Answering questions from our readers about the Calgary Flames seasons so far.
Q: Huska is using Zary as a 4C between 2 AHLers in Lomberg and Klapka, and playing him less than Klapka most nights. How close are we to Sam Bennett 2.0 here?
This is the conundrum facing the Flames and the player right now.
It was clear in the off-season that the team is somewhat ambivalent about Connor Zary. They moved to lock up guys like Dustin Wolf, Kevin Bahl and Matthew Coronato to long-term deals, but negotiated Zary down to a bridge deal just before training camp broke out.
Unlike all of those guys mentioned, Zary simply hasn’t staked a claim to a particular role on the club. To be fair to him, he’s not only been hampered by injury, but he also plays the two positions the Flames are most stocked with at the NHL level (centre and left wing).
While an injury or a trade would certainly open up more opportunities for Zary, it’s mostly going to come down to him.
Coronato spent part of last October in the minors and ended up scoring 24 goals. Dustin Wolf was battling with Dan Vladar for the starter’s role and ended up a Calder candidate.
Zary has skill, but his impact and role on the team need to become undeniable, such that he forces the coach’s hand to play him.
Q: For a team with no offence, what are your thoughts on just ditching the energy line once Huberdeau’s back and rolling four lines capable of scoring?
I like this idea.
I’ve argued in the past that NHL teams don’t necessarily need to staff a fourth line exclusively with crash and bangers who have limited offensive ability. In fact, the best fourth line the Flames have put together in recent memory was Garnet Hathaway, Derek Ryan and Andrew Mangiapane back in 2018-19. Hathaway bodychecked his way into the NHL, but neither Ryan nor Mangiapane are stereotypical “fourth liners.”
In 227 minutes together, that trio wasn’t merely good, but absolutely dominant. Their expected goal ratio (think: scoring chances for and against) at even strength was 65%, while their goal share (goals for and against) was 88%.
To put those results in perspective, the Matthew Tkachuk, Elias Lindholm and Johnny Gaudreau combination in 2021-22 had a GF% of 70% and an xGF% of 63%. And this was the best top line the organization had iced since early in the Jarome Iginla era.
So it is possible to leverage the bottom of the rotation for more than just energy. Given the Flames’ lack of a truly impactful first line, it might make sense to see if they can outplay the bad guys in other areas of the roster.
Q: Is Miromanov just bad? Any chance he gets better since I think he’s fairly new to D. Does that ever happen?
The NHL has seen a couple of guys move from forward to defence and become high-end players. Brent Burns and Dustin Byfuglien are recent examples.
However, these tend to be the exception rather than the rule. Daniil Miromanov is 28 years old and has bounced around the KHL, AHL and NHL over the past six seasons. He is what he is at this point.
Q: Same team as last year with full training camp. Add Parekh on D and subtract Huby and Pospisil to injury. Why the chaos with all the lines and D pairings?
Beyond the fact that the coach has had to adjust to those alterations, it’s also a new season and that means new opportunities to see if things can be improved or optimized.
We’re seeing that with the Nazem Kadri and Matthew Coronato duo right now. They didn’t play together too much last year and, when they did, it didn’t go too well. But Ryan Huska clearly wants to see if his best offensive centre and his best RW sniper can become a legit top-line threat.
The first 10-20 games of the NHL season tend to start like this, with the coaching staff testing out assumptions and theories to see how they work out in reality. Sometimes those things stick, but often they don’t.
There’s little doubt that the depth won’t look the same by game 40 as it does now.
Q: Is it only a matter of time before Gridin is sent to Wranglers?
At this rate, yes. If only because it takes a lot for a teenager to stick in the NHL.
Game in, game out, they have to prove that they are making an impact. Especially on the Flames, where the left wing is jam-packed with available veterans (see the discussion of Zary above).
Gridin also is not waiver eligible, so it makes it much easier to send him down to the farm. And this is no knock on the player, who has been impressive for a 19-year-old. But if he continues to struggle to put up points, he’ll likely be sent down to grow and progress in the AHL.
Q: What’s the term and AAV you’d be comfortable with in regards to signing Rasmus?
Practically speaking, there isn’t one. The issue here is a complete mismatch between the player’s age and career arc versus where the Flames are in their rebuild (or retool, if you prefer).
Rasmus Andersson is a capable top-4 defender and a great presence in the dressing room. Under different circumstances, he’d be a candidate for a long-term extension. But Calgary isn’t in a build phase where they can invest significant dollars or years in a player over 30 years old.
This is especially true given the club’s surplus of young defenders. Beyond Zayne Parekh, they have Hunter Brzustewicz, Henry Mews and recently drafted Jakob Leander coming up on the right side. To say nothing of Etienne Morin, Jeremie Poirier, Artem Grushnikov, Yan Kuznetsov, Axel Hurtig and Mace’o Phillips on the left.
Andersson also is arguably Craig Conroy’s best trade chip currently. When the trade deadline comes around, he may be considered one of (if not the) top player available. A club trying to move from pretender to contender can’t afford to say no to the future assets a player like Andersson will demand in return.
Q: I don’t understand the game plan. Feels like there truly isn’t one. Trade someone or acquire someone? You can’t possibly just stay on this course.
The path was very clear at the onset of the 2024-25 season. The team had shed all of their free agents, traded Jacob Markstrom and Andrew Mangiapane, and had essentially prepared themselves to be bad.
Not that they wanted to be bad. Or that they would accept bad play on the ice. Just that it was the most likely outcome.
But then Wolf happened, the club rallied around him and they barely missed the playoffs by a single tie-breaker.
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Calgary’s premature resurrection no doubt skewed the compass. Another finish near the bottom and a top-10 pick would have been a clear indication that the rebuild was on pace and couldn’t necessarily be rushed.
But now the organization has a 24-year-old burgeoning star goalie on their hands. If Wolf really is a cornerstone talent (and his pedigree suggests he is), then Conroy and the front office are caught between a rock and a hard place — a puck-stopper that makes it difficult to be bad (at least, as the most likely outcome), but a roster that isn’t quite ready to compete.
The task at hand now is to find a way to build out the prime-aged cohort around Wolf (23 to 28 years old), but that’s much easier said than done. The good news is the team has a growing bank of future assets and plenty of cap space.
No doubt management is going to watch this season keenly to determine the optimal next move.
Sell and continue the rebuild? Or trade for some stars?