Flames have 18 players in town, the rest by Monday along with the taxi squad.

[transplant99]

Brad Treliving, during his weekly conference call with media members, indicated Friday that 18 of his players are already in Calgary — a dozen skating at the Saddledome, the others “holed up in the hotel” satisfying quarantine protocol.

The Flames general manager expects the rest of the gang to arrive in the next day or two.

Asked about the Flames’ postseason taxi squad, Treliving went as far as to (tentatively) name names. In addition to the regulars — and the presumably healed-up Juuso Välimäki (en route from Finland) — camp invitations have been issued to:

Forwards: Alan Quine, Austin Czarnik, Buddy Robinson, Byron Froese, Glenn Gawdin, Matthew Phillips, Adam Ruzicka

Defencemen: Alexander Yelesin, Connor Mackey (who, armed with a contract that does not kick in till 2020-21, is ineligible for game action)
Goalies: Jon Gillies, Artyom Zagidulin

Also on the list is winger Ryan Lomberg, who suffered a significant ankle injury during the season in Stockton. “I’ve got him as a question mark right now,” said Treliving. “His participation is up in the air.”

Also BT is all business going into this thing

In a further example of how real it’s beginning to get, Treliving fired a shot across his own team’s bow. Just in case players had lost sight of the grand plan.

“Because of the uniqueness of the situation, camp’s important — the top 20 play,” he said. “This isn’t one of these things where, ‘OK, let’s take the first third of the season and see how everyone does.’ I don’t care if you played in Stockton or if you played 10 games here or if you played 70 games here — can you help us beat Winnipeg? If the answer’s yes, you’re in.

“That’s what the focus is. This isn’t a development camp. This is a get-ready-to-get-into-the-playoffs camp.”

And he speculates about the expansion protection list and Valimakis status...its not set in stone yet.

The talented youngster, as everyone knows, is nearing primetime deployment. However, because of a summertime ACL injury — and subsequent surgery — Välimäki hasn’t handled a single shift this season. And should he not touch the ice in upcoming postseason, his official second year will not arrive till 2020-21, meaning he can duck Seattle’s poachers.

“But if he does play he wouldn’t be exempt,” said Flames boss Brad Treliving. “That is our understanding right now. I think that’s a little bit in pencil right now. As with everything else, there’s a batting order for what the league is going through — and (Välimäki’s case is) a little bit down, below the 9-hitter, a little bit lower on the list (of importance). So I hate to say this is gospel.

“My understanding right now is that if Juuso does not play, he, in essence, would be exempt. If he does play, he would not be. But it’s not law.”

https://theathletic.com/1895977/2020...urce=twittered

[TheScorpion]

Wow they must really like Connor Mackey if they’re bringing him to camp even though he can’t play.

[transplant99]

Just reading between the lines....no way Valimaki plays this year regardless of his "camp" performance unless BT gets word from the league that he would be exempt.

Defense depth is extremely thin, and will be getting worse should bth Brodie and Hamonic walk.

Also, Lombergs injury must have been really really bad if he still isnt able to go.

[djsFlames]

This thread is a very welcome sight.



Hello hockey.

[direwolf]

Let's not get too excited yet. Apparently there are still quite a few hurdles before we see any actual games played.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montr...ason-1.5627572

Price said before he agrees to get back on the ice with his teammates to compete for the Stanley Cup this summer, he has a lot of questions he needs the league to answer.

"Health and safety is the biggest: being able to come to a situation where you don't have to worry about contracting COVID-19 is huge," Price said.

The NHL and the players association have so far agreed on the structure for the return to play plan, but many other aspects still need to be negotiated.

Price thinks there's a 50-50 chance of the two sides coming to an agreement.

"I have about an equal amount of optimism and pessimism," he said. "It's a very unusual situation. I want the opportunity to play for a Stanley Cup, but I want to be able continue living life normally."

He said if a teammate or anyone else in the organization doesn't feel comfortable participating in the NHL restart plan this summer, he would support their decision to stay home.

"I would have nothing but respect for that person. That's a very difficult decision to make," Price said.

Carey Price and his wife Angela have two young children and a third on the way.
So for the Habs star goaltender, being isolated in a social bubble with his teammates but away from his family for an extended period would be a tough sacrifice.

"It would be difficult to leave our families, no question. It's definitely a commitment to go long term without seeing your children, especially for me — it's the age of their lives where they're growing so quickly," he said.

He doesn't anticipate that his wife and children, aged one and four, would join him in the bubble even if they were allowed.

[djsFlames]

If there is a, say, 150 person gathering limit in the hub city would they allow ~100 fans to go to the games via some sort of lottery?

That would be fun, being pretty much guaranteed to get on national TV over the course of the game.

