NHL Preview - Calgary Flames

Calgary Flames

2015-16 season: 35-40-7, 77 points Did not qualify for playoffs	Head Coach: Glen Gulutzan (2016)
5th Place Pacific Division	General Manager: Brad Trelliving (2014)
12th Place Western Conference	AHL Affiliate: Stockton Heat ECHL Affiliate: Adirondack Thunder
Cap Space: $8,594,601

News

• Traded D Pat Sieloff to Ottawa for Alex Chiasson's negotiating rights
• Traded a 2016 2nd round and a 2018 conditional 3rd round pick to St. Louis for Brian Elliott

Players Lost in the Offseason

POS.	Player	New Team	Contract
LW	Mason Raymond	Anaheim Ducks	1 year, $675,000
LW	Turner Elson	Colorado Avalanche	1 year, $575,000
LW	Kenny Agostino	St. Louis Blues	1 year, $625,000
C	Josh Jooris	New York Rangers	1 year, $600,000
C	Derek Grant	Buffalo Sabres	1 year, $575,000
RW	Joe Colborne	Colorado Avalanche	2 years, $5,000,000
G	Karri Ramo	Free Agent	1 year, $600,000
G	Jonas Hiller	EHC Biel (NLA)

Incoming Free Agents

POS.	Player	Old Team	Contract
RW	Troy Brouwer	St. Louis Blues	4 years, $18,000,000
C	Linden Vey	Vancouver Canucks	1 year, $700,000
G	Chad Johnson	Buffalo Sabres	1 year, $1,700,000

2016 Draft Picks

RD	Pick No.	POS.	Name	Junior/College/Club Team
1	6	LW	Matthew Tkachuk	London Knights (OHL)
2	54	G	Tyler Parsons	London Knights (OHL)
2	56	C	Dillon Dube	Kelowna Rockets (WHL)
3	66	D	Adam Fox	U.S. National Development Team (USHL)
4	96	C	Lindus Lindstrom	Skelleftea AIK (SHL)
5	126	C	Mitchell Mattson	Grand Rapids Thunderhawks (H.S.)
6	156	RW	Eetu Tuulola	HPK (Liiga)
6	166	C	Matthew Phillips	Victoria Royals (WHL)
7	186	D	Stepan Falkovsky	Ottawa 67’s (OHL)

Top Three Prospects

POS	Name	Draft Info	Current Team
LW	Matthew Tkachuk	2016 1st RD (6)	London Knights (OHL)
LW	Emile Poirier	2013 1st RD (22)	AHL/ECHL
LW	Hunter Shinkaruk	2013 1st RD (24)	NHL

Projected Lineup

Forwards

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
LW	Johnny Gaudreau	23	USA	2016 (RFA)
C	(A) Sean Monahan	22	Canada	2023
RW	Troy Brouwer	31	Canada	2020
LW	Michael Ferland	24	Canada	2017 (RFA)
C	Mikael Backlund	27	Sweden	2018
RW	Michael Frolik	28	Czech Republic	2020
LW	Sam Bennett	20	Canada	2017 (RFA)
C	Matt Stajan	32	Canada	2018
RW	Alex Chiasson	26	Canada	2017 (RFA)
LW	Brandon Bollig	29	USA	2017
C	Lance Bouma	26	Canada	2018
RW	Linden Vey	25	Canada	2017

Defensemen

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
D	(C) Mark Giordano	33	Canada	2022
D	Deryk Engelland	34	Canada	2017
D	T.J. Brodie	26	Canada	2020
D	Dougie Hamilton	23	Canada	2021
D	Jyrki Jokipakka	25	Finland	2017
D	(A) Dennis Wideman	33	Canada	2017

Goalies

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
G	Brian Elliott	31	Canada	2017
G	Chad Johnson	30	Canada	2017

Extra Skaters

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
LW	Hunter Shinkaruk	22	Canada	2018 (RFA)
RW	Garnet Hathaway	24	USA	2017 (RFA)
D	Tyler Wotherspoon	23	Canada	2017 (RFA)

Inactive Players

POS	Name	Age	Nationality	Free Agent Year
D	Ladislav Smid	30	Czech Republic	2017

Season Outlook

• First of all, I am a pretty big fan of the Calgary Flames, and they are probably my favorite Canadian team in the league.  I was really excited when they made the playoffs two years ago and disappointed when they missed them last season.  I really like the core of this team, especially Johnny Gaudreau, who is one of my favorite players in the league.  Last year exposed a lot of the problems that the Flames faced in 2014-15 but were covered up by making the playoffs.  A big problem for them last season was their puck possession.  They were in the bottom half of the league in all advanced metrics and had a 48.8%  Corsi For Percentage, which was 21st in the league.  This is still shockingly better than the year before when it was just 46.7%, which shows further that they probably shouldn't have been a playoff team.  In terms of individual players, only four of their regulars and just one starting defenseman had a Corsi For Percentage above 50%.  Hopefully this is an area where new head coach Glen Gulutzen can improve the team, since former head coach Bob Hartley struggled so much in it.  One of their main problems last season was on defense, and in net, where they gave up the most goals in the league.  They also were a poor special teams' team, having one of the worst powerplays in the league and the worst penalty kill.  A big reason for their goaltending struggles was the fact that they were forced to play three goaltenders, who all split playing time and none of whom were successful.  Karri Ramo got the majority of the starts with 37, but had a losing record, a 2.63 GAA, and a .909 save percentage.  Despite his poor numbers, it is staggering that he was still their best goalie, with Jonas Hiller and Joni Ortio having even worse seasons.

