Calgary Flames

Flames in Net

September 28, 2010

The goaltending position in Calgary has never been a worry for the past half decade, and considering Flames fans tend to worry about pretty much everything else, it’s nice to have one less thing. This season, Calgary looks to have its strongest tandem to date in between the pipes with Miikka Kiprusoff and newcomer Henrik Karlsson manning the 4X6. Kipper for his part, was the lone bright spot and hands down MVP of the Calgary Flames last season. Was he smoking a new kind of weed? No one really knows. Regardless of what dope he may or may not be into, Miikka Kiprusoff is a world class goaltender that deserved a better fate last season. His numbers last year speak for themselves. H...

Niklas Hagman: A Good Fit

September 24, 2010

Derrick Newman

1 Comment

Coming over in “The Trade” from the Toronto in late January of last season, Niklas Hagman was considered to be the most highly skilled player that took the westbound trip to Calgary. A six foot tall, quick, Finnish forward with loads of unused potential was bound to help the Calgary offence going forward. The following 27 games didn’t exactly yield the projected returns that so many fans had hoped for; only five goals and six assists. Is it tough for new players to fit into a new team mid-season? Of course it is, and that’s why I’m willing to cut Hagman a bit of slack for the end of last season. Face it, nobody in a Flames jersey outside of Kiprusoff, had a March to rem...

Mikael Backlund: The Time is Now

September 23, 2010

Derrick Newman

3 Comments

Answer: Trevor Kidd, Niklas Sunblad, Cory Stillman, Jesper Mattsson, Chris Dingman, Denis Gauthier, Derek Morris, Daniel Tkaczuk, Rico Fata, Oleg Saprykin, Brent Krahn, Chuck Kobasew, Eric Nystrom, Dion Phaneuf, Kris Chucko, Matt Pelech, Leland Irving, Mikael Backlund, Greg Nemisz, and Tim Erixon. Question: Name the Calgary Flames first round picks for the last 20 years. Not many gems on that list are there? The Flames drafting history has read like a who’s who of overrated fringe players for the better part of two decades. Most likely, casual Flames fans have never heard of Mattson or Sunblad, and why should they, Sunblad played all of two career NHL games, while Mattsson never...

Alex Tanguay: Back in the Saddle

September 22, 2010

Derrick Newman

2 Comments

Brought back from the depths of darkness, Alex Tanguay is back in a city he loves and playing with a player, Jarome Iginla, which he dearly missed. Tanguay spent the last year wallowing away in Tampa Bay, getting ever so slowly pushed out of the team picture. By the time the season ended, it was clear that Tanguay did not want to be in Tampa, and Tampa did not want any part of Alex Tanguay. And so, on July 1st 2010, Alex responded to a call from his former boss Darryl Sutter and signed on the dotted line. He was excited to come back to a place he knew and place that loved hockey. He self-admitted last year that “hockey was no longer fun” and he wasn’t enjoying himself in Tam...

Goons "R" Us

September 21, 2010

Derrick Newman

5 Comments

Raitis Ivanans and Tim Jackman. When Sutter made these signings I couldn’t help but scratch my head. Jackman is 6’4” and 210lbs. Ivanans is 6’4” and 240-256 lbs, depending on which website you look at. Jackman had 98 PIM, 4 goals, and 5 assists last year in 54 games, while Ivanans had 136 PIM, 0 goals, and 0 assists in 61 games last season. Both were signed to one-way contracts; Ivanans received $600,000 and Jackman is making $550,000. Ivanans has played in every single league imaginable on his way into the NHL; The MetJHL, UHL, CHL, ECHL, AHL, UHL, ECHL x2, UHL again, AHL again, back to the UHL, and then finally landing in Los Angeles with the Kings. His p...

Rocket Robyn Regehr

September 20, 2010

Derrick Newman

4 Comments

Let’s do some role-play. Robyn Regehr plays Maverick , Jordan Leopold is Goose, and Dion Phaneuf is the Iceman. Maverick and Goose were a great pair, as documented, but once Goose was blown up (traded) Maverick has never been able to find that perfect wingman. “You can be my wingman anytime.” Iceman finally accepts Maverick, and vice-versa, at the end of Top gun. The only difference was at the end of the Flames version of Top Gun the Iceman never utters that homo-erotic line to Maverick; and trust me Maverick would never reciprocate. Regehr and Phaneuf hated each other off the ice, and so it made it even worse when Coach Sutter decided to pair to two together to start t...

A Steady Growth of Moss

September 17, 2010

Derrick Newman

2 Comments

When talking about players who were drafted in the 7th Round of an NHL draft, not many players really stick out at you. Sure, there are the Henrik Zetterberg’s(7th Round in 1999) or Pavel Datsyuk’s(6th Round in 1998) of the world, but for the most part the best a late-rounder will be is a third line grinder or bottom tier defenceman. Enter David Moss, drafted #220 overall in the 7th round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. The 6 foot, 200 pound right wing caught on with the Flames in 2006 scoring 10 goals in 41 games after being called up midway through the season. He broke out right away scoring the game-winner in his first game and potting goals in his first three games as a pro. Fol...

The Bouw-Meister!

September 16, 2010

Derrick Newman

2 Comments

Last year, the Calgary Flames traded for Jay Bouwmeester’s negotiating rights two days before the free agency period had opened and subsequently signed him to a 5-year deal with a cap hit of $6.68 million dollars per season. Jay Bouwmeester WAS the biggest off-season acquisition of last summer. A big ticket, free-wheeling defenceman who could quarterback a power play and move the puck up ice were his key attributes. He proceeded to flounder for most of the season and drastically fell short of most expectations. He had all of 29 points last year; a far cry from the four straight seasons of 35+. He did stay consistent with his assists total in having 26 helpers, but it was his goa...

Captain Jarome

September 15, 2010

Derrick Newman

Comments

With the season just around the corner, I thought I would run down the roster on the Flames one player at a time and prognosticate, if I may, about what lies ahead for each individual player. I would like to start this 22 part series by looking at the one, the only, Jarome Iginla. The Captain. The team’s life blood. The franchise. These are some of the words used to describe what Jarome Iginla means to the Calgary Flames. Coming off of a self-proclaimed ‘bad year’ though, many people in the city of Calgary have started to second guess if it would serve the Flames best interests to ship Iginla out of town when his value is still relatively high. Trading him before he gets too ...