Flames balancing priorities after dramatic start to season

CALGARY — Injuries, suspensions, a trade request and a trio of NHL debuts.

A popgun power play, a star still struggling to find his way, a six-game losing skid and enough giveaways to make Oprah look cheap.

It’s been quite the opening month for the Calgary Flames.

A nightmarish confluence of conundrums for any GM or coach, let alone rookies who took over this summer with designs on a turnaround.

Yet through all that, and a goal differential that would win The Masters, the Flames woke up Wednesday morning just five points out of a wild-card spot.

With 67 games remaining.

Not necessarily insurmountable.

Jacob Markstrom’s return to form, combined with the excitement and energy of rookies Connor Zary and Martin Pospisil, gives hope for better days to come.

However, any optimism that the season can be saved is tempered by the reality that the club will almost certainly trade all four of its pending UFAs — Elias Lindholm, Noah Hanifin, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov — as soon as the price is right.

League-wide speculation surrounding possible suitors has run rampant of late, kicked off by Zadorov’s trade request.

The front office has since closed ranks, as the noise level around the team has reached a feverish pitch.

The players have responded well on the ice, going 1-1-1 on their eastern roadie, while discussing in-house the importance of sticking together.

“We’ve dealt with it within the room,” said Flames captain Mikael Backlund, who said he learned of Zadorov’s trade request Friday via the abomination, er app, formerly known as Twitter.

“We addressed what we have to address, and now we just focus on hockey and just move on.”

Zadorov, who followed up his agent’s trade request tweets by saying he wouldn’t blame teammates for being upset with his tack, spoke to his locker mates about it over the weekend.

“We talked right to the source — right from the horse’s mouth, and I think that’s an important part of being a successful team, laying everything out on the table,” Nazem Kadri told reporters Wednesday.

“You always try to be delicate with guys' situations, and what they want for their future, because at the end of the day it’s a business and guys want to secure themselves and their families.”

Everyone — including those who will have a different postal/zip code by March — is still focused on digging the team out of this early hole, Kadri added.

“For us, as far as I know, they’re fighting hard for this team and they want to be part of this team, and within the dressing room everything is fine,” he said.

A 3-1-1 record of late speaks to how well the lads have coped with endless speculation and uncertainty surrounding them.

Kadri shrugged off a report he wouldn’t be keen on being part of a rebuild, denying he’s communicated as much to management.

“Not that I know of,” said Kadri, who has responded remarkably well to having Zary on his wing.

“I mean for me, obviously at my age you want to win now.

“I came here to have an opportunity, and I still feel we still do.

“I feel like we’ve still got a great team.

“We should maybe have a few more wins than we maybe do, but at the end of the day, we’re going to find ways to stack (wins) on top of each other and find ourselves back in the playoff picture.

“Of course, it’s very early, but I’ve not lost belief in this team one bit.”

And therein lies the quandary general manager Craig Conroy finds himself in.

The desire to keep the team’s playoff hopes alive this season doesn’t necessarily mesh with the obvious task of having to sell off several core pieces before the trade deadline.

In the meantime, Zary and Pospisil have reminded many that a retool of any sort can still be entertaining.

“They’ve played really well for us,” said Backlund.

“They’ve come in and brought some energy and excitement and been really good players for us.”

If you squint hard enough there is hope — for the season and the future.

But with the team due to face five straight juggernauts to close the month, how the Flames fare over the next handful of games will play a big role in determining what comes next, and when.

Stay tuned, as the one thing the Flames are challenging the league lead in is headlines.