2009-10 NHL Season Preview: Calgary Flames

by James Mirtle on Sep 16, 2009 11:04 AM CDT Comment 21 comments

Who's in: Jay Bouwmeester, Nigel Dawes, Brandon Prust, Fredrik Sjostrom
Who's out: Adrian Aucoin, Todd Bertuzzi, Mike Cammalleri, Jordan Leopold, Wayne Primeau, Jim Vandermeer

Outlook: Less than a month after another early exit, Mike Keenan was canned in favour of GM Darryl Sutter's brother Brent, who left his contract with the Devils in order to return closer to home.

Team Sutter also wasted little time in free agency, acquiring the rights to 25-year-old defenceman Jay Bouwmeester — one of the prized free agents of the summer — for a song from the Panthers and promptly signing him to a massive five-year deal that will pay him slightly more than Dion Phaneuf through 2013-14.

It almost goes without saying that Bouwmeester's addition radically alters Calgary's blueline, giving the Sutters a 30 minutes a night stud to share the defensive load with Robyn Regehr and Cory Sarich. A bounce back season from Phaneuf under Sutter, his former junior coach in Red Deer, will also go a long way toward improving Calgary's finish in the standings.

Where Bouwmeester hurt the Flames, however, was in their ability to make any additions up front, and despite the loss of Cammalleri and Bertuzzi, Nigel Dawes is the only newcomer of note (and he came via the waiver wire). With Cammalleri's production, Calgary was a top 10 offensive team that struggled on the power play, but without him, much of the secondary scoring load will fall to the likes of Rene Bourque and David Moss.

The bigger wild card, however, remains Miikka Kiprusoff, who hasn't been given any more help in the backup role and will again shoulder the load — regardless of results. Calgary has the cast to contend for the Northwest Division title, but if there are major issues in goal, all bets are off.

X-factor: Miikka Kiprusoff

For a more in-depth Flames preview, visit Matchsticks & Gasoline
For more NHL analysis, check out the McKeen's Hockey Yearbook

Poll

Where will the Flames finish in the Western Conference this season?

1

15 votes

2

31 votes

3

85 votes

4

47 votes

5

47 votes

6

57 votes

7

41 votes

8

20 votes

9

16 votes

10

9 votes

11

5 votes

12

4 votes

13

5 votes

14

0 votes

15

23 votes

405 votes | Poll has closed

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Comments

Of key importance

Out: Keenan
In: B. Sutter

A coach that runs a system, and holds players accountable will be a godsend for this team.

by Resolute on Sep 16, 2009 11:14 AM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think this is the first time someone has ever implied that after Keenan left, the team needed a real hardass to straighten them out.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Sep 16, 2009 12:23 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

It doesn’t play with the stereotype of him being an irredeemable hardass, but Keenan didn’t hold certain players accountable for how they performed defensively. I think his coddling of Todd Bertuzzi was exhibit A in that regard, and it lead to a bit of schism in the room, with Regher being quite vocal in his displeasure towards the laissez-faire style. That attitude has to change for Calgary to have a good team, because absent Cammalleri, they’ll be hard-pressed to score as much. I know that coaches, regardless of what they might say for public consumption, will never treat players exactly equally. They can, however, expect a certain baseline of responsible play that all have to meet. The suspicion is that Sutter will demand more from everyone, and his top players won’t get a pass.

by Robert Cleave on Sep 16, 2009 12:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lost in the “losing Cammalleri for nothing” thought is that they have a full season of production coming from Olli Jokinen, who is more than capable of putting up 30+ goals (and has had very good health). Maybe it’ll be a downgrade, but I don’t think they’ve severely diminished their scoring options from last year. They only had both Jokinen and Cammalleri for a month. The rest of the offseason has been trying to build back up the depth lost in dealing Lombardi (they even got Prust back).

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Sep 16, 2009 12:55 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’ve argued against the “OMG! Cammalleri is gone, they’ve lost all their offence!” nonsense for a while now. Jokinen is a proven 30+ goal man in this league. He will effectively replace Cammalleri. What the Flames need to replace is the spot Lombardi/Jokinen took last year – and that totaled 17 goals for us. The offence is going to take a hit, there is no doubt about that, but it simply won’t be the disaster that some are thinking.