• CAT.	Goals For	Goals Against	PP%	PK%	PDO	Corsi For	Corsi Against	Corsi For %	oZS%	dZS%
  Stat	231	260	17.04	75.64	99.1	4481	4700	48.8	51.0	49.0
  Flames’  Rank	11th	30th	23rd	30th	28th	17th	21st	21st	16th	16th

  PDO= Even Strength Shooting Percentage + Even Strength Save Percentage

  Corsi For= Shots + Blocks + Misses while in possession of puck

  Crosi Against= Shots + Blocks + Misses while not in possession of puck

  Corsi For %= Corsi For/(Corsi For+Corsi Against) -> Above 50% means that team controls play

  oZS% = Offensive Zone Start Percentage

  dZS% = Defensive Zone Start Percentage

• During the offseason, GM Brad Trelliving devoted much attention to their goaltending issues by letting all three of their goalies from last season go, traded for Brian Elliott and signed Chad Johnson to be the backup.  Both Elliott and Johnson are significantly better than what they had last season and either would have been the starter for the Flames if they were on the roster last year. Elliott had a near-elite season last year for the Blues, posting a 2.07 GAA and a .930 save percentage, while splitting time with Jake Allen.  His play helped propel the Blues into the playoffs and through the first two rounds of the playoffs before losing to the San Jose Sharks in seven games in the Western Conference Finals.  Chad Johnson was initially supposed to be the backup goalie to Robin Lehner when he signed with the Buffalo Sabres before last season. Lehner, however, got hurt and Johnson ended up being the main netminder, starting 40 games, winning 22 of them, and had a 2.36 GAA, along with a .920 save percentage, all en route to his best season in the NHL.  Calgary was the lucky beneficiary of the impending Expansion Draft as it was widely understood that the Flames would be trade targets for a team seeking to trade away a goaltender - Ben Bishop in Tampa Bay, Marc-Andre Fleury in Pittsburgh, and Brian Elliott in St. Louis. Both Elliott and Johnson are signed only for this season, however, so they will need to make a decision regarding the future of the position.  Luckily, for the Flames they have two of the sport's better goaltending prospects in Jon Gillies and Mason McDonald, so it would appear probable that only one of Elliott and Johnson get signed, and even then, only to a short-term contract.  For this season, the Flames also brought in veteran forward Troy Brouwer on a four-year deal, who will add a veteran presence to a fairly young forward group.  Trelliving does have one major thing to do before the season starts and that is signing winger Johnny Gaudreau to an extension.  His contract expired after last season and there haven't been many talks between he and the team.  The Flames definitely have the money to get a contract worked out and they can't afford to not have him on their roster, since he has been one of their best players over the past two seasons.  Getting him locked down for the future, after having already signed Sean Monahan to an extension means that their core will be taken care of.  A question I have about this season's team will be what they do with their first round draft pick, Matthew Tkachuk.  Tkachuk, the son of legendary goalscorer, Keith Tkachuk, put up 107 points in just 57 games in the OHL last season, and has won at every level, including scoring the game-winner in the Memorial Cup last season.  He still has eligibility with his minor league team so he may end up playing the full season with them, but I think he is talented enough to succeed at the NHL level already.  The Flames have a history of calling up prospects who still have minor eligibility and having success (Sean Monahan), so they may have him in Calgary to start the season and then make a decision after nine games.  For me, I'd rather see him play another year in the minors and develop further and come up next year.  I don't see a reason to start his service time before it has to.  For this year, I think the Flames will definitely be better than last year, just because of how big of an upgrade Elliott and Johnson will be over the trio they had last season.  I'm not certain that they'll make the playoffs, but it appears that there could be an opening for them to get in.

Breakout Candidate

• LW Matthew Tkachuk - This one is pretty obvious...if he plays in the NHL this season, he will probably be successful, but if he gets sent down to the minors, we wait until next year to see what he can.
• F Sam Bennett - Bennett played his first season in the NHL last year and put up 36 points, which isn't bad for a rookie.  However, during his minor league career, Bennett was a solid playmaker who put up 91 points in 57 games during his last full season.

Regression Candidate

• Brian Elliott -  First of all, I really think that Brian Elliott is the real deal and will certainly help the Flames this season.  Last season, however, he had one of the best seasons of his career and I don't know if he'll be able to repeat that this season,  But even if he regresses to his career average of a 2.40 GAA, that would still be a good season.

Bounceback Candidate

• RW Alex Chiasson - Chiasson had just 14 points last season in nearly a full season, after having seasons of 26 and 35 points the previous seasons.  Chiasson is capable of having a better year than he did last year and I think a change of scenery will help him greatly.

*All statistics and information come from: rosterresource.com, thehockeywriters.com,

hockeydb.com, hockey-reference.com, and generalfanager.com