Last year the Calgary Flames led the league with 30 one-goal losses.
A league-topping 17 of them came in overtime/shootout.
Only three teams hit more posts and crossbars.
Agonizingly close on so many nights.
The nightly heartbreak only added to the internal strife that saw a handful of core players struggle to find their form.
A season to forget.
Yet, when all was said and done, they only missed a playoff spot by two points.
Incoming GM Craig Conroy replaced very few players this summer, but what has changed is the environment under new coach Ryan Huska.
It’s a much looser group, hellbent on proving they are so much better than last season showed.
Whether that translates into a return to the playoffs is anyone’s guess.
And it’s that uncertainty the players insist is a significant motivator.
2022-23 regular season record: 38-27-12, 93 points
2023-23 season finish: 5th in Pacific, missed playoffs.
Additions: Yegor Sharangovich, Jordan Oesterle
Subtractions: Milan Lucic, Tyler Toffoli, Trevor Lewis, Michael Stone, Troy Stecher, Nick Ritchie, coach Darryl Sutter.
1. Will the team’s best player be signed or traded?
Elias Lindholm is unquestionably the most complete player on the roster, as a perennial Selke Trophy candidate who also anchors the top line, top power-play unit, and kills penalties.
The pending free agent says he’s open to signing a long-term extension in Calgary, but the hang-up is in the numbers.
There’s little doubt he’d command at least $9 million a year on the open market next summer, but the Flames aren’t comfortable with a number that high on an eight-year pact.
And so we wait.
At some point, if a deal isn’t signed, GM Craig Conroy knows he’ll have to consider trading the veteran Swede before the deadline, which would have significant repercussions on the lineup and a depth chart that had him as their first legitimate top-line centre in decades. Not easy to replace anytime soon.
It threatens to be a distraction if the team isn’t winning, especially since players like Chris Tanev, Noah Hanifin and Nikita Zadorov are also in the last year of their deals.
2. Can Jacob Markstrom/Jonathan Huberdeau bounce back?
One went from Vezina finalist to one of the league’s most embattled starters.
The other had the biggest year-to-year point drop in league lore.
Surely, both will rebound to play prominent roles in the team’s turnaround from a season in which it became trendy for Flames players to drop significantly from their standards.
Huberdeau sought the help of an Olympic sport psychologist to clear his mind in the summer and seems refreshed and ready to prove he can return to being one of the NHL’s best playmakers.
Markstrom’s first summer as dad helped him reset, with an eye on proving he can return to being an elite netminder.
They aren’t the only ones who need to bounce back this season, as Nazem Kadri, Andrew Mangiapane, MacKenzie Weegar and Lindholm all had significant drop-offs last year.
3. Can the kids pull their weight?
There was plenty of talk from Conroy all summer long about how the Flames are leaving roster spots open for youngsters.
He kept his word.
Harvard star Matt Coronato locked up a top-nine spot with a great training camp, Adam Ruzicka is going to be given every chance to prove he too can log top-six minutes, and the fourth line will include relative newbies Walker Duehr and Dryden Hunt.
In past years those were jobs filled by aging veterans.
How successful the youngsters are as everyday NHLers will play a significant role in determining whether the Flames have the depth to be contenders in their division.
Expect to see even more youth as the season progresses, as the top candidates as injury call-ups include Connor Zary, Adam Klapka, Cole Schwindt and Dustin Wolf.
The Flames win at least one round in the playoffs.
Simply returning to the playoffs isn’t enough for a franchise in win-now mode.
They’ve been there and done that, leaving fans restless for some semblance of a playoff run.
It would certainly be a confirmation the team’s core has been worthy of keeping intact.
No one would be surprised if Coronato potted 20 or 25 as a rookie, but it would be far more surprising if a fourth-liner challenged the 20-goal mark.
Duehr proved he’s an everyday NHLer last year with a smooth stride and big body that did well to pressure the opposition and stay solid defensively.
He also chipped in seven goals in 27 outings.
Add that to the 15 he scored in 41 AHL games and the 25-year-old South Dakotan shattered his best season total since he was a tyke.
Goals have never been his thing, but the progress he’s shown may just have him chipping in far more offence than most fourth-liners bargain for.
Forwards
Huberdeau – Lindholm – Dube
Sharangovich– Kadri – Coronato
Mangiapane– Backlund – Coleman
Hunt – Dube – Duehr
Defence
Weegar – Andersson
Hanifin - Tanev
Zadorov – Oesterle
Goalies
Markstrom
Vladar
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