A short interview ends with this four-word declaration from Calgary Flames forward Yegor Sharangovich: “I hate to lose.”
This is, of course, a topic of conversation because Hockey Night in Canada’s Kevin Bieksa suggested the exact opposite last weekend.
Not that Sharangovich, his mood presumably soured by seven straight losses and a pair of sit-outs as a healthy scratch, has been itching to address Bieksa’s criticism.
In fact, the 27-year-old claimed that he was not even aware of that nationally televised rip-job, which accompanied a clip of Sharangovich tapping the brakes rather than finishing a hit in the late stages of a lopsided loss to the Vegas Golden Knights and prompted a social-media debate about the gauge on his give-a-hoot meter.
“I’m not reading news,” Sharangovich bristled.
So he didn’t even catch wind of those comments by Bieksa, a hard-nosed blue-liner turned pulls-no-punches analyst? Not even after several of his teammates came to his defence, stressing that a long list of Flames could have been called out for their lacklustre performance last Saturday in the late game on HNIC?
“No,” Sharangovich replied.
Whether you buy that or not, that’s really not the point.
And regardless of his response when a reporter passed along one of Bieksa’s specific snipes, the key now is proving it. That would be the best rebuttal.
There was good news for Sharangovich when he read the lineup board Friday morning in Winnipeg. After watching for two in a row, No. 17 was set to return to action against the Jets.
While his benching was warranted, it’s crucial now that the Flames find a way to help ‘Sharky’ out of whatever you’d call this — either an early funk or a continuation of his struggles from last season.
Heading into Friday’s showdown, he had recorded zero goals, one assist and nine shots on net in his six outings this fall.
According to the data at Natural Stat-Trick, he’d generated five high-danger chances, created one rebound and been credited with no rush attempts. Those stats include his shifts on the power-play.
More damning might be the Flames’ internal tracking of his willingness to engage in battles and his ability to win them. He’s never going to rack up hit likes Ryan Lomberg or Vladimir Guerrero Jr., but there’s still an expectation that every one of Calgary’s forwards will be tenacious on the forecheck and lay the body when there’s an obvious opportunity.
“I just think about doing my job and find my game,” Sharangovich told Postmedia before the Flames departed for Winnipeg. “Of course, you feel terrible when you have a losing streak for seven games. We need to find a way to come back and start winning games. The biggest thing, yeah, we need to score more goals. Because it’s not enough right now. We need to just go harder to the net and find scoring chances.”
Sharangovich is not the only Flames player who hasn’t been accomplishing much in the offensive zone — they are, after all, the NHL’s lowest-scoring squad at this early stage — but the spotlight has intensified because he is now in the first year of a lucrative contract extension.
This season, and for four more after that, he’s collecting a cap hit of US$5.75 million.
Only three Flames forwards — Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri and Matt Coronato — are currently cashing bigger paycheques.
Sharangovich inked that deal after a 31-goal outburst in 2023-24. While he followed up with only 17, he still has arguably the best shot of any dude on the Flames’ roster.
Can he sooner than later rediscover his scoring touch? Can he reclaim his status as a go-to guy for a team that needs more of ’em?
If so, Bieksa might receive a thank-you card from Calgary.
The details on Nazem Kadri’s no-trade clause
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, the best insider in the business, shared an interesting nugget in his latest 32 Thoughts column.
According to Friedman, Kadri’s contract “switched this year from a full no-move to a partial, 13-team no-trade.”
That means if the Flames decide they can’t erase the damage done by a dreadful start and general manager Craig Conroy signals that he is willing to take calls on some of his veterans, there could be 18 potential bidders that would not require a special sign-off from Kadri.
There would, or at least should, be substantial interest from could-be contenders, especially since it can be tough to find a top-six centre on the trade market.
Kadri recently turned 35, but that’s also the number of goals that he buried last season, a new career-best. He helped the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup parade in 2022.
Soon to be a member of the NHL’s silver-stick club, Kadri is signed through the end of the 2028-29 campaign at an AAV of US$7 million.