[Freeway]

Tentative camp roster:


Goaltenders [4]: David Rittich, Cam Talbot, Jon Gillies and Artyom Zagidulin
Defensemen [10]: Mark Giordano, TJ Brodie, Noah Hanifin, Travis Hamonic, Michael Stone, Erik Gustafsson, Derek Forbort, Rasmus Andersson, Oliver Kylington and Alexander Yelesin
Forwards [20]: Johnny Gaudreau, Sean Monahan, Elias Lindholm, Mikael Backlund, Matthew Tkachuk, Andrew Mangapane, Milan Lucic, Derek Ryan, Dillon Dube, Sam Bennett, Mark Jankowski, Tobias Rieder, Zac Rinaldo, Austin Czarnik, Byron Froese, Glenn Gawdin, Matthew Phillips, Alan Quine, Buddy Robinson and Adam Ruzicka
Injured non-roster [1]: Juuso Valimaki
Non-roster [1]: Connor Mackey
Question mark/injured [1]: Ryan Lomberg
Presuming that Valimaki and Lomberg (injured) and Mackey (can’t play) aren’t included in the tally, that’s 30 skaters.

[Freeway]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

If there is a, say, 150 person gathering limit in the hub city would they allow ~100 fans to go to the games via some sort of lottery?

That would be fun, being pretty much guaranteed to get on national TV over the course of the game.

Nope. They're keeping the bubbles very small. Likely no media, too, or extremely limited media.

[transplant99]

Originally Posted by Freeway

Nope. They're keeping the bubbles very small. Likely no media, too, or extremely limited media.

Some media have to be in the building though...no?

Someone has to operate the cameras...all production staff can work out of a truck though I would suggest that many in a small area is way more dangerous than having them elsewhere in the bowels of the arena.

And I havent heard but are the PBP teams not allowed into the press box? I cant see how they would be, in any way, a threat to the players/refs bubble. Or maybe they need to be part of that bubble and stay in the same hotels?

I still think the single biggest obstacle will be getting the players to buy in to a possible 2 month long quarantine with one another and one another only. I dont see any way that families and such could be allowed as making them stay exclusively in one hotel for that long doesnt seem feasible nor reasonable.

[Toonage]

Didn't Cuthbert mention in an interview that he expects to call games off a monitor? Seems like some media is prepared to be off site

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Toonage

Didn't Cuthbert mention in an interview that he expects to call games off a monitor? Seems like some media is prepared to be off site

This would seem a bit excessive, as that part of the media is physically located quite far from the players during the games.

You only really need 2 people at ice level, one reporter and one camera. They can do all the player interviews and collect info like "is player X likely to return to game" and whatnot.

With the rinks mostly empty, I can't imagine it being very difficult to move the rest of the media in and out without them ever going physically near the teams.

[David Struch]

Interesting that 10 goal man Adam Ruzicka is chosen over 19 goal man Luke Philp.

Other AHL forwards not selected are Eetu Tuulola, Martin Pospisil, and Justin Kirkland.

Nice to see some the Flames with some faith in Jon *cough*Jordan Binnington*cough* Gillies!

[djsFlames]

Originally Posted by Freeway

Nope. They're keeping the bubbles very small. Likely no media, too, or extremely limited media.

Surely there will be interviews. Even if its awkwardly behind a glass pane.

Thinking further on that I imagine it would just be to a camera with the guys in studio interviewing them through an ear piece.

Crazy that PBP would call off a monitor. They're a mile away from the ice normally.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by David Struch

Interesting that 10 goal man Adam Ruzicka is chosen over 19 goal man Luke Philp.

Other AHL forwards not selected are Eetu Tuulola, Martin Pospisil, and Justin Kirkland.

Nice to see some the Flames with some faith in Jon *cough*Jordan Binnington*cough* Gillies!

There’s more to think about than goals when deciding on a player who if they make the roster would be a 12th-13th forward.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Surely there will be interviews. Even if its awkwardly behind a glass pane.

Thinking further on that I imagine it would just be to a camera with the guys in studio interviewing them through an ear piece.

Crazy that PBP would call off a monitor. They're a mile away from the ice normally.

Gene will have to ask players about McDavid remotely.

[David Struch]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

There’s more to think about than goals when deciding on a player who if they make the roster would be a 12th-13th forward.

Yes, I'm sure we'd all love to learn the reasoning behind the picks. This is the one that stands out the most. (Ruzicka being the only rookie forward chosen) Philp was the hot hand when play was shut down.

[Textcritic]

Originally Posted by David Struch

...Nice to see some the Flames with some faith in Jon *cough*Jordan Binnington*cough* Gillies!

Hahaha! What is this nonsense?

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[Freeway]

They were really impressed with Ruzicka overall this season, especially how he grew over the course of the season.

[Strange Brew]

I would almost rather have no PBP than calling games off a monitor. I can already see what they are seeing, the value I get from television PBP is often the perspective of what’s not on the screen.

[Strange Brew]

So can anyone fly into Canada as long as they satisfy the quarantine protocol?

Also, are tests not readily available at this point? Why can’t a negative test eliminate the need for a quarantine?