[News Roundup] Game Day News

[MissTeeks]

Flames gearing up for Battle of Alberta season opener: "We're ready to go."

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...re-ready-to-go

It’s not his first National Hockey League home opener.

And it’s definitely not his first experience with the Battle of Alberta.

But the Calgary Flames captain can’t hide his excitement and — just like you — he’s ready to drop the puck on the 2017-18 season.

“Listen, the first game, it’s always like that,” said Mark Giordano, imparting some wisdom on his 34th birthday before the Flames took off to Alberta’s capital. “Guys get fired up to play. It’s the first regular season game. You get those nerves a bit before the game and it’s going to be there, we’re playing a division rival. But I think we’re a lot more confident now and we know our systems.

“Now it’s just execution for us.”

In some ways, Calgary’s 2-5 pre-season record may have been a good thing for the group to work out the cobwebs. The Flames played their best tune-up contest Saturday in a 3-2 shootout victory over the visiting Winnipeg Jets which was also evidence of just what Calgary’s incumbent netminder Mike Smith is capable of.

Still, it wasn’t like it was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals.

“It sure doesn’t hurt,” said the 35-year-old of having a good performance heading into the 2017-18 campaign. “The start of camp was a bit rocky. But it was a lot of new things for me and that, mentally, can wear on you a little bit. But I just wanted to get better every day during camp and it felt like I did that.

“If I didn’t play well that last game, it didn’t mean I was lacking any confidence or anything like that. But it was nice to finish camp on a high note.”

Gulutzan said stopping McDavid will be their biggest challenge this season.

“That’s going to be a challenge for everyone in the league,” said the Flames head coach. “We have to make sure we’re ready to play against an elite player. We have to play a certain way for 60 minutes to have success . . . we’re going to have to have the right mindset going into play.

“We’re ready to go.”

The plan is simple.

“The way we’re looking at it is that we want to play well,” Giordano said. “The results will come if we play well and play our game. But we’re not going to put so much pressure on ourselves and be nervous and anxious in that game. I think we had a little bit of that last year.

“It’s a long season. It’d be nice to get a win, it’s a big game and it’s a divisional game. But we just want to sharpen up and play the right way out of the gates.”

Flames' Backlund turning heads as one of NHL's best two-way players

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...wo-way-players

His longtime girlfriend was a tad annoyed.

His trainer was impressed.

Back in Sweden for the off-season, Calgary Flames centre Mikael Backlund rolled out of bed that day and learned via text message that he had finished fourth in Selke Trophy balloting, further proof that he has blossomed into one of the NHL’s best defensive forwards.

“It was, of course, a good feeling. I was pretty pumped about it,” Backlund said. “Frida got a little upset because I was so happy that morning. She was joking, like, ‘That’s what it takes for you to be more happy in the morning?!?’ ”
Perhaps that’s why the 28-year-old tried to conceal his glee when he arrived at the gym.

“I had a great workout,” Backlund recalled. “I can remember my coach saying afterward that I was very energized that morning, and I didn’t tell him until after.”

The Frank J. Selke Trophy is the annual tip-of-the-cap to the forward who ‘best excels in the defensive aspects of the game.’

Boston Bruins ace Patrice Bergeron had his name engraved yet again after the 2016-17 campaign, joining Montreal Canadiens legend Bob Gainey as the only four-time winner.

Anaheim Ducks meanie Ryan Kesler, who made life miserable for the Flames’ first-liners during the opening round of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, and Minnesota Wild captain Mikko Koivu also scored invites to the NHL’s awards gala in Las Vegas as Selke Trophy finalists.

When the final tabulation was revealed that night in late June, the hockey world learned that Backlund was next on the list.

Bergeron totalled 1,147 points in a system where members of the Professional Hockey Writers Association rank their top five choices. Kesler was the runner-up with 945 points and then Koivu at 752.

There was a big chunk of separation beyond the frontrunners, but Backlund was fourth with 310 points, including a hat-trick of first-place nods and a top-three pegging on 41 ballots.

Pretty darn impressive.

“To be in the same talk as those guys, it was a huge boost for me,” Backlund said as he arrived for training camp this fall. “I enjoy my role and just try to play my game, and it’s exciting that people appreciate you and give you some votes.”

While earning headlines and fanfare for his defensive handiwork, Backlund also notched a career-high 22 goals and 53 points.

