Predators will put Calgary’s defence to the test
Red-hot Preds present formidable challenge as they come to town
When Brad Treliving traded for Travis Hamonic and re-signed Michael Stone in the off-season, many were wondering how good the Calgary Flames defence corps could be this season.
On paper, bringing in a rightshot defenceman to partner with TJ Brodie and hanging onto a rock solid bottom pairing defender like Stone were exactly what Calgary needed to add to their top duo of Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton.
The additions had analysts buzzing in the summertime, many drawing comparisons to the blueline of the Nashville Predators who were fresh off the Stanley Cup final, and who will provide the opposition for the Flames Saturday at the Saddledome.
Fast forward to December. Thirty-two games into the 2017-18 campaign, as the Flames (16-13-3) sit out of a wild-card spot and try to stabilize their roller-coaster of a season so far, are the comparisons still accurate?
“The comparisons were all in the media,” scoffed Flames head coach Glen Gulutzan. “But for me, they’ve got some really good offensive weapons there — both ways. And so do we. To me, these are the Stanley Cup finalists. But until we’re a Stanley Cup finalist, I don’t know how many comparisons we’re going to make.” Fair enough.
The Predators (20-7-4) have been absolutely on fire, one of the NHL’s elite with a scary good blueline that has helped limit their goals against to 2.64 on average and has helped generate offence. Roman Josi, P.K. Subban and Mattias Ekholm all have 21 points apiece. For the Flames, it’s Brodie leading the way with two goals and 14 assists in 32 games.
But what is scary is that they’e been doing it without one of their key cogs on defence in Ryan Ellis, who is nearing a return after offseason knee surgery.
“They established themselves last year during their playoff run and really caught everyone’s attention, just how dangerous their ‘D’ are,” said Flames defenceman Brett Kulak, who has been the go-to sixth defenceman. “I know they’ve been missing (Ellis) a bit but they’ve got Subban and Josi and Ekholm that have been carrying the majority of the load there.
“That’s like us with Gio, Dougie, Hammy and Brodes. They carry a lot of the load for us too. Yeah, the comparisons are there.”
That being said, it’s easy to see why the Flames — so far this campaign — may have not have lived up to their hype.
“I feel like they may be moving the play more than us,” Dougie Hamilton said. “We’ll see (Saturday) but definitely on paper, we have ‘D’ that can skate and move the puck and play defence. They have that too. With Subban, Josi and Ekholm, those guys are all elite offensively and can get in the play really well. It’s tough to play against them because they play so much. It makes it harder because it’s not three-on-five. They’re always in the play. I don’t know if that compares to us too much right now.”
Hamilton has a point — especially some helter skelter defensive play at times, despite Mike Smith’s stellar first month and half in goal with the Flames. On top of that, chemistry has taken longer than anticipated for Hamonic and Brodie to adjust to each other.
In their most recent five-game stretch, which saw them go 2-1-2, they have allowed a total of nine goals.
But with their recent showing in the past five games — a four-game point streak amid a heavy travel sked — there is time for the blueline to turn things around and reach their potential.
“Lately our ‘D’ corps has been good,” Giordano said. “We’ve been really good at not giving up too much and not turning the puck over. But I think we all know we have more to create and we can generate more offensively as a group. But, in saying that, you don’t want to take unnecessary risks.
“They’ve got a really good ‘D’ corps that can jump into the play, but we have the guys to do it too. We were in a little rut there where we were turning over pucks at the start of the year but we got out of that now and we’re playing well defensively. The next step is to create offence.”