New Flames Core Emerges in Training Camp – TSN.ca

Immediately following the news of the summer blockbuster trade that aired Matthew Tkachuk to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Jonathan Huberdeau, MacKenzie Weegar, Cole Swallows and a conditional first-round selection for 2025, Michael Backland went to work.

The 33-year-old Calgary Flames Center did some research and located this good friend Rasmus Andersson — who has yet to play his 300th NHL game of a career — is now the second-longest tenure Flame (behind Backlund).

Over the past two seasons, the Flames have seen a massive personnel turnover on the ice and a new core has emerged. Andersson, Backlund, Huberdeau, Elias Lindholm and newbie Nazem Kadri are part of a new group of Flames hoping to achieve more than previous versions of the team in the upcoming season.

“There’s a lot of regulars moving out and new, I think regulars moving in,” Andersson said.

“It’s a new core and you want to get to know each other quickly.”

Much of Calgary’s foundation was already laid when Darryl Sutter was hired as the team’s head coach in March 2021 and continued to develop as they surprisingly conquered the league, winning the Pacific Division title last season. Now, with several new faces in the lineup, they will build on that.

Blake Colemana two-time Stanley Cup champion, was hanging out with “people who don’t know much about hockey” when some of the moves were confirmed.

“Huby’s one of the best in the league, really tough to defend,” Coleman said of Huberdeau. The two had fights when Coleman played for the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2019-2021.

“A lot of clashes with him. We always chirped each other. I’ve seen him on a stop line a lot, obviously he was a really good scorer… Weegs is just a really good competitor, just a very solid defender all round. I think he’s one of those guys who just does everything well.”

Your Battle Of Florida days are over.

“We immediately texted and laughed about how much we hated playing each other,” said Coleman.

“It’s such a mutual respect thing … now we can go after each other together.”

Coleman, 30, emphasized patience in integrating newcomers and seeing what works – and what doesn’t – on the ice.

“There’s still a lot of unknowns for the team and the season,” he said.

Backlund said the team’s on-ice product will look familiar to fans in 2022-23 despite the roster change.

“We’re going to play the same way,” he said.

“We lost some star players, we added some new star players. They’re going to come here and play their game, but at the same time they’re going to adapt to our group and our identity and our way of playing, so we’re going to play the same way as a team. These guys have different skills than the guys who left but ultimately it’s a team game and we have to play the same way we did last season and since Darryl took over.”

One of the questions the team faces this season is whether they will appoint a captain. Backlund, who has more than 800 games under his belt with the franchise, is a logical choice should the Flames go down this route. Since then, no Calgary player has worn the “C” on their chest Markus Giordano 2020-21.

“It worked really well,” said Backlund of the side, which had four substitute captains last season.

“Sometime when the time is right, the team will decide who [the next captain] will be when they feel it’s the right time.”

Backlund is aware that he is the popular choice.

“It’s fun and an honor to read that fans say they want it to be me but if we stick with it [alternates]I’ll be really happy with it,” he said.

“[Getting the captaincy] is not something I expect. I assume that we will go the same way as last year.”

SPARKS FROM THE FIRE

– Andersson made it known that he wants to shoot more. He tries to yield less to teammates and get more pucks in the net. He averaged fewer than two shots per game last season. “With the crowd I’m on the ice,” he said, “I think I should be about three or four [shots] average per game.”

– Despite his status as the second-longest serving Flemish, Andersson’s tenure doesn’t come with perks like a better park streak: “Backs keeps telling me I still don’t have enough games.”

“In terms of age, he’s still in midfield,” said Backlund. His seat is closest to the players’ entrance in the Saddledome.

-Calgary’s new top line of Huberdeau-Lindholm-Toffoli will get a runway to find chemistry. Sutter spoke to Toffoli over the summer about the likelihood he’ll play more minutes.

– Huberdeau is slowly adjusting to Calgary’s elevation. At 1,046 meters above sea level, Calgary is the eighth highest city in North America. Sunrise, Florida, on the other hand, is at sea level (zero meters elevation).

“Obviously the height is much more difficult here,” he said after Sunday’s 4-0 win against Vancouver in the pre-season. “The third shift of the game,” Huberdeau said, is when he noticed the difference in elevation.

– Coleman was there Johnny Gaudreau before free agency hit and confirmed how close the star was to returning to Calgary.

“I was with him a few days before free agency [Sean Monahan]wedding and even at that point he was still freaking out, not really knowing what he wanted to do,” he said. “I think that was really a playful, down-to-earth decision.”

–Sonny Milano, in Calgary on a pro tryout, has had a strong training camp so far, scoring during intrasquad play and being effective in Sunday’s first incline of the preseason. There is a top nine up for grabs and the Flames have let Milano know he has a real chance here. colleague PTO Cody Eakin was also noticed positively.

-With MacKenzie Weegarthe Flames now have five of the top 16 blueliners in the league plus-minus last season.