“Backs is one of those guys, when you watch him, he seems to bother or annoy other players. They get ticked off at him,” said Craig Conroy, a two-time Selke Trophy nominee during his playing days and now an assistant general manager at the Saddledome. “He’s strong on pucks. He battles. And with his skating, he’s able to get everywhere. So when you play against him, it’s just a hard night. He’s not going to run you over physically. He’s not going to fight you. But he’s going to battle in the faceoff circle. He’ll bump you. He finishes checks. He’ll block shots. He’ll do all those other things.

”So it’s never going to be easy.”

Q & A with Flames star Sean Monahan

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...r-sean-monahan

Q: You’ve scored 22, 31, 27 and 27 goals in your first four years in the league. Do you have any goal-targets for the 2017-18 campaign?

I never have any numbers in mind for myself. I just want to improve on being a complete player. I think by doing that with the way I play and the guys I play with, production comes with it. So I obviously want to improve on my numbers and continue to help the team win by putting the puck in the net and doing the little things. But numbers, for me, are never something that’s in my head.

Q: You and Johnny Gaudreau have been linemates for the past three years. What do you admire about Johnny Gaudreau’s on-ice skills? How does he make you better?

Playing with Johnny, we obviously have good chemistry. Everyone notices his skills and what he does with the puck. But for me, it’s his competitiveness. Every time we go on the ice, we want to put the puck in the net, and we want to make a play and want to make a difference. With him being like that, that goes a long way and pushes you to be better. That’s what makes us a good line.

Q: It seems like you two are inseparable. Do you ever get sick of each other?

We don’t get sick of each other. We give each other a hard time sometimes, but we’re good friends. It’s fun. When we come to the rink or if we’re away from the rink, we’re hanging out all the time. We’re good friends, and I think that carries over onto the ice. You want to help each other and help each other be better. We’re always pushing each other, and I think that relationship benefits the team. We give it to each other — if Johnny had an open net and hit the post, I’d be all over him for months and still talking about it. We have fun. We play cards on the plane and text almost every day. I’m trying to convince him to get a dog now too, so we can go to the dog park together.

Q: There’s nothing that shows you’ve made it like a mock Twitter account. So @BoringSeanMonahan, were you offended by that?

Oh no, I wasn’t offended by it. I think it’s funny. I think it goes with the way I talk. I mean, I have a monotone voice. I know that. I think that Twitter account, whoever does it, does a great job. But, yeah, I’m definitely not offended by it.

Francis: Flames season revolves around goaltender Smith

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...altender-smith

Jaromir Jagr may be all the rage in Calgary to start the season, but he’ll have very little to do with how the team ends it.

The man with the biggest impact moving forward will undoubtedly be the team’s previous elder statesman, goaltender Mike Smith.

Prior to reports of Jagr’s imminent signing, it was Smith’s mullet, age and freakish athleticism that dominated conversations about how much further this Flames club could progress.

Or regress.

He’s that important.

Such is the importance of goaltending in the NHL.

Oh sure, the Flames have a very solid top six up front and perhaps the deepest and most prolific defence in the league with the addition of Travis Hamonic.

However, if Smith isn’t an upgrade on Brian Elliott, then the Flames will continue being nothing more than a playoff contender.

Now he’s playing with some of the big boys, tasked with backstopping a team that should be able to jump from playoff contender to a Stanley Cup contender.

“I was told by a very smart guy who has won a lot of games that I can have the best penalty kill meeting, I can have the best practice the day before the game and I can have the best power-play meeting, but if my goalie is no good, you’re not going to win,” said Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan, when asked about Smith’s importance.

“You have to have goaltending in this league, and we feel we have two good ones. Smitty coming in is going to be a workhorse for us. I watched him play in big games, and he thrives in those things.”

Michael Stone, who played six years in the desert in front of Smith, points out the story will be different here with an all-star defensive crew in front of him.

“There was one year there I was the oldest or second oldest defenceman after the trade deadline, and I was 24,” said Stone of the ragamuffin blueline Smith counted on with the Arizona Coyotes.

“So you’ve got to take (his numbers) with a grain of salt. I have confidence in him. I think last year, when I was still there, I think he won seven games facing over 40 shots or something stupid like that and hadn’t lost. The game you think you should not be winning he’s keeping you in the game and he’s the reason you’re winning. It’s nice to see him back there for me because he helps out so much.”

Western Canadian Hamonic fitting in well in Calgary

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...ell-in-calgary

Paul Brandt’s ‘Alberta Bound’ turned out be an ideal anthem for Travis Hamonic that day.

But it’s not as if the Calgary Flames’ prized trade acquisition — a key piece on what some are now calling the NHL’s best defence corps — had to download it.

