A 20-point increase in the NHL standings, the biggest jump among teams in the Western Conference, and a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in 2009 signifies progress, but to quote the great Muddy Waters the Flames 'Can't be satisfied'. General Manager Brad Treliving was hired in April 2014, and saw steps last season from the Flames, who finished third in the Pacific Division and advanced beyond the first round for the first time since 2004. He said he expects the growth to continue after adding defenseman Dougie Hamilton and forward Michael Frolik.
Hamilton, 22, was acquired in June in a trade with the Boston Bruins
for three draft picks, and later signed a six-year contract. In 178 NHL regular-season games, the 6-foot-5, 212-pound defenseman has 22 goals and 83 points. He set NHL career highs in goals (10), assists (32) and points (42) in 2014-15. A day after Hamilton signed, Frolik signed a five-year contract. He had 19 goals and 42 points in 82 games with the Winnipeg Jets last season, and won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.
20-year-old Center, Sean Monahan, is in his second NHL season, had 31 goals and 31 assists. Rookie Johnny Gaudreau, 22, had 24 goals and 64 points and was a Calder Trophy finalist. Defenseman TJ Brodie (41 points) and forward Lance Bouma (34 points), each 25, had career years. Jiri Hudler had an NHL career-high 31 goals and 76 points. Captain Mark Giordano had a career-best 48 points despite missing 21 games. Defensemen Dennis Wideman and Kris Russell also eclipsed previous offensive highs.
Brad Treliving: "What we're trying to be is a championship team. We're trying to build a team that has a chance to have long-term success here. ... There's one team at the end of the year that's happy with what they've accomplished. The rest of us are still striving to take steps forward. That's the mode we're in. I don't really focus in on rebuilds and what stage of the rebuild. This is about getting better and becoming a good team on a regular basis for a long time. That's the challenge for us."
"Dougie obviously helps and gives us more depth on the blue line. Right shot, big body, skates, can do a lot of different things, but it's a good player that to me joins a good group of players on the blue line. Any time you can add to that, you can add a good player, it opens up different opportunities for the coaches, gives you more depth, and gives you more options. It helps us become deeper."
"Michael gives us experience, a guy who's won a Stanley Cup, who's been in the playoffs and can do multiple things. He's a tremendous penalty-killer, he brings us speed, tenaciously, work ethic. How that all translates and what it does it terms of lines and pairings, that's for the coaches, and that will get sorted out in the wash. Ultimately they bring two good players that can help us. There's two ways to make yourself better: That's add people from outside, which we've done, but also internal growth from your team. What excites me about our team is I think we've got depth at all positions, I think we've strengthened our team with the additions we've made from outside with Hamilton and Frolik, and then we've got, in my mind, lots of room to grow in terms of our development and growth of our younger players being a year older, this group being together for a year, the experiences they went through last year."
"It's important for all of our players to take a step. The encouraging thing for us is we've got a lot of players that we feel haven't hit their ceiling yet. [Monahan is] a big part of our team and still a very young player. It's somewhat strange when you talk about how important and how big of a role he has at such a young age, but like all players the challenge for him is to take another step forward. The challenge for Johnny is to take another step forward. But the list goes on. It's really for all of our players. For us to have any type of success, everybody's got to take their fair share. Everybody has to take their step forward."
"The message for our group is no different from last year when we said nobody is expecting a lot from us, we can't pay much attention to it. The same has to hold true where people after last year may say the expectations have risen and the outside expectation for where this group will be is probably a lot different from a year ago. It was nice what we accomplished last year. We prefer to look through the windshield and not the rearview mirror. What's in front of us is a great challenge, but I think our guys embraced it in making sure they're prepared for that. We need our young players, but we need our veteran players to continue to take steps forward for us to have success."
The Flames were among the bigger surprises in the NHL last season. In the second full season of a rebuild, the Flames advanced to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in six years and escaped the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time since winning the Cup in 1989. With last season's successes come heightened expectations this season. They made surprising strides in the second year of a rebuild, including a 10-win, 20-point increase in the standings. The Flames went from 27th in the NHL to third in the Pacific Division in one season, and qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2009. They defeated the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference First Round to win a series for the first time since 2004.
