first line — even if he and Nazem Kadri were split up Wednesday — and is also a fixture on the top power-play unit. He was second on the Flames with 62 points during the 2024-25 campaign.
Pospisil, 25, brings an important dash of both speed and sandpaper in a supporting role. He is a shoo-in most nights to lead the team in hits.
The Flames are only carrying 15 forwards after their latest round of roster cuts. If Huberdeau and Pospisil need time to recover, it would likely mean that rookies Matvei Gridin and Rory Kerins would both earn opening-night jobs.
Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau and Canucks forward Aatu Räty compete for the puck during Wednesday’s game.
‘It’s not a light switch, right?’
Huska didn’t hesitate when asked if he was concerned about what he witnessed Wednesday.
“Yep,” he replied. “It’s not a light switch, right? That’s the one big thing. You can assume all you want, but if we don’t go and play our style of hockey, then it’s not going to work. We have to get committed to doing it the right way.”
The bench boss is right.
It’s easy to pick apart individual performances, which would include a miserable minus-4 rating for hot-shot defence prospect Zayne Parekh, but the reality is that almost everybody in red struggled Wednesday.
Huska managed to identify three standouts — Joel Farabee, who scored Calgary’s lone marker, albeit on a play that appeared to be way off-side, plus Pospisil and Connor Zary.
As the Flames wrap their prep work Friday, you can expect to see almost all of their go-to guys.
Because this simply wasn’t a good indication that they’re ready for the opener next Wednesday at Edmonton. And in their quest to return to the playoffs, they should realize that they can’t afford to stumble out of the starting gate.
Sure, some of the veterans have only suited up for a pair of pre-season games this fall. But Wednesday did provide some worry — and not just from the wannabe backup goalies.
“We have to be a lot better, and we all know that,” said captain Mikael Backlund. “We have to have a really good practice tomorrow and then have a really good game on Friday. Because like Husk talked about and we all know, you can’t just switch it on.”
Flames forward Nazem Kadri battles Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen on Wednesday.