“Yeah, I knew the words beforehand. I’m a big Paul Brandt fan, for years and years now,” said Hamonic, who was playing host at his summer cabin at Falcon Lake, Man., when he received word that he had been swapped to the Flames in a draft-floor deal after seven seasons with the New York Islanders. “That was one of my favourite songs growing up. The day I got traded, I was out at the cabin — we had some family and friends that happened to be out that weekend — and it may have come on a couple of times. It was an exciting time, for me and my family and everyone who was involved in it.

“And a song like that, it was just kind of fitting, I guess.”

In the city, where the pride of St. Malo, Man., admits there is something comforting about seeing a Tim Hortons on every corner.

“Here’s a guy who has been playing top minutes, against the league’s best players, night-in and night-out. And we’re talking Sidney Crosby and those guys out East,” said Flames bench boss Glen Gulutzan of Hamonic. “And he is over-the-moon to be back in Western Canada, and especially in our city. He came in here, bought a house right away. He has a big yard.

“So now, you’re not just trading for a good defenceman who has played top minutes. The other side of it is that he has term on his deal — he desperately wants to be here — and when you look at what he’s done in the communities and winning the humanitarian award and all that, we’re getting a great person on top of all that. Those are things you look for.”

Hamonic and fellow off-season addition Mike Smith — go-to goalie for the Arizona Coyotes for the past six seasons — were the hot topics of conversation in Calgary this summer, their arrivals only upping excitement about a squad that returned to the playoffs last spring.

“The fans will see that I leave it on the ice every day,” Hamonic said. “I think I’m someone that can play with some of these bigger bodies in the Western Conference and embrace that style of play. I’m looking forward to it, truthfully, to banging some people around and bringing that out of my game even more.

“I think I’m someone that hopefully the team can rely on and the fans can enjoy watching, because I’m going to give an honest effort every night.”

He’s being honest when he says that he’s thrilled to be in Calgary.

New Flames forward Glass brings element of "intimidation"

http://calgaryherald.com/sports/hock...f-intimidation

Glen Gulutzan recalled the 33-year-old Craven, Sask., native’s impact in the 2017 playoffs which saw him score one goal and three assists in seven post-season contests. But, moreover, the Flames head coach was intrigued by the winger’s gritty, hard-nosed, tough-to-play-against, ‘Don’t-mess-with-me,’ attitude which the team lost in the off-season with Deryk Engelland signing in Las Vegas and Lance Bouma in Chicago.

“He was very effective for the Rangers in the Ottawa series,” Gulutzan pointed out on Tuesday. “Ottawa had to change a bit of their lineup in response to the Rangers having Glass in. He adds that element of intimidation through hard work and physical play.

“That’s important to a hockey club.”

Glass could be an ideal fit for the team’s fourth line and has skated their for the majority of training camp, on Tuesday with Matt Stajan and Garnet Hathaway as the Flames practised before their season-opening contest against the Edmonton Oilers.

“I like rivalries,” Glass said with a grin. “They tend to suit my style of play. There is probably no better one than this one.

“I know the game is changing from (the fighting role) but you talk to guys, and they like to know they’re being taken care of. It’s something I have no problem doing and I’m proud to do. If something comes up, I’ll be the first one to do something about it.”

So, needless to say, Tuesday’s news — putting pen to paper — was welcomed.

“It wasn’t easy, by any means, but I’m proud of the camp I had, said Glass who has two young children #— Sawyer and Hayden — and a wife named Emily. “My family has been behind me the whole time supporting me. It made it a lot easier.”

[Loudog]

I've had my doubts about Glass but if this guy means what he says he'll bring a lot of value to our lineup. I'm sick of watching us get pushed around and no one responding. Gotta love this quote:

“I know the game is changing from (the fighting role) but you talk to guys, and they like to know they’re being taken care of. It’s something I have no problem doing and I’m proud to do. If something comes up, I’ll be the first one to do something about it.”

[14]

Thank you for this Round-up MissTeeks. Greatly appreciated.

The News Roundups might be my fav thing on this board now.

[ForeverFlameFan]

What I got out of this: Monahan wants Johnny to get a dog.

[jaikorven]

MissTeels needs additional thanks for the work. One of my favourite threads.

[Locke]

I hate reading this kind of stuff.

Please, just win. I hate being all enthusiastic about the season and then blowing it on day 1. Just win.

Please win.

[The Fonz]

If we lose this game I am shaving my head and burning my house to the ground.