For the majority of last season, the Flames bucked the trend when it came to advanced analytics. The Toronto Maple Leafs and Colorado Avalanche did the same in previous seasons and found fleeting success in doing so. The Maple Leafs and Avalanche each followed their advanced stats-defying success by failing to reach the playoffs the following season. The continued development of young players Sean Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau and Sam Bennett, coupled with the additions of Dougie Hamilton and Michael Frolik, who boast strong possession numbers, will be Calgary's best means to counteract that.
In Monahan's second season, his goal total rose from 22 to 31, and his points increased from 34 to 62. Gaudreau, a finalist for the Calder Trophy, had a 24-goal, 64-point season. Defenseman T.J. Brodie, 25, scored an NHL career-high 41 points, and forward Lance Bouma, also 25, had new career marks with 16 goals and 34 points. Whether these totals are replicated or were a single-season aberration will go a long way in determining the Flames' fate this season.
As it stands, Calgary will enter the season with the same goaltending combination they had last season: Karri Ramo, who re-signed as an unrestricted free agent on July 1; and Jonas Hiller. Hiller, 33, was 26-19-4 with a 2.36 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in 52 games. It was Ramo, though, who finished the season when the Flames lost to the Anaheim Ducks in the Western Conference Second Round. In 34 regular-season games, the 29-year-old was 15-9-3 with a 2.60 GAA and .912 save percentage.
The added wrinkle is 24-year-old Joni Ortio, who played six games last season and will be in the mix as his contract converts into a one-way deal. The Flames have said in the past that carrying three goaltenders is far from ideal.
The Flames' rebuild began when they traded Jarome Iginla, the longtime face of the franchise, before the 2013 NHL Trade Deadline, and in less than three seasons they've become a playoff threat.
In Sean Monahan's second season in the NHL, he had 31 goals and 31 assists, becoming one of 11 players in the past 20 years to do that in a single season before turning 21 (he's 20). Rookie Johnny Gaudreau finished with 64 points and was a finalist for the Calder Trophy. Each will be counted on to continue his development as the front of the Flames' emerging core. But with forward Micheal Ferland taking a big step in the playoffs, in physicality and in production, and a full, healthy season from forward Sam Bennett, a first-round draft pick in 2014 (No. 4), there is much to be excited about.
The Flames managed to survive down the stretch without captain Mark Giordano, who sustained a torn biceps tendon on Feb. 25 against the New Jersey Devils and missed the final 21 games of the regular season and all 11 playoff games. At the time, he was considered a Norris Trophy candidate and was leading NHL defensemen in points with 48 through 61 games; he finished sixth in Norris voting. The offseason addition of Dougie Hamilton gives the Flames a 22-year-old defenseman coming off an NHL career-best season with 10 goals and 42 points. Kris Russell also returns coming off an NHL-record 283 blocked shots and a career-high 34 points, and Dennis Wideman (56 points) and TJ Brodie (41) set personal bests for points last season.
The resurgence of Calgary has been largely tied to Hartley, who won the Jack Adams Award as the best coach in the League in June, the first for he and the Flames. Hartley led them to a 20-point gain in the standings, the highest jump of any Western Conference team. Calgary tied for first place in the League in overtime wins (nine), second in third-period goal differential (plus-31), and third in wins when trailing after 40 minutes (10). The Flames had 1,557 blocked shots, the highest single-season total in NHL history, another credit to Hartley.
Treliving has done a good job creating internal competition at all three positions. He has three goaltenders (Jonas Hiller, Karri Ramo and Joni Ortio) who have shown who can carry the load. The Flames also have seven defensemen on one-way contracts, with Tyler Wotherspoon and recent additions Kenney Morrison and Jakub Nakladal set to push veterans. Calgary has 14 forwards who played at least 48 games in the NHL last season, and several more prospects, including Bennett, Ferland, Emile Poirier and Drew Shore, expected to vie for the same opportunity.
Two of Calgary's top three scorers last season, forwards Sean Monahan and Johnny Gaudreau, were drafted by the Flames. At 20 and 22, respectively, they are part of a core that helped the retooling franchise win a Stanley Cup Playoff series for the first time since 2004. But they're far from the only young talent in the Flames system. Calgary has been stockpiling prospects who could have an impact as soon as this season.
Sam Bennett, C/LW
How acquired: 1st round (No. 4), 2014 NHL Draft
Last season: Kingston, OHL: 11 GP, 11-13-24; Flames: 1 GP, 0-1-1
The highest draft pick in Flames history, Bennett embodies the next wave of prospects they hope will push their rebuild along. He played in Calgary's final regular-season game and in all 11 playoff games, scoring three goals.
Bennett's late-season arrival came after his season nearly was eliminated altogether following shoulder surgery last October. After rehabbing the injury, he was assigned to Kingston of the Ontario Hockey League in February. The 6-foot-1, 178-pound forward scored 11 goals in 11 regular-season games, then joined the Flames after the Frontenacs were swept out of the first round of the OHL playoffs.
Projected NHL arrival: 2015-16
Emile Poirier, LW
How acquired: 1st round (No. 22), 2013 NHL Draft
Last season: Adirondack, AHL: 55 GP, 19-23-42; Flames: 6 GP, 0-1-1
Poirier, 20, is one of the Flames' three first-round picks from the 2013 draft, along with Monahan (No. 6) and Morgan Klimchuk (No. 28). After scoring 43 goals in 63 games in his final season of junior hockey with Gatineau of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, the 6-foot-1, 185-pound left wing scored 19 times in 55 games in his first season as a pro. He also played six games with the Flames.
Projected NHL arrival: 2016-17
Micheal Ferland, LW
How acquired: 5th round (No. 133), 2010 NHL Draft
Last season: Adirondack, AHL: 32 GP, 7-8-15; Flames: 26 GP, 2-3-5
The 23-year-old performed well in two stints with the Flames as a rookie last season. But it was in the playoffs that the 6-foot-2, 215-pound left wing made his presence felt. Ferland finished with two goals and five points in nine games, and he was a physical force against the Vancouver Canucks in their Western Conference First Round series.
Projected NHL arrival: 2015-16
Brandon Hickey, D
How acquired: 3rd round (No. 64), 2014 NHL Draft
Last season: Boston University, H-East: 41 GP, 6-11-17
A standout first season with Boston University has the Flames optimistic about Hickey's potential. As a freshman, the 6-foot-2, 190-pound defenseman scored six goals and had 17 points, helping the Terriers to the NCAA championship game. Hickey, 19, was the only NCAA player to earn an invitation to Canada's national junior team summer development camp in August.
Projected NHL arrival: 2017-18
Jon Gillies, G
How acquired: 3rd round (No. 75), 2012 NHL Draft
Last season: Providence College, H-East: 39 GP, 24-13-2, 2.01 goals-against average, .930 save percentage. Gillies, 23, was outstanding in his final season at Providence, capping his college career with a 49-save performance to lead the Friars to victory against Hickey and BU for the NCAA championship. Gillies was named the most valuable player of the Frozen Four; he had already earned Hockey East First Team All-Star and Goaltender of the Year awards. Days later, the 6-foot-6, 225-pound goaltender signed an entry-level contract with Calgary.
Projected NHL arrival: 2017-18
Predicted Lines
13 Gaudreau - 23 Monahan - 24 Hudler
63 Bennett - 11 Backlund - #Frolik
21 Ryamond - 86 Jooris - 8 Colborne
79 Ferland - 18 Stajan - 19 Jones
7 Brodie - 5 Giordano
4 Russell - #Hamilton
29 Engelland - 6 Wideman
1 Hiller - 31 Ramo
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