As far as losing Bertuzzi goes, no loss there whatsoever. Fact is, nearly everyone on this team saw their offensive production go down when playing with Bertuzzi than without. Most of the team had a similar negative difference in their defensive results with Bertuzzi than without. He actively made his teammates worse, and hurt this hockey club.

by Resolute on Sep 16, 2009 2:10 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

You’re right about Jokinen effectively replacing Cammallari… so let’s say the diff is 9 goals (assume Jokinen scores 30) + Bertuzzi’s 15 + the 17 you mentioned earlier – 10 or so coming from Sjostrom (call him Bert’s replacement) that’s 31 goals or about 1 goal every three games difference… I would be shocked if Bouwmeester + the removal of Bertuzzi doesn’t equal that alone in terms of goals allowed.

I’m more concerned that Moss, Bourque, and Glencross (the value guys) may not be able to reproduce the seasons they had last year. Those three all had the best year of their careers so far last year and I’m a bit concerned that may have been an aberration rather then a new standard of play.

by Parallex on Sep 16, 2009 2:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nigel Dawes, IMO, is perfectly capable of potting 15 goals. Not to mention Dustin Boydor Mikael Backlund, either.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Sep 16, 2009 3:41 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m not sure I get the excitement over Backlund yet… a point a game in the dub as a 20-year-old doesn’t say much to me.

Blogging on hockey at fromtherink.com

by James Mirtle on Sep 16, 2009 5:32 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Backlund is as much about what you see as what you get. I’ve watched him and thought “that kid has SKILLS”, but he never seems to put up eye-popping results. I don’t really know how legit he is, myself, but his performance in the AHL this year will go a long way to telling us what kind of prospect he actually is.

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by Kent Wilson on Sep 16, 2009 11:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Goals reduced I mean for the Bouwmeester – Bertuzzi equation. I hate the lack of an edit button.

by Parallex on Sep 16, 2009 3:00 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Bourque was certainly very good, and very lucky in terms of SH%. Moss should be OK. He had an ES SH% of around 7, so I’d suspect he’ll be good, even if he has to face better comp. I just think that it should be noted that it doesn’t take much to push a team down in GF rankings. Calgary was 7th last year. If they scored 10 fewer goals, which isn’t much, they’d have been 14th. If the Flames are going anywhere, it won’t likely be by scoring as they did last year, but in limiting shots, and hoping Kiprusoff can somehow fix whatever has been going wrong.

Oh, and this is slightly off topic, but the fact that Olli Jokinen can score is one thing. The fact that he’s bled chances and goals against, even against middling comp, for his entire career is a whole other problem.

by Robert Cleave on Sep 16, 2009 3:30 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

just preview it instead.

Pension Plan Puppets: A Toronto Maple Leafs blog and a group therapy session.

by PPP on Sep 17, 2009 10:54 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I think Sutter’s just a fantastic coach and that’ll make a difference, you’re right. The Flames were so close to winning their division last year until that meltdown.

Blogging on hockey at fromtherink.com

by James Mirtle on Sep 16, 2009 12:30 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

The Flames were so close to winning their division last year until they ran out of money.

Fixed for you.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Sep 16, 2009 12:51 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Do you think that’s why it fell apart? The injuries were a bigger problem given their lack of depth.

Blogging on hockey at fromtherink.com

by James Mirtle on Sep 16, 2009 12:52 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Not having a full compliment of players I think definitely cost them a couple of points. The injuries were the reason they ran out of money, so it’s really just a different pile we’re talking about.

Hockey blogging can't get any flatter.

by saskhab on Sep 16, 2009 12:58 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, lack of depth is a given when Regehr, Sarich, Giordano and Warrener are all out, while Phaneuf was playing with a strained everything.

The Flames knew what they were doing though when they traded for Jokinen. They knew where they were with the cap and took a major gamble that they would remain relatively healthy in the final ten games of the season. Didn’t happen, and it burned them pretty good. Risk/reward scenario that went the wrong way.

by Resolute on Sep 16, 2009 2:12 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yup, and Bourque was out as well. I’d like to think that running off Vandermeer and Primeau shows that Sutter understands that a little cap flexibility isn’t such a bad idea. They’re currently 1.4 million under the cap with 23 one-way deals, which is monumentally better than last year, even before they acquired Jokinen.

by Robert Cleave on Sep 16, 2009 3:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I watched Michigan teams with both Moss and Cammalieri. Back then, I’d have said that any NHL team relying on Moss for a good chunk offense was in a big pile of trouble. I never expected anything like he produced last year.

by J. Michael Neal on Sep 16, 2009 3:49 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs